Child protection organisations in Kenya say more needs to be done to protect young people from exploitation by overseas perpetrators, as the country reports a rising number of abuse cases. The warning follows the arrest of Gregory Dow, a 61-year-old missionary, who last month pleaded guilty in a US court to sexually abusing girls at an orphanage he ran in Kenya. It also comes after Kenyan authorities charged a 71-year-old German national in May on counts of trafficking, defilement, indecent acts and child pornography.
She told the Guardian that trust in white people by many Kenyans, particularly in those offering to support their families, makes children an easy target for abusers from the west.
“The black people here view the whites as superior beings, and the whites know that and they take advantage,” said Mutisya.
“These are people that are living in abject poverty, so when someone promises that they’re going to get your children an education, that they’re going to feed you, these people will go for that,” she said.
The WeProtect Global Alliance has issued a briefing warning of a “greater risk of sexual exploitation online, including sexual coercion, extortion and manipulation by offenders”, as well as “live-streaming abuse in home environments” during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Perpetrators are busy grooming children, capturing them and waiting for the right moment when this lockdown is done,” warned Paul Adhoch, the executive director of Mombasa-based anti-trafficking NGO Trace Kenya. He said abusers use social media to meet children online, and in some cases pay for them to travel to places such as Mombasa, a city on the Kenya coast. Kenya’s idyllic beaches are a popular tourist destination. But they are increasingly attracting abusers from Europe and the US, after countries in Asia clamp down on sex tourism.
Kelvin Lay, the director of global operations at Overwatch, an organisation that has been supporting Kenyan police in its investigations, said the live-streaming of abuse identified in Kenya raises concerns that a trend similar to that in Asia could be emerging.
“Individuals in countries like the UK and the US will engage and direct the sexual abuse of children over a video or phone camera,” said Lay, who previously worked as an investigator at the UK’s National Crime Agency. “Then at some point, that isn’t sufficient for them any more, so they jump on a plane.”
The anti-human trafficking and child protection unit is using digital forensics to protect children and track potential perpetrators in Kenya, said Mutisya.
Source: Guardian
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