The child traffickers who prey on families

A recent story in the Kenyan media has highlighted the dangers of child trafficking – and the methods used by traffickers to trick parents into giving up their children.

The report concerns 21 minors of varying ages, from two different primary schools and one polytechnic school, in Nyeri County. The children’s parents were reportedly tricked into allowing their children to go with “agents” who falsely promised to enroll the children in a fully sponsored education programme in Nairobi, in exchange for 3,000 Kenyan shillings per child.

One college-age student who escaped after being taken to Nairobi returned home and reported that he had not received an education and was instead used, along with other children, as labourers.

Incidents of this kind are unfortunately not uncommon. Stahili has documented numerous cases where vulnerable families are put under pressure to give up their children on the false promise of education, sometimes in exchange for money. Various methods of recruitment have been used. Sometimes families pay for the opportunity. Others are paid, or lured only on the promise of something they feel they cannot provide.

Families who are struggling financially become targets for traffickers who use the promise of education and food security to persuade parents to give up their children to institutions such as orphanages. These institutions are often merely fronts for child labour and other forms of exploitation, operated by what have been called “orphanage entrepreneurs”.

Poverty should never be the reason children are removed from their families and solutions must be geared toward family strengthening, instead of family separation. Stahili’s work empowering and supporting vulnerable families is proof that family strengthening and resilience work to protect children and their rights.

Strong families are the key to defeating the traffickers who prey on poverty. Simply put, children belong in families.