BATUK victims marched along Harambee Avenue on August 12, 2026 to hand over their petition to Parliament. [Kanyiri Wahito, Standard]
Victims of British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) operations have asked Parliament to halt renewal of the Kenya-UK Defence Cooperation Agreement until outstanding cases of alleged misconduct are addressed.
The victims, including survivors, bereaved families, workers and residents from communities affected by BATUK operations, want the National Assembly to enforce recommendations contained in a November 2025 parliamentary report before approving a new agreement.
“Your petitioners aver that it would be a grave disservice to the victims named in that report and to the people of Kenya for the agreement to be signed before the matters it raises are resolved,” they said.
The petitioners said the report by the National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations documented allegations of rape and sexual assault, deaths and injuries linked to unexploded ordnance and environmental damage.
They also raised concerns about children allegedly fathered by British soldiers and abandoned without support or recognition.
“That hundreds of children have been fathered by British soldiers and then abandoned, children who carry no name, no support, no recognition, who grow up bearing the whispers of the very villages that welcomed their fathers,” they said.