Kenya is set to benefit from a Sh110m grant for fighting modern-day slavery and human trafficking.
Kenyans are still defying warnings to seek illusory jobs in South Asian countries, including troubled Myanmar, where they have ended up in slavery.
A government notice on Friday, August 16, indicated that dozens of Kenyans, and other East African nationals, have been lured into Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia to work as English-language educators, but only end up as overworked, underpaid labourers.
The latest warning came from Kenya’s Embassy in Thailand after a stranded Kenyan died in hospital. It said the problem has become bigger especially after recruiters tasked other Kenyans to convince compatriots to join them under false promises.
Kenya’s Embassy also oversees consular services for other East African countries, for the regions in Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.
Here, the Embassy said it had recently worked with local authorities to rescue as many as 140 Kenyans and other East Africans, reflecting how the trend continued unabated despite warnings from 2022.
“Despite extensive warnings and awareness campaigns, the persistence of these scams remains a significant concern,” the Embassy wrote in a note.
“Currently, the Embassy is searching for three Kenyans who are missing in Myanmar, a task made extremely dangerous by the ongoing civil conflict and the criminal networks operating in the region,” it said referring to the standoff between the Burmese junta and rebels who have made the country lawless.
There are no direct, or even regular commercial flights from Kenya to Myanmar. But those who arrive there first fly to Thailand from where they dodge authorities over land and enter Myanmar via irregular routes, including boat rides across border rivers.
“Even more frustrating is the fact that some of the Kenyans working in the scam compounds in Myanmar have become trafficking agents, on behalf of the criminal cartels,” said the Embassy in a statement.
Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia are placed on Tier 3 by the US State Department, according to its Trafficking in Persons Report 2023, meaning authorities there hardly make an effort to prevent, prosecute or educate the public against human trafficking.
Since Covid-19, and especially after the Myanmar junta took power two years ago, trafficking schemers from as far as China have used the country to recruit far and wide.
The Report said the “syndicates posing as labour brokers use social media to recruit East African and Asian workers with English proficiency or technical backgrounds for promising lucrative jobs supposedly in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, and elsewhere in the region.”
“Upon arrival, victims are transported to large compounds, known as “scam factories,” located in Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, and the Philippines, where their passports are confiscated and they experience physical and sexual violence. Traffickers force victims to defraud strangers in online cryptocurrency and romance scams and illegal gambling operations.”
Recruiters normally build rapport with the victims in chatrooms and digital spaces, often promising employment as teachers, and collect a fee to obtain fake passports and visas, deceiving victims who believe the documentation is legitimate. They also use other Africans to convince recruits to take the trips.
Some countries such as Brazil, Burundi, Cambodia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Laos, Malawi, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nigeria, Pakistan, China, the Philippines, Russia, Senegal, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Türkiye, Uganda, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam have all had victims rescued there.
In August 2022, Nairobi announced that 75 victims of trafficking had been brought back home. Among them were ten Ugandans and a Burundian, rescued through cooperation with the governments of Thailand, Laos, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and HAART Kenya. Authorities estimated that more victims might still be trapped, with at least 30 distress calls awaiting rescue.
Those who were rescued reported being forced to work long hours with no pay. The majority of the trafficked individuals were women under the age of 35. They also revealed that they had been working in areas controlled by rebels opposed to Myanmar's junta. According to Nairobi, “the rebels provide protection to the Chinese criminal cartels,” who sometimes threaten Thai and Laotian government officials planning rescue operations.
For East Africans, the Embassy said job offers are not cheap as these victims have to pay as much as Ksh300,000 for air tickets and visas, which are later found fake.
According to the Royal Thai Embassy in Nairobi, a normal tourist visa issued at the Thai Embassy costs between Ksh8,000 to Ksh10,000 depending on the type. Victims, however, reported paying as much as Ksh100,000 for the same kind of visa to the scammers but which was not issued by Thai authorities. The victims also found the return air tickets purchases for them were invalid, locking them in.
“Extracting people from the scam factories inside Myanmar and Lao PDR is an extremely dangerous and risky business, given the ongoing civil war and risks associated with criminal networks operating in the region. The Embassy is currently looking for 3 missing Kenyans who are in Myanmar,” noted the Kenya Embassy.
“The Embassy wishes to renew its warning and advice to the Kenyan public to be extremely careful while applying for any jobs advertised in Thailand or neighbouring countries to avoid being sold into slavery.”
