Garissa County Assembly has been urged to declare sexual violence a matter of grave concern. [Photo|usaid.gov]
Civil society groups have decried the rise of sexual and gender-based violence in the North Eastern Kenya.
On Thursday, the lobbies petitioned Garissa Members of County Assembly to end the violence which they observed that is at alarming levels.
The activists, who turned up in their hundreds in Garissa Town, marched to the assembly to present their grievances, the Daily Nation reports.
"We want the county assembly to declare sexual and gender-based violence a matter of grave concern," they said in their petition.
Led by Fatuma Kinsi, the executive director of Pastoral Girl Initiative, the activists said the vice has a greater hindrance to political participation.
"Sexual and gender-based violence is being used to suppress political and civic participation of the marginalized groups," she said.
Kinsi vowed that the civil society groups would protest and campaign until their grievances are addressed.