U.S. Department of State 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report - Kenya

Kenya (Tier 2 Watch List)

Kenya is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for forced labor and sexual exploitation. Kenyan children are trafficked within the country for domestic servitude, street vending, agricultural labor, and sexual exploitation, including the coastal sex tourism industry. Kenyan men, women, and girls are trafficked to the Middle East, other African nations, Western Europe, and North America for domestic servitude, enslavement in massage parlors and brothels, and manual labor. Chinese women trafficked for sexual exploitation reportedly transit Nairobi and Bangladeshis may transit Kenya for forced labor in other countries. Burundian and Rwandan nationals engaged in coastal sex tourism may have been trafficked for this purpose.

The Government of Kenya does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Kenya is placed on Tier 2 Watch List due to a lack of evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking over the last year. Despite positive steps in 2005 to assess the human trafficking threat to Kenyan nationals in the Middle East and support the establishment of a code of conduct against child sex tourism, an almost complete lack of law enforcement efforts severely impeded the government's ability to effectively combat trafficking in persons. The government should sensitize law enforcement officials throughout the country to trafficking crimes and push for greater trafficking investigations and prosecutions. It should also improve its ability to monitor and collect data on anti-trafficking interventions.

Prosecution

The Kenyan Government made weak efforts to punish acts of trafficking during the year. Its law enforcement agencies reported no investigations, prosecutions or convictions of trafficking crimes. The Ministry of Immigration developed draft legislation to criminalize the cross-border elements of human trafficking, and the Attorney General's Office collaborated with civil society and other ministries to develop draft comprehensive legislation; several procedural stages remain before presentation of the bills to parliament. Rather than investigating foreigners suspected of involvement in trafficking, law enforcement officials typically detained and deported them. Immigration officials reported several cases of suspected trafficking, but charged suspects with other offenses in the absence of specific legislation. For example, a French national found transporting Chinese nationals was convicted of harboring aliens and deported. Despite U.S. Government financial and training assistance, the Police's Human Trafficking Unit conducted no investigations into trafficking cases during the period; however, a Kenyan victim successfully filed and won a civil suit against traffickers who forced her into unpaid domestic servitude. This is the first known civil case brought against traffickers in sub-Saharan Africa. The Kenyan Police Service reportedly incorporated human trafficking awareness into its community policing training program, and 25 officials received a training-of-trainers seminar from outside partners.

Protection

The government provided minimal victim protection services during the year. Foreign trafficking victims were frequently deported without questioning and may also face immigration charges resulting in prosecution or fines. In mid-2005, Ministry of Labor officials met with employment agencies and diplomatic missions in five Middle Eastern nations, where an estimated 20-30,000 Kenyans are employed, to assess the human trafficking threat to Kenyan nationals. The government provided consular services to one Kenyan trafficking victim seeking repatriation from Germany. The government provided an unknown number of street children victimized by trafficking with shelter and medical services. It established District Advisory Children's Centers throughout the nation that provided psycho-social services, medical and educational assistance, and foster programs for vulnerable, orphaned, or abandoned children who are at risk of trafficking. In June, the Central Bureau of Statistics began a nationwide household survey of exploitative child labor.

Prevention

The government's public acknowledgement of Kenya's sex tourism problem led to greater awareness of human trafficking; during the year, numerous national and local-level officials spoke out against trafficking and sex tourism. The Ministries of Tourism and Home Affairs were involved in the development of a code of conduct to protect children from tourism-related sexual exploitation; 30 hoteliers and caterers signed onto the code in February. The Ministries of Labor, Home Affairs, and Foreign Affairs reportedly registered additional foreign employment agencies in 2005 and continued a program of trafficking education, awareness, and inspection for all 68 agencies. The Ministry of Labor provided workers' rights counseling for an unspecified number of Kenyan nationals leaving to work abroad. In November, the government established a task team to develop a national plan of action and facilitate government and civil society anti-trafficking efforts.