Nipping child trade in the bud

Child trafficking is a real global threat and Kenya has not been spared. Sofia Rajab, 27, an advocate and project manager at Cradle Children’s Foundation shares with JOAN BARSULAI the steps her organisation is taking to curb the vice locallyIn the last two years, the global media has cast a spotlight on human trafficking. Almost no country has been immune to this emerging vice, including the United States, which has stringent laws. Kenya is no exception. A few years ago, our country was rocked by a child trafficking scandal involving Archbishop Gilbert Deya, and the vicious cycle continues. Sofia Rajab, a 27-year-old advocate and project manager in charge of the Counter Trafficking in Persons at the Cradle Children’s Foundation, is one of the key persons at the forefront of battling child trafficking. She lets us in on what the vice entails.Tell us a little about your career background.I attended the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa, where I did a Law degree. I did my pupilage at the Kenya School of Law and I worked at the Attorney General’s chambers. I had a short stint at the National Commission for Human Rights where I focused on prisoner’s rights and law reforms. This was my first interaction with children in prison. What inspired you to focus on human trafficking?My passion was sparked while I was in South Africa undertaking my undergraduate course. We were linked to a non-governmental organisation as part of our training, which exposed us to migration issues. The experience was phenomenal, given South Africa’s great awareness on human rights. When I returned to Kenya, I was keen to understand human trafficking. Cradle, the organisation I presently work for, played a huge role in coming up with legislation on human trafficking in Kenya. How is Cradle tackling this vice?We rescue the victims and represent them in the children’s court. We also give them psychosocial support. Most of these children are traumatised by the experiences and that is why they need counselling. We also reintegrate them back into the community. In our work, we ensure we follow the legal processes to the end. We also have to train the duty bearers (those in charge of identifying and rescuing victims) so that they undertake their work with professionalism. In some cases police, magistrates, social workers, paralegals, pro-bono lawyers also need to be trained for them to appreciate and understand the specific needs of the victims. What are some of the challenges you face?Lack of awareness. The legislation that was recently put in place to fight child trafficking is new and even legal practitioners do not know it exists.You can imagine the challenge the person defending the victims faces when they are not even familiar with this legislation.Drafting charges at the police station is also a problem, because the police cannot exactly pinpoint what trafficking as a crime is. In such a scenario, the cases are thrown out.Those of us fighting this vice are also spread too thin, and we are still grappling with how to deal with cross-border trafficking.The legislation in each country differs and this poses a problem when a crime happens across the border.What are the current child trafficking statistics?It is tough to give a definitive number. Unicef estimates that globally between 13,500 and 15,000 children are trafficked annually. I think that is not a true representation of the actual number, because cases of domestic trafficking are not properly identifiable.In simple terms, what is child trafficking?When you move a child from one place to another to exploit them under pretext, or through deception, force or promise, you have committed trafficking. When you exploit a child through forced labour or domestic servitude, you are also trafficking. So in a nutshell, when you have an underage child who is supposed to be in school or in their home environment working for you, that is child trafficking. If we did a real study of children working under domestic servitude, or through forced labour, I can guarantee you that the present numbers would soar. The problem we are facing is creating awareness and convincing people that child trafficking is exploitation. People are more likely to protest when a child is sexually molested, as opposed to when a child is forced into labour.What are the dynamics of child trafficking in Kenya?In Kenya we do not have organised syndicates. It is mostly a crime organised amongst friends and relatives.How does Kenya rank on the global scale when it comes to stamping out human trafficking?The US States usually ranks countries in tiers annually based on their efforts to combat the vice. The tier rates range from one to four, with one being the best and tier four being the worst; on the watch list. Kenya is in tier two, which means that our initiatives are bearing fruit, and that we have the necessary frameworks in place to deal with trafficking.To combat the vice, Kenya also has the National Action plan on counter trafficking 2008-2013.I must admit that although the legal frameworks look great on paper, the implementation is dismal. We do not even have an advisory committee set in place to raise funds to implement this anti-trafficking legislation, yet it costs nothing to set up one. Is there hope that this crime can eventually be stamped out?The present force behind organisations that fight trafficking is the donor funding. Sadly, this issue is taking a back shelf. I believe in the sustainability of our interventions. For now, a chapter on trafficking should be added to police training. That way the police will be better equipped to attack this crime. &#12288;

Nipping child trade in the bud

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