Normalising 'mubaba' culture fosters child sexual abuse
Tourists walk along a Coastal beach. An anti-human trafficking advocate says the rise in coastal tourism has exposed more children to sexual exploitation.
What you need to know:
- The rise in coastal tourism has exposed more children to sexual exploitation, anti-human trafficking advocate said on Tuesday.
- In in the past six months, at least 6,366 children, aged as young as 10 have been trafficked for sexual exploitation in the coastal counties of Kilifi, Kwale and Mombasa.
The rise in coastal tourism has exposed more children to sexual exploitation, anti-human trafficking advocate said on Tuesday.
Trace Kenya Executive Director Paul Adhoch, said in the past six months, at least 6,366 children, aged as young as 10 have been trafficked for sexual exploitation in the coastal counties of Kilifi, Kwale and Mombasa.
He, however, said the numbers would be higher as the sex offenders have become more tactful in committing the crime.
“The child sexual exploitation has moved from the mainstream hotels to the private homes or villas. This has made it difficult to trace the abused children and the offenders,” he said at the side-lines of an anti-child sexual abuse stakeholders meeting in Nairobi, convened by Equality Now.
Local tourism
He said unlike before when children were mainly abused by foreigners, the rise of local tourism in the region has increased their vulnerability of sexual exploitation.
He warned against normalising the modern sex trafficking disguised in the 'mubaba' or 'sponsor', epithets, noting that it creates a loophole for offenders to escape prosecution.
“How are we going to punish those people who exploit the children if we normalise the 'mubaba' and 'sponsor' (culture)?” he asked.
Read also: Minors exploited in Coast sex tourism haven
A 2016 research in Sub-Saharan Africa by End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes International (ECPAT International) established an influx in the flow of tourists, including Africans, seeking sex with children.
The Global Study Report on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism, warned that the emergence of new online, unregulated modes of accommodation and transportation had also worsened children’s exposure to exploitation.
At the time of the study, volun-tourism had also emerged as a popular avenue for abusing children. This form of abuse involves sexual predators visiting ‘orphanages’ in the pretext of volunteering.
Adult women
In exchange, the administrators charge the visitors for their time volunteering when in reality they are paying for their time molesting the children.
The study proposes involving informal associations of adult women sex workers in protecting the children since they are “very influential,” as they collect fees to facilitate their own rescue and release from detention.
