MODERN SLAVERY
President Ruto wants Kenyans to find jobs abroad. Will they be safe?
By Julian Pecquet, in Washington for TheAfricaReport.com
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Posted on June 27, 2024 05:00
Edith Murogo, of Kenya, speaks at an event to release the State Department’s 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report on June 24, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images/AFP).
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“While trafficking is as old as humanity itself, perpetrators continue to evolve their methods
“In the area where I work, which is labour migration, counter-human trafficking, there is a lot that is happening that is a bit concerning,” says Edith Murogo, the founder and CEO of the Centre for Domestic Training and Development in Nairobi.
“There are massive, massive promises of jobs abroad,” Murogo tells The Africa Report. “So while this may look like something very good, it may not be. We have to be cautious [...] if that political rhetoric is not matched by actions to protect these workers as they go.”
High-tech criminals
Murogo raised the alarm while in Washington for the 24 June release of the State Department’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report for 2024.
She was chosen to introduce her cohort of 10 people from around the world recognised as part of the TIP Report Heroes awards programme, which is celebrating its 20th year; others came from Mali as well as Bangladesh, Bolivia, Cuba, Iraq, Philippines, Serbia, Spain and Suriname.
“We have dedicated our lives to restoring the rights, dignity and humanity of those affected,” Murogo said at the awards ceremony.
“While trafficking is as old as humanity itself, perpetrators continue to evolve their methods,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the awards ceremony. Ambassador-at- Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Cindy Dyer, a former prosecutor from Dallas, said technology can also be a tool for those fighting traffickers.
Kenya’s quandary
Murogo founded her centre in 2001 with the goal of training domestic workers on their rights and lobbying for stronger protections for migrant workers. In 2012, she opened the Talia Agler Girls Shelter, a safe house that has helped more than 1,000 girls escape bondage.
She gives Ruto’s government high marks for committing to ratifying two International Labour Organization (ILO) treaties: The Domestic Workers Convention (C189) and the convention on eliminating violence and harassment in the workplace (C190).
Both are crucial to protecting Kenyans working abroad, she says. The Arabian Gulf countries of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in particular are large importers of African workers that Murogo says can be “very hostile” labour destinations.
Some three million Kenyans live abroad, according to the country’s foreign affairs ministry. In 2022, they sent home $4.1bn in remittances, according to the World Bank, the fifth most in Africa. …