KENYA: Climate Change, Poverty and Tourists put Maasai Daughters at Risk

Deceptions of Slavery

Tumaroi Malkit is an elderly resident of Kajiado. “Our cattle dying as a result of the prevailing drought has come with serious consequences. As a result, we are forced to sell our daughters and granddaughters to traffickers who promise us wealth,” he says honestly.

“We gave away our dear girl to the foreigners for them to send our child to a good school in Europe and we regret our action,” admits Tumaroi Malakit. “Even the police have been reluctant to assist us.”

Malakit also admits that the loss and disappearance of his granddaughter has also increased his own poverty and his extended family. It has come with “serious social problems which the government has failed to address,” adds Malakit.

The resource that girls offer to the Maasai community cannot be easily monetized. It includes many hours of work most girls offer their family as they walk miles to harvest wood, manage water gathering, heard animals & perform chores.

“Our single biggest challenge is human trafficking in our community. Young girls aged below 13 are now believed to be in Europe. Some are believed to have been kidnapped even without the consent of their parents,” Ms. Ole Lakutit Kuyioni, a member from one of the Mara region Maasai communities, aged 90, explains.

The culture of the Maasai as herders doesn’t help the situation. “We the Masaai do not plant crops,” said Joseph Leseyio, administrative Chief of the Kajaido District outlining the life of the Maasai. “We depend on our cattle for our livelihood and we are asking the government to come up with guidelines that will help us get seeds to plant crops and change our lifestyle away from being cattle herders.”

Government Intervention

“We are asking the government to focus on education, even just for them to invest more funds in building schools in this community is very important,” added Leseyio. “These initiatives will reduce incidences of people here in Kajiado giving away their young daughters to dangerous human traffickers.”

During the days of normal climate in the region, a cow would fetch as much as $400 KES ($5.21 USD). With the drought situation the value of a cow has gone down to only $5 KES ($.07 USD), if it can manage to survive the harsh climate surrounding Kajiado.

From 2008 – 2013, the European Commission is bringing Kenyan experts in the field of children and sex-trafficking together to compile an ongoing investigation and report.  The name of the report is, “Building the dream: Saving the African Child from Trafficking.” Data presented in the report has already been coming from agency “experts” inside Kenya, including CRADLE, FIDAH – Kenya, CLARION and KOVAW – Kenya.

As an advocate for children, Hassan Omar, Senior Commissioner with the government funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, has become intensely aware of the violations of Kenyan girls, many younger than 13.

“The numbers of girls that have gone missing since November last year stands at 40,” Omar confirmed recently in an interview. “All are mostly from the Narok areas. The government has done nothing to ensure the safety of the young children despite several pleas to the government. There is greater need for efficient screening of people coming into our borders to minimize such negative impacts. Our files show that young girls have been trafficked mostly from Narok, since November 2009.”

Following the 2007 post-election strife in Kenya,  the government is currently still in transition. A new draft constitution, that guarantees limitations within the power of the office of the President, is scheduled to be passed later this year in a national referendum.

The Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya is working to encourage the Parliament of Kenya to pass specific laws that will help curb sex-trafficking. Other agencies are also working now on getting stronger protective laws for children passed in the Kenyan Parliament.

Magnitude of the Problem

Human trafficking expert, Associate Professor for Women, Gender and Development Studies, from the Institute of Social Studies at The Hague, Ms. Thanh-Dam Truong, was one of the first scholars to provide an in-depth analysis of organised crime and sex-trafficking in South East Asia. In 2005, in partnership with UNESCO, she turned her attention to the African region, specifically to the region surrounding the SSA – Sub-Saharan Africa. While the SSA region is different than the East African area surrounding Kenya, the issues of human and girl trafficking are the same.

“Many aspects of human trafficking remain poorly understood,” explains Than-Dan. “Even though it is now a priority issue for many governments. Information about the magnitude of the problem is limited.”

Ms. Thanh-Dam Truong reminds us that, “human trafficking requires a multi-dimensional answer.”

“No single organisation is capable of ‘solving’ all affiliated problems,” says Than-Dam. “Nor should it enforce one vision of the problem as global. A combination of practices capable of creating synergetic effects and consolidating policy goals among engaged actors is sorely needed.”

While Kenyan government officials begin slowly now to look at the problems of human trafficking and sex-trafficking using a local eye on the region, the problem of slavery increases each year. Regional networks of organised crime cartels that are involved as players in human trafficking in Kenya clearly need a more thorough and transparent investigation.

“We have told the government to be more vigilant to come up with tough immigration policies as well as draft new laws that will punish the perpetrators of human and child traffickers,” explained the Commissioner on Human Rights, Hassan Omar.

The Kenyan Commission on Human Rights is currently working on a draft which it will forward to the government for review in a move aimed at encouraging the government to make new and stricter laws aimed at protecting women and young children against slavery.

“Once the government reviews our draft, it will then go to parliament for debate where new laws will be recommended. The draft may take some months before it is ready for debate,” added Omar.

Police Reports in the Region

In addition to reports inside the country, Kenyan police reports have also confirmed allegations of Kenyan girls being trafficked to Europe to work as domestic house helpers and prostitutes in high end European brothels.

“We are investigating 5 foreigners from the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Spain with the involvement of child trafficking. We will charge them with other offenses such as sexual abuse of young girls below 18,” police spokesman Eric Kiraithe, in Nairobi, confirmed.

At least 34 young Kenyan girls under the age of 14, from the Narok area, have been traced by the police. Six of the girls are from Kajiado.

“We have only managed to make one major arrest,” Kiraithe added. “The man we arrested is already being prosecuted in court with no police bond. Evidence that we are getting shows that the young girls are used as sex workers. Some have even been raped by some traffickers themselves. There are also several other charges.”

Kiraithe has also confirmed that one of the girls has now been rescued by the international police and brought back to Kenya. One trafficking suspect is also assisting with investigations back in the UK.

“Unfortunately she has contracted HIV,” said Kiraithe about one of the trafficked girls. “The girl is only 9, and she has a lot of physical damage, especially in the reproductive organs such as the cervix. She is undergoing medical attention as we speak,” Kiraithe confirmed.

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[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCrq81jplA4?rel=0]

Lack of proper legislation has been a major setback in combating child trafficking in the Kenya. Speaking at a two day forum on sensitization for magistrates and prosecutors on child trafficking, Court of Appeal judge, Lady Justice Joyce Aluoch, urged parliament to fast track enactment of the relevant bill to curb the trafficking of children. Aluoch has also called on magistrates to use international ratifications to ensure that girls who do get pregnant during the time they are attending school are allowed to complete their studies. This video is an October 2008 Kenya Citizen TV production.
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[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCzd58HZnm4?rel=0]

Maasai filmmaker Jemimah Maitei Kerenge, a participant in the Conversations with the Earth Project, which trains indigenous people in video production, talks about the dire situations of her drought-devastated people. Their ancient culture, like many others around the world is being destroyed by climate change, their animals are dying and they are being forced to migrate in their thousands out of their ancestral lands in Kenya into neighbouring countries. These and other causes are contributing to sex-trafficking in the region. For more info on Conversations with the Earth Project : http://www.conversationsearth.org/

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For more information on this topic:

• “OIM – International Organisation for Migration – Kenya Factsheet,” 2010
• “Child Sex Tourism in Kenya,”  ECPAT – UK, 2006
• “Study on Trafficking in Women in East Africa,” GTZ – Sector Project Against Trafficking in Women, 2004
• “Maasai Girls Education Fund” (website)
• “Data Assessment for Maasai in Kenya,” MAR – Minorities at Risk, 2010

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WNN Kenya correspondent from Nairobi, Charles Gitonga Njeru, is a journalist who specializes in investigative stories, women’s rights and science reporting. His material for news stories has been published by Reuters News – AlertNet, The Guardian (UK) and Africa Science News, along with The Daily Nation and The Nairobi Star Newspaper in Kenya. Njeru’s work has also been featured by Spore Magazine (Brussels) and Ooskanews (US) covering water, land and sanitation issues in developing countries. Charles is also a recent recipient of an award grant from The Fund for Investigative Journalism in Washington, D.C. Additional research material for this story has also been provided by Lys Anzia, Pushcart Prize nominee, rights journalist and Editor-At-Large for Women News Network – WNN.

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Additional information sources for this story include Gáldu – The Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, University of East Anglia (UK), IOM – International Organisation for Migration, Daily Nation (Kenya), Maasai Girls Education Fund, CIDCM – Center for International Development and Conflict Management, BBC News, US Department of State, ECPAT International, The CRADLE – The Children’s Foundation, Human Rights House – Kenya, GTZ – Sector  Project Against Trafficking in Women and The Hague, Netherlands.
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©2010 Women News Network – WNN

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