Many Years a Slave: How East Africans Are Lured into Burmese Slavery

Panic gripped East Africans in the Middle East last week as Lebanon came under a hail of fire from Israel and tensions between Tel Aviv and Iran reached a fever pitch.

The Kenyan government is struggling to get its citizens to register for evacuation because some of them are confined to buildings by their employers.

This crisis has lifted the curtain on the problem of securing citizens working in “dangerous” places.

The Lebanese crisis comes on the heels of Kenya signing a labor export agreement with Germany, allowing the European country to use Kenya’s available skilled labor to plug its aging workforce.

President William Ruto sees it as a way to deal with spiraling unemployment.

In Nairobi, officials acknowledge that such policies have double-edged effects not only in Lebanon or Saudi Arabia, but on new frontiers such as Burma, where hundreds of East Africans have been rescued from captivity over the past four years.

As hundreds of people took to social media to complain about being abandoned in Lebanon, about 12 Kenyans filed an SOS request for rescue from Myanmar, which has been under military rule for the past three years.

Sources say some intermediaries, an NGO from Thailand and another from Kenya, helped negotiate with the UN agency that was supposed to help rescue them.

The alarm came just three days after five Kenyans were released from captivity in Myanmar. Thai authorities then accused them of violating the country’s immigration laws.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, these Kenyans went there against government policy and were reportedly forced to pay a ransom to be released.

An official in Nairobi said the family had approached the ministry last week asking for the rescue of their loved ones. East Africa is not naming the family because they are having difficult conversations to free the family member.

“We estimate that there are still 100 Kenyans in the compounds and some do not even want to be rescued,” said an official involved in the discussions.

On Friday, Nairobi said it had banned all labor exports to Myanmar and Lebanon and warned Kenyans against traveling there.

Labor Cabinet Secretary Dr Alfred Mutua said the government was improving how it responded to emergency calls.

“We will send an additional labor diplomat to Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) to help stranded Kenyans. We have a 24/7 toll-free number managed by the National Employment Authority where Kenyans can call for government assistance from anywhere, such as 020800222223,” he said.

Saudi Arabia is another country where East Africans have been caught in modern slavery after going there for domestic purposes. Nairobi said it was negotiating a labor pact to focus on skilled labor.

“All private recruitment agencies have been checked again and only those that appear in black ink on the NEA (National Employment Authority) portal have been approved. Those with red ink should be avoided,” Dr Mutua said East Africa, adding new areas of work will include pre-departure education about the local culture at the destination.

“We are implementing other BLAs (bilateral labor agreements) with other Western European countries where foreign labor is needed due to the aging population in these countries. We signed one with Germany and Austria. Searching for skilled labor in Canada, Serbia, Russia and the UK.

Kenya’s role has recently gone beyond just responding to distress calls. The ministry said it worked with Thai authorities to rescue 141 Africans, including 108 Kenyans, 19 Ugandans, 11 Ethiopians, a Burundian, a Zimbabwean and a Senegalese.

“We often see job advertisements on social media claiming to offer customer service, translation and IT positions in Thailand. However, the Kenyan Embassy has repeatedly warned that these jobs are fake and created by human traffickers,” said Roseline Njogu, Principal Secretary for Diaspora Affairs East Africa.

“Kenyans must prioritize their safety by seeking accurate information. If you have questions about job offers in Thailand, Australia or Poland, our embassy will help you verify their legality. We have a dedicated section for this. Before you jeopardize your safety, please contact us.”

However, most job seekers do not use formal channels. In Kenya, some leave the country through neighboring countries, choosing Entebbe airport for most trips and using porous borders.

These countries do not maintain diplomatic relations with Burma, whose junta does not control the areas where the workers are taken. But most of these African countries do not have embassies in Thailand, so Kenyato is left to the rescue.

141 Africans were rescued thanks to the help of the Thai authorities, the government of Laos, the International Organization for Migration, Interpol in Thailand and Burma and various non-governmental organizations that had contacts with the cartels.

However, the influx of more Africans into Myanmar indicates a lucrative business. In July, the Kenyan embassy in Thailand warned that there were no jobs in Myanmar.

Some of the people sending their compatriots there are Kenyans who themselves have fallen victim to human trafficking. Officials named recruiting scammers identified online such as Taichang Park, a group controlled by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), where 10 Kenyans were held.

Another was KK4 PARK, controlled by the Border Force (BGF), which houses 18 Africans and which also controls another group, KK-3 Park, based in Myawaddy, Burma, employing 20 African workers.

Space X KTV, or Hengsheng Complex, also controlled by DKBA, held two Kenyans. There was another group that included four Kenyans, but its name was not immediately released.

These groups are controlled by Chinese cartels and operate in areas controlled by rebels fighting the junta.

Their job is to trick Africans fluent in English, French and other languages ​​into defrauding people on the Internet and luring them into slavery – who Thai authorities say work 18-hour days. Those who lure victims are reported to earn between Ksh200,000 and Ksh800,000 ($1,550-6,200), but victims often find out they have fake visas.

But according to Thai investigators, recruitment begins in Nairobi, with job seekers believing they are going to Dubai and details changing in Bangkok, before they are lured overland to Myanmar, crossing the border through illegal routes.

However, Myanmar is not the only place where Kenyans have been deceived. Experts say cases are rising as the government seeks opportunities for young people abroad and is causing unemployment problems in Kenya.

Davis Nyagah, an immigration legal adviser in Nairobi, said governments would be killing two birds with one stone: increasing remittances while reducing unemployment. However, he warned that there are legal loopholes that need to be plugged.

“We cannot ignore the political difficulties that migration poses, but we should also not lose sight of its enormous potential to bring benefits to migrants, the countries they leave and those to which they migrate,” he said. East Africa.

“Developing countries are demanding more open policies. They see migration as an opportunity to reduce the number of unemployed people, generate income by sending workers’ earnings, and import skills, knowledge and technology through returning residents.

“However, they fear losing skilled workers to richer countries, a phenomenon called brain drain. Some, aware of the harmful effects of such migration, have introduced measures to limit the outflow of people whose skills are needed, such as doctors and nurses.”

But migration, he argued, involves an element of human security, which requires governments to treat labor exports as a whole-of-government project, where the left hand knows what the right hand is doing, while ensuring employers’ organizations, industry bodies and businesses, trade unions , civil society organizations, migrant representations and diaspora organizations cooperate.

According to a World Bank report, East African countries have benefited from diaspora remittances, in some cases exceeding their main exports, increasing profits to $9.3 billion.

For example, Kenya earned $4.2 billion in 2023 from the diaspora in the Gulf and Western countries.

Last month in Germany, President Ruto admitted that rogue agents were involved in recruiting people into slavery.

“We want to avoid people without licenses operating in this space,” he said on September 14 during a roundtable on employee mobility in Berlin.

“The Ministry of Labor through (Minister) Alfred Mutua has received clear instructions from the Government of Kenya not to employ any recruitment agents who are not licensed. Those who don’t do the right thing know the consequences. We want to ensure that this process is free from corruption and benefits the people we target,” Dr Ruto said.