Kenya identifies more trafficking victims but convictions plunge, US report finds

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 9— Kenya’s convictions of human traffickers fell by more than 70 per cent in 2025, even as authorities identified more victims, with a new United States report raising concerns over official complicity, fraudulent overseas recruitment and inadequate protection for survivors.

The 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report found that Kenya convicted six traffickers under its anti-trafficking law in 2025, down from 21 in 2024, while prosecutions fell sharply from 44 cases to 14.

The findings point to a widening gap between the identification of trafficking victims and the prosecution of those responsible, despite increased government efforts to rescue Kenyans exploited abroad and strengthen victim assistance.

“The government decreased anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts,” the report stated in its assessment of Kenya’s prosecution record.

Kenya retained its Tier 2 ranking, meaning the government was making significant efforts to combat trafficking but had not fully met the minimum standards for eliminating the crime.

The report credited authorities with identifying substantially more victims, partnering with civil society organisations to assist and securing the country’s first civil judgment against a fraudulent recruiter.

However, it said prosecutions and convictions had declined, protection services remained limited, and allegations of official complicity continued to undermine enforcement.

Prosecutions, convictions decline

Kenyan authorities investigated 43 trafficking cases in 2025, compared with 42 in 2024.

However, the number of cases prosecuted dropped from 44 to 14, while convictions fell from 21 traffickers to six.

Of those convicted, five were involved in sex trafficking and one in forced labour.

Two sex traffickers received 30-year prison sentences, three were sentenced to 20 years, and the labour trafficker received a 10-year sentence.

The government reported 103 ongoing prosecutions, suggesting that numerous cases remained before the courts even as the number brought forward during the reporting period declined.

The report also identified weaknesses in national data collection, noting that a centralised law enforcement database developed with an NGO had not become operational by the end of the reporting period.

The absence of a functioning system hindered the collection and breakdown of national trafficking statistics, potentially contributing to underreporting.

Officials implicated in trafficking networks

The report raised concerns about alleged corruption involving public officials, saying it continued to inhibit law enforcement action and efforts to identify trafficking victims.

The government investigated three Ministry of Labour officials suspected of accepting bribes to facilitate potential trafficking crimes involving migrant workers travelling to the Middle East.

Observers also alleged that criminal syndicates colluded with law enforcement and immigration personnel at border checkpoints and airports to move trafficking victims into and within Kenya.

Media reports cited by the assessment indicated that more than 10 per cent of Kenyan government officials held ownership interests in private employment agencies, including firms recruiting workers for jobs abroad, raising potential conflicts of interest.

The government did not report taking action against recruitment agencies allegedly owned by public employees and suspected of facilitating trafficking.

Instead, authorities frequently pursued lesser offences, including failure to register recruitment companies.

The report also cited allegations that some Kenyan embassy officials in Saudi Arabia demanded sex or cash from women seeking government assistance to escape abusive employers and return home.

Separately, officials reported that Kenyan nationals had been fraudulently recruited with the involvement of Kenyan officials, Russian officials and illicit recruiters to fight for the Russian military in the war against Ukraine.

More than 1,000 Kenyan men were reportedly recruited through promises of employment before being drawn into military service.

Despite the decline in prosecutions, Kenya recorded progress in identifying trafficking victims and expanding assistance.

Authorities identified 271 trafficking victims in the reporting period, up from 195 previously. Of those identified, 260 were victims of forced labour and 11 of sex trafficking.

Another 1,021 people were classified as potential trafficking victims.

The government referred 44 victims to services, compared with none in the previous reporting period, while partnerships with non-governmental organisations enabled assistance to 483 victims, up from 321.

The government also funded the voluntary repatriation of hundreds of Kenyans exploited abroad, particularly in online scam operations across Southeast Asia.

However, the report found that services for adult victims remained inadequate, with limited shelter capacity for men and some victims being referred to homeless shelters or left without accommodation.

Funding for direct victim assistance through the National Assistance Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking fell to Sh9.27 million from Sh20 million in the previous reporting period.

Plans to expand the government’s dedicated trafficking shelter to accommodate up to 60 victims were delayed by funding shortfalls.

The report noted that victims often had to obtain formal certification from law enforcement or other authorised officials to qualify for certain government benefits, including long-term care and legal assistance.

Online scams growing threat

The report highlighted the growing exploitation of Kenyans through fraudulent overseas job offers linked to online scam operations.

Recruiters use social media, smartphone applications and fake job advertisements promising lucrative opportunities in technology, education and hospitality to lure Kenyans abroad.

Victims, including university graduates aged between 18 and 38, may be recruited for jobs in Thailand before being transported to neighbouring countries, including Myanmar, Malaysia and Laos, where they face forced labour in online scam compounds and, in some cases, sex trafficking.

Authorities increased investigations into suspected scam centres and recruitment agencies linked to the operations. The Transnational Organised Crimes Unit also reported closing a scam centre run by Chinese nationals in Kenya’s coastal region, where 150 Kenyans were working.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations was pursuing 13 investigations involving Kenyan recruitment agencies linked to 19 foreign recruitment agents in Myanmar.

The government also launched awareness campaigns targeting the risks of forced labour and criminal exploitation in online scams.

Beyond Southeast Asia, the report identified risks facing Kenyan workers in the Middle East, where more than 500,000 Kenyans are estimated to be employed.

Women working as domestic workers were particularly vulnerable to deceptive recruitment, contract manipulation, restricted movement and abuse by employers.

Media reports cited in the assessment indicated that at least 274 Kenyan migrant workers, mostly women, died in Saudi Arabia over five years, including at least 55 in 2024. The report did not establish that all these deaths were trafficking-related.

Legal reforms remain stalled

Kenya’s Counter-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2010 prescribes penalties of up to life imprisonment and fines of at least Sh30 million for trafficking offences.

However, the report said proposed amendments to remove the option of imposing a fine instead of imprisonment had not been approved for the fifth consecutive reporting period.

The government spent Sh4.57 million on trafficking prevention activities, compared with no prevention expenditure reported in the previous period, and continued regulating recruitment agencies and conducting public awareness campaigns.

Kenya also secured its first civil judgment against a fraudulent recruiter, with a court awarding a victim Sh5 million in compensation.

Nevertheless, the report said the government did not issue restitution to victims as part of criminal sentences, despite legal provisions allowing courts to order convicted traffickers to compensate survivors.