Dear Fida-Kenya,
I have read so much about human trafficking. In an article, the writer expressed that even househelps and watchmen are trafficked from the rural areas to urban centres to work without their consent. If this is the case, then almost everyone in Nairobi is guilty of human trafficking. Most of our househelps are referred to us by relatives from shags. Kindly explain to me what human trafficking refers to.
Caroline, Nyeri
Dear Caroline,
The Trafficking in Persons Protocol has defined trafficking of persons to mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.
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The protocol notes that exploitation could include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.
Human trafficking involves moving human beings for profit and there must be some improper form of recruitment, such as coercion, deception or some abuse of authority; and the activity must have been undertaken for some exploitative purpose.
Young girls are often lured from their rural homes with schemes that promise lucrative employment in cities, only to be exploited as underpaid domestic servants. Kenyan law prohibits child labour in the Children’s Act, Chapter 586 of the Laws of Kenya.
In light of your question, the employment of househelps in the urban centres especially in cases where they are minors, would be classified as child labour and is punishable under Kenyan law.
If a person is of majority age, taking them from rural areas to urban centres with promises of employment, which is, but a smoke screen for ‘enslavement’ could be interpreted as child trafficking.
