Protect girls from trafficking, Mandera Woman Rep tells parents
Mandera Woman Rep Amina Gedow with members of various women groups in Tabaka town on June 23, 2019. She urged parents in the vast North Eastern region to protect girls against increasing cases of trafficking of children for sexual exploitation. PHOTO | MANASE OTSIALO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Ms Gedow’s call comes amid widespread trafficking of children in Mandera.
- According to Ms Gedow, corruption is to be blamed for cases of trafficking of children from North Eastern.
- She urged parents to ensure that their girls are always with trusted people of relatives.
Mandera Woman Rep Amina Gedow has urged parents in the vast North Eastern region to protect girls against increasing cases of trafficking of children for sexual exploitation.
While speaking to women groups in Takaba town in Mandera West on Sunday, the MP lamented the current increase in cases of children engaging in prostitution from the region, blaming it on laxity by parents.
“As parents, we need to know the whereabouts of our children and in whose company they are so that we can account for them and protect them against some vices in society,” she said.
DOMESTIC WORK
Ms Gedow’s call comes amid widespread trafficking of children in Mandera with many said to be coerced into domestic work in Nairobi.
“We had a case of a young girl who suffered after she attempted to procure an abortion in Eastleigh and that was just one among many cases from this region,” she said.
A recent survey by the US State Department indicated that the government of Kenya does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so.
Kenya thus remains among several countries listed in the second-best of four categories by which the US rates the extent of trafficking and governments’ responses to it.
CORRUPTION
According to Ms Gedow, corruption is to be blamed for cases of trafficking of children from North Eastern.
“Traffickers cheat parents that their girls are going to join schools in Nairobi or get some kind of job. Documents to facilitate the travel are fraudulently obtained,” she said.
She said there is a group of women from the region who specialise in child trafficking and mostly deal in girls for sexual exploitation in Nairobi.
She urged parents to ensure that their girls are always with trusted people of relatives and also make regular follow-ups on their activities away from home.
“We have cases of girls running to Nairobi and renting houses in groups of two to three with the intention of engaging in societal vices,” she said.
