By Raisa Okwaras
The International Justice Mission (IJM) identified and trained over a hundred detectives from three selected counties in the Kenyan coast on how to identify and combat child sex trafficking. The region has been on the spotlight over the past years for various forms of the vice, which continues to destroy the lives of children in the Kenyan coast.
The three selected coastal counties were Mombasa, Kwale, and Kilifi. These investigators went through a legal framework for Child Sex Trafficking in Kenya in line with the Counter-Trafficking In-person Act.
Some of the topics covered include identifying the stages through which children get groomed for children exploitation, recognizing the children prone to sex trafficking, and identifying the roles played by the various culprits in the child sex trafficking cycle.
Others include sensitizing the officers on how to conduct adequate interviews with the victims without traumatizing them all over again, best ways of handling crime scenes, management of evidence, the chain of custody, and the transnational child sex trafficking.
Naomi Gachuki-a facilitator who also happens to be the an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya plus a Legal Consultant stated that the training helps officers prepare the detectives in handling child sex trafficking which if left unattended, would continue to destroy the future and the lives of many children, especially in the Kenyan coast.
“Innocent children are lured by traffickers with offers of food, clothes, affection, friendship, and love then after cultivating some level of trust, the traffickers engage them in prostitution away from their friends and family,” said Naomi Gichuki.
The peak of the training was the launch of the child-friendly interview room for the child sex trafficking victims, whose commissioning took place at the Anti-human Trafficking and Child Protection offices in Mombasa on Thursday, June 30, 2022.
Finally, the DCI partnered with IJM to promote the safety and security of children in the world today.
This article was first shared by KBC.
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