Kenya is a signatory to numerous human rights instruments that prohibit torture and ill- treatment including the Convention against Torture. The Constitution1 not only prohibits torture, but declares freedom from torture a non-derogable right. Torture has also been outlawed in various national laws but they all fall short of the requirements for criminalisation under the UN Convention against Torture. Despite all these laws,torture and ill-treatment is still rife in the Kenya and it happens especially in the context of security operations and other counter terrorism measures. Recently Kenya passed several laws such as the Security Laws Amendment Act of 2014, which among other things prolonged the period of detention for a person suspected of terrorism from 90 days to 360 days. We have also seen violent dispersals of peaceful demonstrations by citizens, which has in many occasions resulted in death and/or serious injuries. 

