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Kevin J. Kelley, In New York
An unspecified number of Kenyan women are on forced labour in Lebanon and other Middle Eastern countries.
Kenyan children were often trafficked to Uganda for work, says the US State Department in a new report on human trafficking worldwide.
It claims that internal trafficking also occured in Kenya in form of forced child labour and prostitution, adding that many of Kenya's estimated 200,000 street children were engaged in prostitution.
The Nation was unable to independently verify claims in the report, which is compiled with the help of US embassy staff.
"The Government of Kenya does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. However, it is making significant efforts to do so despite severe resource constraints," says the document.
As a result of that assessment, Kenya is included in a group of 74 countries that, according to the State Department, are striving to comply with international anti-trafficking agreements. This "Tier 2" category includes most sub-Saharan nations. "Kenya should prosecute traffickers more vigorously and act against corruption among police and immigration officials," it says.
The country had made some progress in protecting its children, the report says, adding that district advisory committees had been established to monitor child-labour issues and provide services.
It adds that "the government is removing street children, placing them in youth homes and in social halls, and providing them with meals and shelter to prevent them from being victimised."
"Free primary education has been reinstated as a means to assist vulnerable populations and prevent trafficking," the report says.
Some 26 countries - mostly in Europe but also including Ghana and Mauritius - are listed in the report's top tier of states fully compliant with anti-trafficking standards.
Sudan and Liberia are among 15 countries consigned to the bottom tier and the US says it may cut off most forms of aid to them unless they acted more effectively to prevent human trafficking. The department said it could not get information to assess conditions in seven countries, including Somalia and Mauritius.
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