KENYA BETTER FOCUSED ON TIP BUT MORE COORDINATION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NAIROBI 004070

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG ASEC ELAB PREL KE
SUBJECT: KENYA BETTER FOCUSED ON TIP BUT MORE COORDINATION
NEEDED


1. (SBU) Summary: G/TIP Yousey's August visit to Kenya
highlighted the challenges facing government efforts to
combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP). While Kenya's ranking
among Tier Two Watchlist countries has increased the
attention of the GOK and Kenyan civil society to the problem
of human trafficking, inadequate resources and poor
communication and coordination continue to hamper efforts to
combat the problem. End Summary.


2. (SBU) Rachel Yousey, Program Analyst in the Office to
Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, visited Kenya July
31 - August 7, 2006 to gain a better understanding of TIP
issues affecting Kenya and to raise awareness of TIP among
Kenyan officials. Pol FSN and Econoff accompanied Yousey to
meetings with civil society and Kenyan government agencies
with anti-TIP responsibilities. In addition to meeting with
GOK offices headquartered in Nairobi, Yousey also traveled to
Kenya's coast, where human trafficking is a growing problem,
to discuss trends and anti-TIP efforts with relevant
government agencies and civil society organizations.

Civil Society Committed to Greater Coordination
-------------- ---


3. (SBU) Yousey began the visit with a roundtable on August
1, comprised of numerous civil society organizations involved
in activities to combat trafficking in persons. The issues
the NGOs are confronting include commercial sexual
exploitation, sex tourism, child abuse, and forced labor.
Their programs to confront these issues aim at rehabilitation
of street children, legal aid, and women and child rights
advocacy. There was general consensus on the need to
strengthen the network of civil society organizations working
on these issues. They called for resources to open shelters
for rescued women and children, and to investigate corrupt
police and officials who protect traffickers. Participants
agreed that better coordination would enhance anti-TIP
efforts, and that to more effectively address TIP-related
issues, the network needs to include relevant GOK agencies.
Pol FSN's proposal to develop a GOK line ministry network to
assist in coordination of GOK efforts was enthusiastically
received.


4. (SBU) These sentiments echo similar comments made at a
May 2005 Embassy-sponsored TIP conference, and an
International Organization for Migration (IOM)-sponsored
conference in November 2005. That these issues remain
unresolved and of primary concern for these organizations
says a great deal about the state of anti-TIP efforts and the
ability (or willingness) of the various organizations to take
the initiative and develop the necessary networks to be more
effective. Several NGO representatives have separately
lamented to Poloff the inability of civil society, let alone
the GOK, to coordinate activities. NGO's have historically
relied on outside initiatives (from the USG or International
Organizations) to assist in bringing everyone together. On a
more promising note, the NGO TIP network invited Econoff to
its August meeting, where they tried to finalize the text of
an MOU to formalize the network and improve coordination.


GOK All Ears, But Slow to Act
--------------


5. (SBU) Yousey next paid a call on Ministry of Foreign
Affairs officials, including recently appointed Kenyan
ambassadors assigned to Middle Eastern countries. Recent
media reports have highlighted the plight of Kenyan
trafficking victims in several Middle East countries. Yousey
raised awareness of these issues among the outgoing
ambassadors. The officials were grateful for our bringing
the issues to their attention and expressed their support for
the proposed GOK line ministry network to better share
information and coordinate efforts on TIP.


6. (SBU) During a meeting with Gideon Kimilu, Criminal
Investigations Division Staff Operations Officer, Kenyan
Police Service, he acknowledged that some KPS officers have
benefited from TIP awareness training, provided by IOM and
the American Bar Association (ABA),but said too few have
been trained and those that have are not deployed
consistently where they can transfer the acquired knowledge
to colleagues. Kimilu identified the need to incorporate
into such awareness training a "train the trainer" (TOT)
component at provincial and district levels. (Note: The
Embassy recently completed a grant agreement with the ABA to
provide TOT TIP awareness training to law enforcement and

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immigration officers. The ABA developed the curriculum in
active consultation with the Kenya Police Service and
Ministry for Immigration. End Note.) The Deputy Secretary in
the Office of the President, Mr. Maina, acknowledged the
Human Trafficking Unit (HTU) has been inactive and said that
he would try to invigorate it.


7. (SBU) The Permanent Secretary for Immigration, Emmanuel
Kisombe, welcomed Yousey's visit and expressed concern over
the lack of coordination between GOK agencies and with civil
society. He also lamented that his Ministry was never
consulted regarding its efforts for inclusion in the State
Department's Annual TIP Report. (Note: The need for greater
coordination and communication is clearly a lesson to be
drawn from his own Ministry, where Poloff met with several
immigration officials to discuss their efforts to combat
trafficking, including the Assistant Principle Immigration
Officer. The Permanent Secretary was either unaware of these
meetings or was being disingenuous. End Note.)


8. (SBU) The Children's Department of the Ministry of Home
Affairs recently designated an officer to cover all
TIP-related issues. Human trafficking is now included in the
Department's work plan. Also, the Department's officials
explained that there is a National Steering Committee
responsible for children's matters and that there is a TIP
sub-portfolio under the committee. Officials expressed
concern over the growing reports of boys aged 15-18 being
trafficked to the Middle East. Officials from the Children's
Department expressed strong support for improved networking
between the GOK, civil society, and faith-based
organizations.


9. (SBU) Minister of Culture and Wildlife Morris Dzoro and
Tourism Director Wanjiru Makanga Munene said they were forced
to carry out a raid on a hotel on the Coast because the local
police were compromised and refused to respond to reports of
a woman selling her teen-age daughters to tourists. Dzoro
assured Yousey and Emboffs that the hotels and other
hospitality sector firms that had not yet signed the ECPAT
Code of Conduct to fight child sex tourism would sign up. He
said he would use the recently revived Hotel and Restaurant
Authority, which inspects and licenses all hotels, lodges,
and guest houses, to enforce the Code.


10. (SBU) However, Officials from the Ministry of Labor
complained that while they are involved in vetting and
counseling Kenyan workers going abroad, they have very little
idea of what are the conditions for these workers in foreign
countries, a situation which is aggravated by the fact that
there are no foreign labor attaches in Kenyan missions
abroad. They also complained that the civil society-drafted
anti-TIP legislation was not developed in sufficient
consultation with the Ministry.


Challenged on the Coast
--------------


11. (SBU) On August 3, Yousey, Pol FSN, and Econoff traveled
to the Coast, which has been described as the epicenter of
human trafficking in Kenya, particularly child sex tourism.
A team of Coastal administrators, including the Provincial
Commissioner, Provincial Immigration Officer, Provincial
Tourism Officer, and Assistant Commissioner of Police,
readily admitted to Yousey that child prostitution is rampant
and that the government's ability to combat the vice is
limited. Despite posting legal notices prohibiting underage
children from admission to bars and other establishments,
rarely is anyone ever held to account. Legal loopholes, they
explained, are too great to achieve many successful
prosecutions. The Provincial Commissioner suggested that the
judiciary should be sensitized on child trafficking and
sexual exploitation cases. The Immigration Officer opined
that the difficulties are due to Kenya's porous borders,
which are exploited by traffickers. The Assistant
Commissioner of Police explained that his officers worked in
close cooperation with their Tanzanian counterparts and by
using road blocks have identified illegal aliens and
smuggling routes. However, he complained that the court
system has consistently failed to successfully prosecute
those arrested. It was apparent from the meeting that the
Human Trafficking Unit of the Kenya Police Service has yet to
become active on the Coast.


12. (SBU) During a meeting with the Malindi District
Commissioner (DC),the team learned that the area was

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notorious for marriages between young Kenyan men and women
and older Europeans. The DC described incidents, without
making clear whether any force was involved in the initial
marriage contract, where young Kenyan brides returned to
Kenya with horror stories of abuse at the hands of their
foreign spouses.


13. (SBU) A local reporter who has closely followed TIP and
the growth of sex tourism in Malindi, said that over the last
10 years, a powerful social trend had developed in which
local women, even educated professionals, seek to marry
foreigners who provide houses, cars, and income. He claimed
that many of the businesses in Malindi, both large and small,
are owned by Europeans through their Kenyan wives or
girlfriends. He believed child prostitution and sex tourism
had exploded in the last year, with girls younger then 15
seeking out European tourists and going to their walled-off
villas, where some are abused and used to make pornographic
videos. He worried that European residents and visitors to
Malindi have developed a sense of impunity because local
officials prevent police from "harassing" them to keep the
tourism industry growing.

Comment
--------------


14. (SBU) The release of the Annual TIP Report and Kenya's
downgrading to Tier Two Watchlist have helped focus attention
on human trafficking. However, both civil society and
government officials decry the lack of better coordination on
TIP issues indicating there is serious room for improvement
and underscoring the difficulties in harnessing the good will
to combat TIP for effective action. Thus, while great
strides have been made in raising awareness, closer
cooperation is sorely needed given the complexity of TIP
issues and the necessary involvement of numerous government
agencies. We will strive to capitalize on this new attention
and push all parties for improved communication and the
development of a GOK line ministry network. As demonstrated
in Yousey's various meetings, the Embassy should be able to
find numerous willing allies.


15. (U) This cable was cleared by G/TIP's Rachel Yousey.
RANNEBERGER