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Athletics Kenya has launched a toll-free hotline to support athletes facing gender-based violence aiming to create safer sports environments.
Rise in gender-based violence (GBV) cases in recent years has spurred the Kenyan sports community to take decisive action.
In a bid to protect athletes and provide a lifeline for those in danger, a toll-free hotline, 1195, has been launched in Nairobi.
This initiative, a partnership between the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF), Athletics Kenya (AK), and Equity Bank, aims to address and curb GBV within the country’s sports sector.
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The hotline provides a free, immediate resource for athletes facing abuse, empowering them to send an SOS message for help at any time.
Director of fund management services at NGAAF, emphasized the importance of this new channel for communication Viridiana, highlighting that it will help overcome one of the significant barriers in tackling GBV.
“You will not be required to pay any fee to access the toll-free line,” said Wasike.
“The other one is a chatbot that will allow you to send messages whenever you are in danger or going through GBV.”
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Wasike continued, calling on the community to break the silence on gender-based violence.
“Each one of us knows someone who has been hurt by GBV. We are here to have a conversation about it. We are asking everyone to lend their voices and time to this campaign,” she added.
The hotline is part of a broader campaign seeking to rally the public and sports community around ending GBV, with the line open 24/7 to support anyone affected.
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Athletics Kenya’s chief administrative officer, Susan Kamau, also spoke on the urgent need to address GBV as an endemic issue in sports, drawing parallels to the organization’s ongoing efforts to eliminate doping in athletics.
“GBV is unacceptable in our society as well as in athletics. As AK, we are totally committed to eradicating GBV, and we will fight it the same way we are doing with doping,” Kamau emphasized.
Kamau also encouraged athletes not to feel intimidated and to reach out to AK’s offices if they are experiencing abuse, noting that specific staff have been assigned to support such cases confidentially.
The hotline launch coincides with the start of a week-long engagement program with athletes across Kenya, coordinated by the Ministry of Gender, Culture, the Arts, and Heritage.
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Through this initiative, athletes will have the opportunity to share their experiences with GBV, promoting resilience and emphasizing the need for change.
The initiative comes at a time when Kenya has been shaken by a series of high-profile GBV cases in sports, which have garnered global attention.
Ugandan marathon record holder and Paris 2024 Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei was the latest to lose her life to GBV in Kenya.
She was allegedly set ablaze by her estranged partner in September and juust months before, 25-year-old Agnes Tirop, a Tokyo 2020 Olympian and former world record holder, was fatally stabbed, with her estranged husband charged in her murder.
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