For the first time in history, 35th edition of the IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place in Mombasa, Kenya. Athletes from all over the world participated in the event, later the occasion was culminated with prize distribution ceremony on Saturday.
However, recently, some repugnant occurrence has surfaced itself. The region is thriving in child sex tourism. And who are the culprits? Well, a number of athletes, athletics and government officials, members of parliament, councilors, business executives, artists, tourists and journalists are in the hit list.
Clients often meet the children in bars, pubs, and nightclubs in or near major hotels along the coast. Evenings out in any of the hot entertainment spots in the Coast - Malindi, Kilifi, Diani and Mtwapa reveal that child sex tourism is a cancer that continues to eat into the society at a distressing rate.
1. 30 percent of girls aged from 12 to 18, in four districts on the Kenyan coast are engaged in casual sex for cash.
2. According to the U.N. study, 41 percent of adults who pay children as young as 12 years old for sex at Kenya’s coast are Kenyans. Most of the remaining 59 percent of sex tourism clients are Italians, Germans and Swiss.
3. Thousands of girls in coastal tourist areas are being exploited in the sex-for-cash industry.
4. About one in 10 children involved in sex work is initiated before they reach puberty.
5. Many other young women are forced into prostitution by members of their family.
Who is to blame for all these?
The business had thrived in Kenya partly due to the mushrooming of brothels, bars and villas, which allowed revellers to target young children for sexual exploitation and lack of effective legislation to fight the problem.
Children as young as eleven, tell heart-rending tales that sound out of this world. They look like they could fit better in a classroom than in this filthy flesh trade business.
Although tourists are blamed for child sex tourism at the Coast, details on the ground reveal that some MPs are among the most notorious perpetrators of this crime.
Year in and year out, reports are published about child sex tourism at the Coast while donors renew funds for NGOs fighting against sexual exploitation of children. But the cancer has not gone away. It only gets deeper and dirtier. But how can it go away when the local leaders have conspired to eat their own children?
Is there a way out?
If the menace is not curbed at the present juncture then it would pose serious repercussions, may even end up in labeling Kenya as the worst perpetrators of child-sex slave trade.
The Government of Kenya, through its Ministry of Trade and Tourism, needs to address and put in place laws that will restrict and curb the menace, as there is a clear link between sex tourism and human trafficking, in addition to the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Further, a number of international tour operators have already signed a code of conduct to protect children from sexual exploitation in the travel and tourism industry but cannot be successful without the backing of the Government. Hence, the government needs to become stringent in this regard.
A starting point in addressing this problem would be the ratification of the international protocols on Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking while specifically addressing child prostitution and exploitation in The Children’s Act and providing harsher penalties for offenders.
