Mugumo Munene And Jeff Otieno
20 December 2006
Nairobi — Child prostitution at the Coast has hit alarming levels, a new UN report reveals.
The shocking study says 15,000 girls under 18 are being sexually exploited for cash. And more than 5,000 of the child prostitutes do not protect themselves against killer diseases such as Aids.
About 3,000 of them are engaged full-time in prostitution, having dropped out of school and given up on any other means of earning a living.
The study was carried out along the coastline that stretches from Malindi in the north to Ukunda in the south. It targeted beaches and holiday resorts.
It was carried out at Malindi, Watamu, Mtwapa, Bombolulu, Mombasa, Diani, Ukunda and Shanzu beaches.
Vice President Moody Awori, who launched the report jointly with Unicef Kenya representative Heimo Laakkonen in Nairobi, described the revelations as "terrifying" and "hard to believe."
Mr Awori said: "It is a shocking reality to talk about sexual exploitation of children in our country, a vice that continues to grow to horrific magnitude particularly around the coastal region."
He appealed to the society to join the war against sexual exploitation of children by condemning and discouraging the practice.
Worst perpetrators
Kenyans, Italians, Germans and Swiss nationals are among the worst perpetrators of sexual exploitation of children in the region, says the report by Unicef which also reveals that at least 2,400 girls out of this number are subjected to anal sex.
The survey was a joint effort between Unicef and the Government and highlights sexual exploitation children in the Coastal districts of Malindi, Mombasa, Kilifi and Kwale by both tourists and local residents.
Of the men who engage in sex-for-cash with children, 38 per cent are Kenyans while Italians comprise 18 per cent, Germans 14 per cent, Swiss 12 per cent while the rest is shared out between tourists from other parts of the world.
The police and representatives of the tourism sector immediately pledged to fight the practice through education campaigns, arrests and prosecutions.
Hotels will be required to adhere to tough new rules to guard against child sex, including prohibiting under age girls into their premises.
The Sexual Offences Act will be enforced more strictly to boost police operations in curbing the vice, Police Spokesman Gideon Kibunjah said, adding that the Tourist Police Unit would help in the fight.
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The Mombasa and Coast Tourist Association and Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers said the Code of Conduct for the industry would be enforced more strictly and more operators made to commit themselves to adhere to the rules.
Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers Coast branch chairman Mohammed Hersi said boarding and lodging and guest houses should be made to sign the code before being licensed.
Driven by poverty and pushed by the easy cash offered to primary school age children by pleasure seekers, the vice is on the increase, attracting girls from as far as Western Kenya.
"Child sex tourism is highly lucrative and drives the informal and the commercial sex trade. The disparity between a family's capacity to make money compared to what can be earned from sex work, feeds the domestic culture which encourages children to seek out tourists," the new report says.
The researchers found out that children who are 16 years and below earn up to Sh2,000 a session, while those who are between 16 and 18 years earn between Sh2,000 and Sh5,000.
Casual labour
This compares poorly to the daily rate for casual labour which is between Sh80 and Sh120 for a child and about Sh400 for an adult.
According to the report, which was carried out between October and November last year, the beneficiaries of the trade range from fortune tellers, taxi drivers, villa owners, hoteliers and restaurant owners, business people and beach operators.
Also listed as beneficiaries are the police, who are accused of collecting bribes from the prostitutes in order to "look the other way."
The end of the year is the high season for the trade given the high number of local and foreign tourists who flock coastal resorts for Christmas and New Year festivities.
The report says: "Boys and girls from poor families around the tourist areas are sent out to find much-needed food and cash. They bring it and parents do not ask where it came from or how it was obtained. Children whose families live upcountry send an average of Sh2,000 a month to their families.
The Government is accused of ignoring child prostitution since pursuing suspects would make the coastal resorts unattractive for tourism.
The study shows that about 75 per cent of people in the affected areas approve or tolerate prostitution, because they believe that sex tourism brings in money and wealth.
"It reflects a fundamental breakdown and corruption of families and communities, and a failure of the authorities to provide protection to children and to prosecute those responsible for promoting and profiting from child sex work".
Tourists that exploit children are at the centre of a ring of corruption that involves many from the local community. Child sex workers are often compelled to deliver sexual services to Kenyans - beach boys, bar staff, waiters, and others - in order to access tourists," says the report.
"During the low tourist season, it is the local tourists who keep the child prostitution market going," the report adds.
Mr Awori urged the police, hotel owners and the tourism industry players to expose those perpetrating the vice.
He blamed societal immorality and a degeneration of the social fabric together with factors such as unemployment, poverty and Aids pandemic for the rise of the vice.
He castigated adults who took advantage of children particularly those in vulnerable circumstances to sexually exploit them, and reminded them that it was a criminal offence under the country's law.
"We are reminding everyone that children have a need and a right to be children: even if a girl has matured physically by age 13, she is still immature intellectually and emotionally, until she is 18 years old," Mr Awori said.
The VP called on hotels, lodgings and bars to sign and implement the tourism industry code of conduct, which binds them to the protection of children from sexual exploitation.
Mr Awori noted that though tourism plays an important economic role in the country, there was need for it to be operated responsibly.
He added that most of the children were forced into prostitution due to lack of support and protection in their homes.
The VP said the Government was working with Unicef to come up with effective communication strategies to sensitise the communities against the dangers of child prostitution.
Mr Laakkonen said that all stakeholders should be educated on the dangers, risks, and penalties of sexually abusing children.
Legal action
He called for legal action to be taken against anyone exploiting children, but warned against the danger of criminalising the child victims who he observed are victims of circumstances.
Tourists and Kenyans who abuse children must be arrested, brought to trial and punished, Mr Laakkonen said.
Child prostitution, the study said, had affected enrolment in schools as the youngsters found any easy means of earning income without rigours of education.
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