Preying on innocence: Is Kenya turning into a playground for paedophiles?
Terry Krieger in a Nairobi court after he was sentenced to 50 years imprisonment for circulating child pornography via social media.
In recent years, Kenya has been hit by a series of cases where paedophiles operate with impunity, with some even managing to escape law enforcement agencies and flee the country.
The Nation has established that a number of paedophiles have managed to walk free, leaving their victims to suffer psychological anguish due to the effects of sexual abuse.
Paedophilia is a disorder characterised by recurrent intense fantasies, urges or behaviours involving sexual activity with a prepubescent child.
So worrying are the cases that they caught the attention of Chief Justice Martha Koome, who this week launched an electronic register which will permanently capture the data of convicted sexual offenders.
Speaking in Kibera, Chief Justice Koome said the move to capture the data on such people was purely aimed at making employers and other stakeholders aware so that they can avoid the villains.
The move was prompted by a recent survey by the Kibera Court User Committee that found that cases of gender-based violence and sexual offences had increased.
“It will be important to have a one-stop data portal for all sexual offenders for easy access by the justice systems and all other relevant authorities,” the CJ said during the launch of the electronic register.
Studies show that this problem has been pervasive in Kenya for long, with suspects in some cases cutting deals with parents before the matter is escalated, or with police and judicial officers.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, in its report dated 2018- 2022 titled National Plan of Action Against Sexual Exploitation of Children in Kenya, listed sexual abuse as one of the most disturbing incidents affecting minors.
It also listed other abuses against children, which include physical abuse, neglect, emotional or psychological abuse and child labour.
“Of all the forms of child abuse, sexual abuse and exploitation of children is the most traumatic, with short and long-term consequences on the child. Research has shown that one out of three girls and one out of five boys has experienced sexual abuse in their childhood,” it reads in part.
According to the action plan, over the past two decades, sexual exploitation of children has worsened due to rural-urban migration, the breakdown of social morals and norms, increased national and international travel and tourism, and to a large extent globalisation, occasioned by the expansion of information and communication technologies and the internet.
In yet another study published by Better Care Networks and conducted by Terre des Hommes Netherlands, an interagency network facilitating global information exchange and collaboration on the issue of children without adequate family care, it emerged that Kenya is leading in online Child Sexual Exploitation (OCSE).
Increased mobile phone penetration and internet access have given rise to a set of conditions that have made children more vulnerable to OCSE. Online child sexual exploitation is the broad phenomenon of the use of the Internet to exploit children sexually,” the report reads in part.
The report revealed that the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) had said that the internet has an estimated number of 750,000 people whose aim is to connect with children across the globe for sexual purposes online and at any moment.
It said that having such people on the internet leads to a phenomenon known as live Online Child Sexual Exploitation.
“This form of OCSE is conducted via the internet where adults offer payment or other forms of rewards to view, and in many cases, direct live-stream video footage of children performing sexual acts in front of a webcam or cell-phone camera,” the study further stated.
The study states that families that live in abject poverty are also easily targeted by agents who in return promise marriage, education or employment opportunities to children. Once a child or family becomes financially dependent on sexual exploitation, it becomes very difficult to end this cycle with no other economic opportunities present.”
It also highlighted intersecting factors that might end up luring children into hotspot areas like tourist attraction places where they end up being victims of abuse.
“Children can voluntarily move to these hotspots accompanied or unaccompanied by their family or can be lured into cities and towns by brokers, relatives and friends. Once children arrive, a lack of child protection networks and the inability to fulfil basic needs forces children into CSEC and other worst forms of child labour,” the study further stated.
In yet another research conducted by the same organisation, it emerged that 45 per cent of CSEC victims in the Kenyan coastal region are usually those who migrated from upcountry to engage in commercial sex work.
According to the research, it is estimated that in the coastal town of Mtwapa alone, between 10,000 and 20,000 children are trafficked annually for the purpose of sex tourism.
Mr Noah Sanganyi, a child protection specialist and the former Director for Children’s Services at the Department of Children's Services under the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection in Kenya, said family breakups are the major cause of cases of children falling victim to sexual abuse.
He asked parents and communities to be very careful especially when engaging with foreign volunteers since there is proof that some jet into the country posing as good people yet they have evil ideas.
“There is also the factor of social media on this issue and already we have a framework in place which is protecting the minors on this platform,” said Mr Sanganyi, who also served as the Secretary to the National Council for Children's Services.
He added that foreigners who jet into the country are usually asked to provide certificates showing that they don’t have a past record of child abuse.
This was also echoed by human rights defender Esnas Nyaramba, who is based in Kisii County and who said a major challenge was that poverty had made the suspects walk free despite evidence that they had committed the act.
“At times the parents of the children are compromised and the matter is swept under the carpet. Other suspects also manage to compromise the police and the case ends at the police station,” Ms Nyaramba said.
