By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A court in Kenya on Wednesday ruled that sections of a law on sexual offences in the East African nation cannot apply to adolescents found to have had consensual intercourse, bringing relief to rights groups who have long pressed for reforms on how relationships among adolescents are handled.
Advocates say the court ruling would curb indiscriminate arrests and prosecutions of adolescents for consensual peer relationships and force reforms in policing, prosecution and access to confidential youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services.
The Centre for Reproductive Rights and the Reproductive Health Network Kenya on behalf of three adolescents, and the Network for Adolescent and Youth of Africa (NAYA) filed a case in August 2025 challenging four sections of the Sexual Offences Act, saying it was inappropriate to apply it to minors who engage in consensual sexual activities.
The suit cited the cases of two teenagers, where one, a boy, aged 17, was charged with defilement after police raided a room he shared with his 16-year-old girlfriend in February 2025, and another one, also 17, who faced prosecution after a pregnancy in a peer relationship before charges were withdrawn in May that same year.
In his ruling, the presiding judge, Justice Bahati Mwamuye said the two cases have now been stayed and shall not proceed in their current form.
Under Kenyan constitution, anyone at 18 years and above is considered an adult.
The groups said the law failed to distinguish between exploitation and ordinary adolescent relationships, exposing teenagers to arbitrary arrest, detention and long prison terms.
Authorities had said protections were needed to safeguard children and avoid loopholes for adult predators.
“Young people in Kenya have been living in fear, afraid to go to a clinic, afraid to speak to an adult, afraid that a relationship could land them in a police cell,” Victor Rasugu, executive director of NAYA Kenya, said in a statement.
“We will continue to push for full reform of the Sexual Offences Act so that no young person is ever again prosecuted for simply growing up.”
