Remedy is broader than rescue or punishment
Safety and criminal accountability can be vital, but neither automatically repairs lost earnings, health impacts, debt, damaged legal status or the longer-term effects of exploitation. Remedy asks what is needed to restore rights and address the consequences of the violation.
Depending on the facts and law, remedies may be judicial or non-judicial and may involve more than one responsible actor.
- Restitution seeks to restore rights, status, property or opportunity where possible.
- Compensation addresses economically assessable material and non-material harm.
- Rehabilitation includes appropriate medical, psychosocial, legal and social support.
- Satisfaction may include truth, investigation, acknowledgement, apology or sanctions.
- Guarantees of non-repetition change the systems that enabled harm.
Effectiveness depends on practical accessibility
A remedy is not meaningful if cost, delay, language, geography, retaliation, evidential barriers or unequal power makes it impossible to use. Procedures should be safe, impartial, timely and capable of producing an enforceable outcome.
Survivors should receive clear information, interpretation where needed and the opportunity to decide among available pathways without pressure or false promises.
Cross-border and portable justice
Return to Kenya should not extinguish claims arising elsewhere. Portable justice requires lawful evidence preservation, representation across jurisdictions, cooperation between institutions and mechanisms capable of enforcing awards or settlements.
Where legally available, recovery of proceeds and assets linked to exploitation can strengthen accountability and contribute to survivor restoration.