Child Trafficking in Kenya during COVID-19, and Why Collective Data is Key to its Prevention
EACRN publishes the findings of its child trafficking data collection project, Walk Free examines the vulnerability of girls and women to modern slavery, and Transparentem uncovers a disturbing trend in the Indonesian apparel industry.
The Eastern Africa Child Rights Network (EACRN), Stop the Traffik Kenya (STTK) and Freedom Collaborative are pleased to release a new report providing insight into child trafficking in Kenya. The analysis highlights a number of current trends that have emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, a situation that has made children even more vulnerable.
In June 2020, Kenya’s Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Protection Unit (AHTCPU) raised a red flag over the alarming and sudden spike in the online trafficking, recruitment and exploitation of children in Kenya, amid concerns that the trend is set to continue. The COVID-19 pandemic, and measures introduced to curb its spread, have affected the lives of untold numbers of children and families around the world. In Kenya and across the region, children remain out of school and are therefore more exposed to trafficking risks.
What emerges in reports from organizations that work with vulnerable children is a sense of the complex dynamics of child exploitation in the country, and an understanding that a comprehensive strategy to prevent abuses is long overdue.
EACRN recognizes that a vibrant civil society community exists around children’s issues in most countries in the region. However, they believe that greater progress can be achieved through more concerted collaborative efforts. While research and media reports have highlighted the issue of child trafficking in Kenya, in particular in the coastal region, little effort is being made for data collaboration or for pooling available data from individual organizations for collective analysis.
We are extremely proud that we have been able to support EACRN in conducting a data project focusing exclusively on child trafficking and exploitation in Kenya. This small-scale data collection exercise provides EACRN with a model for collaborative data gathering which it can develop and replicate across its countries of operation, and which supports its work in driving an evidence-based approach to child protection and advocacy.
The report also includes a case study on Ugandan girls from the Karamoja region who are trafficked to or through Kenya. The female population in the region is particularly vulnerable, and girls as young as eight are trafficked to Nairobi, the Kenyan Coast, and the Middle East. The newly established consortium concerned with these cases welcomes viable partnerships with donors in order to raise the requisite financial, technical, and material support.
Here’s a round-up of other noteworthy news and initiatives:
To coincide with the 2020 International Day of the Girl Child, Walk Free has released its report Stacked Odds, which examines why women and girls are more vulnerable to modern slavery throughout their lifetimes. The report estimates that one in every 130 females globally is living in modern slavery and that women and girls account for nearly three quarters (71 per cent) of all victims of this crime.
Last week, Thomson Reuters Foundation published Transparentem’s summary of a seven-month-long investigation into the Indonesian apparel industry. The group intends the article to raise awareness of an alarming, widespread practice it uncovered when interviewing workers at apparel factories in Indonesia: that of labourers paying middlemen substantial sums to secure jobs with suppliers of international brands. Often, these middlemen repeatedly demand extortionate fees, hurting vulnerable workers and their families.
UNODC has published a report that documents the links between trafficking in persons and marriage, and provides steps for governments and other authorities to respond. The study involved research conducted in nine countries in different regions of the world, over a 12-month period. The countries covered were Canada, Germany, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Serbia, South Africa, Thailand and Vietnam.
Defend Dignity, a Canadian organization that exists to end all forms of sexual exploitation in Canada, has released End Demand, End Exploitation, a video featuring four brave Canadian women who are survivors of prostitution, one of the many forms of sexual exploitation. Defend Dignity calls on the Canadian government to continue to pursue an ‘End Demand’ approach to prostitution in Canada by supporting the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, or PCEPA, which is at the heart of Canada’s prostitution laws.
The United States, UNODC and the EU are pleased to invite delegations and representatives from civil society to attend an online panel discussion on Tuesday 13 October 2020 from 2-3pm CET (8-9am EDT) to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol. Attendees will have an opportunity to hear from representatives of the UNODC, the European Union, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, representatives from the governments of Afghanistan and Malawi, as well as an NGO.
Join Themis’s webinar tomorrow, to learn how data analytics, artificial intelligence and blockchain are helping detect and prevent forced labour.
Justice Ventures International is seeking a full-time Director of Development, based in the U.S., to create and manage a comprehensive fundraising program.
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