Prostitution in Kenya

Prostitution in Kenya is widespread.[1] The legal situation is complex. Although prostitution is not criminalised by Federal law, municipal by-laws may prohibit it.[2] (Nairobi banned all sex work in December 2017).[2] It is illegal to profit from the prostitution of others, and to aid, abet, compel or incite prostitution. (Sections 153 and 154 of the Penal Code).[3] UNAIDS estimate there to be 133,675 prostitutes in the country.[4]

Many foreign men and women take part in sex tourism, which is thriving at resorts along Kenya's coast. Thousands of girls and boys are involved in full-time child prostitution[5] due to poverty in the region.

Sex workers report abuse, extortion and violence from the police.[3]

Sex tourism on the coast

The ministry for tourism in Kenya has been severely criticised because of its lack of response to the booming sex tourism and child exploitation on the Kenyan coast.[6][7]

In 2006, a study by UNICEF reported that up to 30% of the population of children aged between 12 and 18 in the coastal regions of Malindi, Mombasa, Kilifi and Diani were engaged in some form of sex work.[8][9]

Prostitution and health
See also: HIV/AIDS in Kenya

Access to health services is guaranteed by Article 43 of the Kenyan Constitution. However sex workers are often discriminated against and access to health services limited. [3]

Kenya is one of the world's most HIV affected countries.[10] Sex workers are the most affected group within the country. Research has shown that around 30% of sex workers are HIV positive.[10]

Lack of condom use, (both amongst sex workers and the general public), fuelled the spread of HIV and other STIs. Since 2001, the Kenyan Government has been distributing free condoms (180 million in 2013) and educating the public on their use.[10] The University of Nairobi and Prof Elizabeth Ngugi established a program with local prostitutes to educate and empower them by encouraging condom use.[11] A study of Nairobi sex workers in 2015 reported about two thirds always use condoms with clients. This compares with 40% amongst members of the general public who have two or more partners.[10]

HIV and STI testing is voluntary, however as the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Act 2006 criminalised HIV transmission, there is some reluctance for sex workers to get tested.[3] The 2015 Nairobi sex workers' study found 86% had been tested, 63% within the previous 12 months.[10]

This booming trade in sex tourism[12] goes on[13] with the Kenyan Tourism Police's full knowledge. They do not want to discourage the hundreds of thousands of white tourists from coming to Kenya's coast, regardless of the damage it does to young Kenyans.[9][14][15]

Sex trafficking
See also: Human trafficking in Kenya

Kenya is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking. Boys were increasingly subjected to trafficking. Girls and boys are exploited in commercial sex throughout Kenya, including in sex tourism in Nairobi, Kisumu, and on the coast, particularly in informal settlements; at times, their exploitation is facilitated by family members. Children are also exploited in sex trafficking by people working in khat (a mild narcotic) cultivation areas, near gold mines in western Kenya, by truck drivers along major highways, and by fishermen on Lake Victoria. Kenyans are recruited by legal or illegal employment agencies or voluntarily migrate to Europe, the United States, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, and Oman, in search of employment, where at times they are exploited in massage parlours and brothels,. Reports allege gay and bisexual Kenyan men are deceptively recruited from universities with promises of overseas jobs, but are forced into prostitution in Qatar and UAE. Kenyan women are subjected to forced prostitution in Thailand by Ugandan and Nigerian traffickers.[16]

Some children in Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps may be subjected to sex trafficking. Children from East Africa and South Sudan are subjected to sex trafficking in Kenya. Trucks transporting goods from Kenya to Somalia returned to Kenya with girls and women subsequently exploited in brothels in Nairobi or Mombasa. Nepalese and Indian women recruited to work in mujra dance clubs in Nairobi and Mombasa face debt bondage, which they are forced to pay off by dancing and forced prostitution.[16]

The United States Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons ranks Kenya as a 'Tier 2' country.[17]

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See also

References
  1. "The Legal Status of Prostitution by Country". ChartsBin. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  2. "Nairobi County Assembly Bans Sex Work in the City". NSWP. 12 December 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  3. "Sexuality, Poverty and Law Programme". Institute of Development Studies. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  4. "Sex workers: Population size estimate - Number, 2016". www.aidsinfoonline.org. UNAIDS. Archived from the original on 4 June 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  5. La explotación sexual de menores en Kenia alcanza una dimensión horrible – UNICEF España. Unicef.es (17 January 2007). Retrieved on 2011-05-09.
  6. Kenya: Supkem Slams Balala Over Sex Trade. allAfrica.com (26 April 2011). Retrieved on 2011-05-09.
  7. Kenya: Supkem Slams Balala Over Sex Trade Archived 25 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Mombasa.travel (26 April 2011). Retrieved on 2011-05-09.
  8. Chris Niles (19 December 2006). "Report reveals Kenyan child sex industry of 'horrific' magnitude". UNICEF.
  9. Kenya – Sex tourism in Kenya: One girl’s story. UNICEF. Retrieved on 9 May 2011.
  10. "HIV and AIDS in Kenya". AVERT. 14 September 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  11. Cohen, Jon (23 June 2000). "An Ambassador of Research". Science. 288 (5474): 2162. doi:10.1126/science.288.5474.2162. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 10896601.
  12. Child Prostitution. YouTube (28 September 2009). Retrieved on 2011-05-09.
  13. Untold suffering of Kenya's children – Channel 4 News. Channel4.com. Retrieved on 9 May 2011.
  14. Autumn Sex Tourism Flourishing in … Kenya?. Vagabondish.com (22 February 1999). Retrieved on 2011-05-09.
  15. Hughes, Dana. (7 October 2008) Sun, Safaris and Sex Tourism in Kenya – ABC News. Abcnews.go.com. Retrieved on 2011-05-09.
  16. "Kenya 2017 Trafficking in Persons Report". US Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. Archived from the original on 3 July 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2017. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  17. "Kenya 2018 Trafficking in Persons Report". U.S. Department of State. Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2018.

Bibliography

History
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