This archive report was first published on 29 June 2020.
Published on June 29, 2020, a United States report on Global Human Trafficking trends has exposed Kenya as one of the top countries linked to high human trafficking activity in the world.
The report, an annual assessment by the US Department of State on the efforts of governments in combating human trafficking, revealed that traffickers in Kenya exploit children through forced labour in various sectors, including domestic service, agriculture, fishing, and street vending.
According to the report, traffickers target girls and boys in commercial sex in major cities such as Nairobi, Kisumu, and the Coast. In informal settlements, family members aid in the exploitation, while teenage boys from the Nomadic tribes are exploited into cattle rustling and girls are exploited by people working in the Khat (miraa) growing areas, truck drivers along the highways, and fishermen on Lake Victoria and the Gold mines in Western Kenya.
Displaced persons living close to the major highways are more vulnerable to trafficking than those who live in more settled communities, reports by NGOs showed. The report also revealed employment agencies based in Kenya that recruit unaware victims, who then travel voluntarily to Northern Africa, Europe, Central and South-East Asia, and the Middle East, where they are exploited in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Iraq, Iran, and Oman.
