Statistics by The 2018 Global Slavery Index show that 70.59% of the Kenyan population is vulnerable to Modern Slavery, which includes human traffickifng, forced labour, child slavery, debt bondage, early marriage and descent-based slavery. Unemployment, above anything else, makes Kenyans more vulnerable to trafficking. Estimates by the World Bank indicate that Kenya’s unemployment rate was at 9.31% in 2018, majority of whom are youth.
In moments of utter desperation, job seekers might not be as discerning about job requirements since the need to earn money in order to survive is urgent. Regardless of the type of job being sought and academic qualifications, there are certain red flags that all job applicants should look out for.
Michelle Koinange, the Coordinator for Stop The Traffik-Kenya, identifies four major red flags for any job applicant. One is when the deal is “too good to be true”. Recruitment agencies or individuals, more often than not known to the person, lure the job seeker with promises of a better life and opportunity to make “good money”. What they leave out are the exact job descriptions, and payment details, which should be clear from the onset.
Secondly, when a recruitment agency asks too many personal questions about your family, be worried. The only information they need to know about your family is next of kin, in case of an emergency. Details about where your family members live, their occupations, and property owned should never be disclosed when seeking any job, whether locally or internationally.
“Be on the lookout for recruitment agencies that offer to submit travel application forms on your behalf,”
Ideally, all Kenyan citizens should be present when presenting passport application forms for collection of biometric details, and also present for visa applications, which require an interview.
One hard-to-identify red flag, is the Stockholm Syndrome. Often times, victims of trafficking begin to identify closely with their captors, and they develop feelings of trust and/or affection towards them. When the victims are finally free, they tend to share their experiences in a manner that makes it look too glamorous for any job seeker to miss out. Unbeknowst to them, they get lured into forced labour and sex trafficking.
“Sadly, some victims of trafficking who are lucky to come back home find themselves applying for similar jobs multiple times due to several push factors, such as poverty,”
The search for greener pastures has also left young people vulnerable to trafficking, not only internationally, but also locally from one county (in a rural area), to another (usually in the urban centers) as well as regionally ie from one country in the region to another. Numerous stories abound of young girls who, promised to continue with their education are brought to the city by the relatives, only to end up as househelps, or locked up in brothels.
The Kenyan government needs to take charge and deal categorically with these two issues that are interlinked; unemployment and Trafficking in Persons. According to the 2019 Trafficking in Persons report, Kenyan authorities are accused of penalizing victims for crimes they have been compelled to commit by their trafficker due to inadequate screening for trafficking indicators among vulnerable groups. That is why women who are trafficked and forced to work in brothels find themselves charged with prostitution, being in the country illegally or overstaying their visa etc yet they are the victims.
To mitigate against the exploitation and trafficking of Kenyan nationals in Arabian Gulf States, the Ministry of Labor appointed labor attachés in Kenyan missions in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. It is not clear how many Kenyans —documented or otherwise— are working in these countries. What is however known is that numerous cases of Kenyans— particularly women— are still being taken abroad for ‘work’ which ends up being less than modern day slavery where they are paid little or no money and are at the mercy of their employers.
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