KENYA
Human trafficking thriving as the poor seek better lives
The Standard
Human trafficking is thriving in Kenya, the Government has admitted.
http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=27508
http://www.childtrafficking.org/cgi-bin/ct/main.sql?ID=1853&file=view_document.sql
Human trafficking thriving as the poor seek better lives
Human trafficking is thriving in Kenya, the Government has admitted.
Opening a workshop on human trafficking in the East African region at a Nairobi hotel, Labour Minister Newton Kulundu said Kenya was "an emerging centre for human trafficking, as a country of origin, transit and destination."
He said the vice was a relatively new phenomenon in the region and that it was unfortunate it was undocumented and unknown to many people.
He said trafficking in persons had been made possible by, among other things, disparities in economic development but compounded by the "better life syndrome" in the minds of people seeking jobs abroad.
Kulundu said it was worrying that prospective employees "would do everything in their power to travel abroad" only to end up as domestic labourers and commercial sex workers.
The Secretary-General of the African Regional Office of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU-AFRO), Andrew Kailembo, which organised the event, said "at least 60 per cent of foreign commercial sex workers in Italy were from African countries."
Kailembo said it was disheartening that traffickers exploit women and children, resulting in forced labour and sexual slavery.
The minister said the vice was also thriving through promises of future access to education and domestic jobs.
Kulundu said Kenya was yet to sign or ratify the UN Convention on Trafficking in Persons. But he said the "anomaly" would soon be addressed and its contents domesticated in the statutes.
Kailembo blamed the situation on lack of sustained political will at the highest levels of governments.
He said weak structures within the Government enabled traffickers to operate easily.
The Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU) Secretary-General Francis Atwoli accompanied Kulundu.
Atwoli said trade unions had a big role to play in combating the menace, adding: "Trade unions in East Africa need to do more to organise and educate workers, especially those who may be in danger."
He said migrant workers should be provided with messages and information regarding safe migration practices.
He also urged unions to be vigilant in negotiating attractive terms and conditions of employment.
An American trade unionist, Mary Ann Forbes, said there were no trade unions to speak for certain cadre of workers, especially women.
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