According to a United States report on Global Human Trafficking trends, Kenya is among the top countries which have been linked to high human trafficking activity in the world.
This years’ Trafficking in Persons Report by the US Department of State, which asses the efforts done by governments around the world in combating human trafficking annually, exposed details of how traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Kenya.
“Within the country, traffickers exploit children through forced labour in domestic service, agriculture, fishing, cattle herding, street vending, and begging,” the report reads in part.
According to the report, traffickers in Kenya target girls and boys in commercial sex in Nairobi, Kisumu and the Coast.
The report further shows that in informal settlements, family members aid in the exploitation. Teenage boys from the Nomadic tribes are exploited into cattle rustling while girls are exploited by people working in the Khat (miraa) growing areas, truck drivers along the highways, fishermen on Lake Victoria and the Gold mines in Western Kenya.
Displaced persons living close to the major highways were more vulnerable to trafficking than those who live in more settled communities, reports by NGOs showed.
The report also revealed employment agencies that are based in the country which recruit unaware victims, the victims then voluntarily travel voluntarily to Northern Africa, Europe, Central and South-East Asia and the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Iraq, Iran and Oman where they are exploited.
