"Crime in Nairobi" survey launched by UN-HABITAT
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" The victimisation survey which was undertaken with the City authorities and supported by UNDP, is an important step in making Nairobi a safer place," said Mrs. Tibaijuka. "In fact, I am pleased to note that the City Council has already started to involve all the stakeholders and donors in the city to work together to ensure a safer Nairobi for all."
On receiving a copy of the survey, the town clerk, Mr. Jack Mbugua, announced that Nairobi City Council has appointed an Urban Safety Liaison Unit within Nairobi City Council. The City authorities have also established a Safer Cities Nairobi Action Group in order to encourage a broader coalition of stakeholders to design and implement a crime prevention strategy. The work of UN-HABITAT in making the city a safer place for all its citizens was highly commended by Mr. Mark K. Bor, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government. He also pointed out that the Ministry was intending to replicate the safer cities project in other major towns and cities in Kenya. To facilitate this, the government hoped to establish a National Secretariat on Urban Safety.
The publication is based on a survey of Nairobi City, including the Central Business District and residential areas. The collected data, based on over 10,500 interviews, will complement existing statistics on crime and facilitate planning for a safer Nairobi. The main conclusion of the victimisation survey is that crime is more prevalent in Nairobi than in other similar cities. In terms of the types of crimes that are most prevalent, and the circumstances in which they occur, Nairobi is similar to other cities surveyed using the same methodologies in Africa, namely in South Africa and Tanzania. However, what is interesting to note is that the general public believe that there is little or nothing that can be done about crime in Nairobi. The findings of this survey suggest that decision makers need to urgently address the social and institutional cause of crime by embarking on an inclusive strategy of crime prevention. This should include establishing action groups which focus on the key areas of crime against women and youth. At the same time, urgent steps need to be taken to strengthen the capacity of the local authorities and the police to handle criminal cases.
For further information, please contact: Mr. Sharad Shankardass, Spokesperson
or Ms. Zahra Hassan, Press & Media Liaison, Press & Media Relations
Unit, Tel: (254 2) 623153/623151, Fax: (254 2) 624060, E-mail: habitat.press@unhabitat.org,
Website: www.unhabitat.org
Background:
Key findings of the survey
Personal crimes
About 37% of all respondents have been victims of robbery and 22% victims of theft at least once during the previous year. About 18% percent of respondents had also been personally physically assaulted. If trends simply remain at current levels, during the course of the following year, one in five residents will be a victim of physical assault, a further one in five residents is likely to fall victim of snatching and two in five residents could be victims of robbery.
The inner city tops the list of areas where snatching is most common, but robberies and physical assaults are most likely to occur in low income areas.
The majority (90%) of the respondents suggest that all personal crimes occur in the open when residents are in transit to and from work or school. In two-thirds of all the cases the respondents were alone when the attack occurred. Physical strength was the most common weapon used against women and knives against men. Nearly 40% of all victims were injured as a result of violence used in the robbery. In 60% of all cases, bystanders watching the incident chose to ignore it. A fraction over one-half of all victims do not report the incident to the police.
Property Crimes
A total of 29% of all respondents' homes had fallen victim to burglary.
Households located in formal high and low-income suburbs were more likely
than those in other areas to fall victims of burglary. Violence was
used in four out of every ten burglaries. Two thirds of all burglaries
were reported to the police but in only one-quarter of reports were
the victims satisfied by the police response to the circumstances.
Commercial Crimes
A total of 30% of all respondents in commercial enterprises revealed
that they had been victims of burglary during the year preceding the
survey. In addition, 29% admitted to having given a bribe in order to
either do away with a problem or as part of their operational activities.
Over three-quarters of the business people said that it was necessary
to bribe public sector officials if they needed something to be done.
Two-thirds of all respondents felt that crime against the commercial
sector had increased during the past year. Firearms were used in almost
80% of all robberies.
Perceptions of Safety
The most common causes of crime identified by respondents was unemployment
and marginalization, although general idleness and the quick rewards
that crime brings were also noted. A very small minority mentioned the
increase in foreigners as the major cause of crime. Just over half of
the all the residents of Nairobi worry about crime all the time, whilst
a further one-third think of it sometimes. About 75% of all respondents
feel unsafe in their homes during the night and more than half feels
unsafe during the day. The vast majority of residents would not go into
the City Centre during the evening at all.
The overwhelming majority of respondents attributed one in three crimes either directly or indirectly to police officers. They also suggest that the police institution is one of the major casualties of bribery at the individual level. The issue of street children is an emotional one in Nairobi, and it is not uncommon to find residents attributing a good proportion of crime to this group of Nairobi citizens. Generally, respondents felt that street children are not responsible for more than one-in-ten crimes in the neighbourhood.
Just over one-third felt that complementary measures such as security guards or vigilante groups or simply setting up neighbourhood watches is essential to enhance community - police relations in addressing crime, for the police alone were incapable of dealing with crime.
The Survey
This survey was conducted by the Intermediate Technology Development
Group- East Africa (a member of the Nairobi City Council-based Nairobi
Informal Settlements Co-ordinating Committee) under the supervision
of the Safer Cities Programme of the United Nations Human Settlements
Programme (UN HABITAT) and an international consultant who conducted
similar surveys in South Africa and Tanzania.
The Safer Cities Programme of UN HABITAT has been spearheading the crime prevention approach in developing countries, through city projects anchored by the municipal councils. In Africa, the cities of Abidjan, Antananarivo, Dakar, Dar es Salaam, Durban, Johannesburg, Nairobi and Yaounde have ongoing crime prevention projects initiated by the programme. The city of Nairobi is one of the most recent cities that the Programme is providing technical assistance. The victimisation survey and a youth offender profile are the current activities of this assistance.
The survey covers the entire city including the Central Business District and the residential areas. It is expected that the data collected when analyzed will complement the existing statistics on crime and facilitate planning for elimination of crimes and victimization in the city to make Nairobi a safer city.
The Victimisation Survey which has been carried out in Nairobi is the most comprehensive undertaken to date, being administered in two discrete phases over a four month period (March to June 2001). Throughout the study over 10,500 ordinary residents of Nairobi contributed opinions and experiences on a number of different issues concerning safety and crime. The focus of the main survey is on 4 components namely individual crimes, household crimes, property crimes, and commercial crimes. The survey is designed to provide for an in-depth analysis of certain categories of crime, determine their extent in the city, identify the populations most at risk, understand the nature of crimes and measure public perception of those crimes.
The Safer Cities programme of the UN HABITAT is executing this project, together with the Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG)-East Africa. The survey and the project is financed by UNDP.
For further information, please
contact: Mr. Sharad Shankardass, Spokesperson or Ms. Zahra Hassan, Press
& Media Liaison, Press & Media Relations Unit, Tel: (254 2)
623153/623151, Fax: (254 2) 624060, E-mail: habitat.press@unhabitat.org,
Website: www.unhabitat.org
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