Report: Kenyan Women Held as Sex Slaves in Somalia

A report by the United Nations says that Kenyan women are being forced into marriages and sex slavery in the neighboring Somalia.

Kenyan women from the Coast region are the most targeted, where they are lured with promises of jobs but end up in forced marriages and sex slavery, according to the report 

“The women were deceived with false promises of a job but instead kept captive and exploited in marriage and sexual slavery,” reads part of the report.

The report dubbed Trafficking in Persons in the context of Armed Conflict was compiled by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

It indicates that traffickers take advantage of the vulnerability and desperation of women and children by promising them greener pastures, only to force them to a life of slavery and violence.

“Armed groups active in this environment abduct and coerce women into sexual slavery and recruit children for use in combat or support roles,” the report further reads.

In 2017, a group of women was recruited from the Coast of Kenya and ferried to a region controlled by the Al Shabaab in Somalia.

Refugees fleeing violence-prone regions are also prone to being subjected to sex slavery and children being recruited into armed combat, the report states.

“Refugee camps in neighboring countries and informal settlements within the country are marred with vulnerabilities, particularly related to the limited available job options,” the report says.

"Al Shabaab, for example, has trafficked children for various purposes, including armed combat and sexual slavery. The armed group Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama'a, the Somalia National Army, clan militias and regional government forces have also recruited children into their ranks, albeit in lesser numbers.”