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Ilaria Potipa Loonkolia

FDDH

Ilaria Potipa Loonkolia est une femme défenseuse des droits humains de la communauté autochtone Samburu au Kenya ; elle se concentre sur l’égalité des genres et les droits de l’environnement. Elle est cofondatrice et directrice de Samburu Alms of Hope, une organisation qui soutient l’autonomisation des femmes et des jeunes filles en luttant contre les pratiques culturelles rétrogrades telles que les mutilations génitales féminines (MGF), les mariages d’enfants et la violence fondée sur le genre.

Ilaria fait également partie du Conseil de direction et de gouvernance de l’Indigenous Women Council, où elle travaille avec diverses organisations dirigées par des femmes autochtones au Kenya, en mettant en lumière les défis qu’elles rencontrent.

While Kenya maintains the appearance of a country where the public space is open, specific categories of human rights defenders encounter a wide range of risks as a result of their work. These include human rights defenders and journalists working on highly sensitive corruption issues, those who document or contribute testimony on past violence (including the 2007/2008 post election violence and frequent extra-judicial killings by the police) as well as those using peaceful demonstrations as an advocacy tool.

 

Human rights defenders denouncing human rights violations committed by the police forces have continuously faced reprisals. Members of civil society organisations have been repeatedly arrested and subjected to ill-treatment while in detention, received threatening anonymous calls and some have undergone trials under accusations of “belonging to an illegal organisation” and “participation in an illegal protest.”