Hooded men, unmarked vehicles: Report reveals rising enforced disappearances linked to Police

A new report, Missing Voices, has revealed why it remains nearly impossible to hold police officers accountable for their involvement in enforced disappearances.

The report indicates that 45 out of 55 disappearances documented in 2024 were suspected to involve police officers.

However, it highlights that many of the incidents were carried out by men wearing hoods, in plain clothes, using unmarked vehicles without local registration plates, making it incredibly difficult to identify the perpetrators.

Of the 55 cases recorded, four were connected to the Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU), and six others could not be traced to any specific security unit.

The report also emphasizes a troubling pattern where many of the disappearances occurred in public, sometimes in the presence of the media, which complicates efforts to determine the identity of those responsible for these acts.

This situation has sparked public concern over whether all the hooded individuals involved were members of official security agencies or whether criminal groups or rogue operatives were exploiting the chaotic environment created by the protests.

In 2023, ten cases of enforced disappearances were linked to police officers, including five from the ATPU.

However, 2024 saw a dramatic 450% increase, with 55 such incidents recorded, the highest since 2019.

June 2024 saw the peak of these incidents, with 15 recorded disappearances amid protests against the Finance Bill.

Other months, such as October, recorded 11 disappearances, while July and August saw seven each.

The report indicates that the government's use of enforced disappearances as a tool to suppress dissent rose nearly fivefold in 2024.

Supporting data from human rights organizations further paints a grim picture. Amnesty International recorded 89 cases of enforced disappearances and 65 extrajudicial killings, while the Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU) documented 89 disappearances, 63 extrajudicial killings, and 2,000 police-related injuries in the same year.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) identified 74 enforced disappearances connected to the Finance Bill protests between June and November 2024.

The report also revealed a shift in the demographic of victims.

While men still represented the majority of victims, with 45 out of 55, the number of female victims rose significantly.

Nine women were documented as victims of enforced disappearances, a stark contrast to 2023, when all the victims were male.

This increase has been linked to a growing participation of young women in the protests.

The victims' ages ranged from young adults to those over 50, with 18 victims aged between 19 and 34.

A troubling number of cases, 27, did not include any age information.

Nairobi County had the highest number of disappearances, with 18 cases, followed by Kajiado (8), Kiambu and Machakos (4 each), and Nakuru (3). Some counties reported only one or two cases, while eight incidents did not have a recorded location.

The report also detailed the types of operations where these disappearances occurred.

Thirty-two of the 55 cases were related to anti-riot responses aimed at protestors opposing the Finance Bill.

This marks a sharp increase from just one similar incident in 2023.

Four cases were connected to anti-terror operations, and three were attributed to anti-crime operations.

Despite multiple legal efforts, including habeas corpus petitions, the report notes that families continue to report missing relatives, with authorities largely ignoring court orders to produce the missing persons.

Missing Voices concluded that it relies on a network of monitors across the country to document enforced disappearances and police-related killings, collecting witness statements and verifying evidence to ensure its reliability.