An NGO has singled out Garissa, Lamu and Tana River counties as key corridors for child and youth trafficking.
Trace Kenya executive director Paul Adhoch said on Monday young girls are brought from the three counties and others from Somalia for arranged early marriages in Mombasa and Nairobi.
Trace Kenya is an NGO based in Mombasa to help rescue, rehabilitate and reintegrate women, youth and children who were victims of human trafficking.
Adhoch told the Star on the phone that the three counties are also affected by rampant cases of female genital mutilation, defilements and teenage pregnancies.
He said Trace Kenya, through a field monitor in Garsen, Tana River, recorded 25 cases of young girls and women being trafficked in the last four months.
Out of the 25 cases, 23 were child brides, and they were being taken for early marriages, Adhoch said. The other two were adults who were being taken for sex work, he added.
“Tana River is being used as a transit county. Young girls are brought in from Lamu, Garissa and Somalia to be forced into early marriages in towns of Mombasa and Nairobi,” he said.
Adhoch said during this time of Covid-19 pandemic, unsuspecting young people are recruited on the internet.
“We wish to sensitise the public on the dangers of trafficking in persons and create awareness on the increased risks and new forms of recruitment arising from Covid-19 pandemic - online recruitment,” he said.
Last week on Thursday, Trace Kenya organised the annual World Day Against Trafficking in Persons (WDATIP) in the coastal region.
Guests participated in the national event held virtually from Nairobi, led by the Counter Trafficking in Persons Secretariat.
Edited by A.N
