Juveniles Among 91 Victims Of Human Trafficking Rescued In Kitengela

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 10- Police have rescued 91 Ethiopians believed to have been smuggled into the country.

They were rescued on Sunday evening during a police operation in the Kitengela area, Kajiado County.

This was during a crackdown on immigrants believed to have been smuggled into the country.

Police say preliminary investigations reveal that the 91, of whom 44 are juveniles, were ferried to the location onboard a trailer, and were being held temporarily as the smugglers sought means to sneak them to another country.

The immigrants were arrested after an earlier attempt to escape from a house they had been detained.

The smuggler of the aliens is missing and attempts to arrest him are ongoing.

Tens of Ethiopians are arrested in the country as they try to use this route to other places like Tanzania and South Africa.

Some are said to be victims of human trafficking.

Kenya is rated as a high-risk country for human trafficking, being a destination, source, and transit country for victims.

People are trafficked while taking long and dangerous journeys, often across continents, in search of work elsewhere.

Migrants believe that a better life awaits them in unknown countries, although, on the way, many fall prey to smugglers, traffickers and armed groups.

The push factor that makes such victims vulnerable to trafficking is mostly poverty.

According to the US Department of State, the Kenyan government does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking “but is making significant efforts to do so.”

In 2021, the Department noted that the government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period, “considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its anti-trafficking capacity; therefore Kenya remained on Tier 2. “

To curb the vice, the Department proposes, increased effort to vigorously investigate, prosecute, and convict traffickers, including complicit officials, and sentence convicted traffickers to adequate penalties, which should involve significant prison terms.

Further, Kenya has been challenged to ensure protection services are available for all victims, including adult victims and foreign nationals as well as fully implement the national referral mechanism and encourage law enforcement officials to formally refer trafficking victims for assistance.

The Kenyan government should also systematically and proactively identify trafficking victims by screening vulnerable populations, such as refugees, asylum-seekers, individuals in commercial sex, and all foreign workers, including Ethiopians, Ugandans, Cuban medical professionals, and North Koreans, for trafficking indicators and refer all victims to appropriate services.

Also in the list of recommendations is the need to increase data collection and data sharing among relevant agencies to synthesize and analyze nationwide law enforcement and victim protection data related to trafficking crimes.

Kenyan legislators are also challenged to amend the anti-trafficking law to remove sentencing provisions that allow fines in lieu of imprisonment for sex trafficking offenses.