Effects Of Kenya’s Migration Policy On Human Trafficking: The Case Study Of Kenya-Somalia Border, Garissa County

ABSTRACT

The project is about the assessment of the Kenya‟s migration policy and the effects it has on human trafficking at the Kenya-Somalia Border, Garissa County. Migration is defined as the movement of people from one place to another due to various reasons. Migration and trafficking have a close connection. It is important that efforts to curb human trafficking be approached from a migration angle. Overall migration has been used by international organizations when formulating policies and laws that curb trafficking. Trafficking involves recruiting, transporting and harboring individuals by use of threats and coercion and exploiting them. The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact the migration policy in Kenya on human trafficking at the Kenya-Somalia border, Garissa town, Garissa County. It established how the county is implementing the policy and if cases of human trafficking have dropped or not after the introduction of the policy. The study was based on the following specific objectives: to ascertain the effects of migration policies on human trafficking at the Kenya-Somalia border, Garissa County; to determine the effects of socio economic factors on human trafficking at the KenyaSomalia border, Garissa County; and to assess the challenges that affect the implementation of the migration policy on human trafficking at the Kenya-Somalia border, Garissa County. This study used the descriptive research design. This research design was beneficial to the researcher, as it allowed triangulation in the study. Qualitative and quantitative data complemented each other in the study. The target population for this study comprised of immigration officers, prosecutors, judges and police officers (Anti-Terrorism Police Unit) in Garissa. A total study population of 152 targeted of which 113 samples was used. The sample used was arrived at following the table format guided by Krejcie and Morgan. Analysis of quantitative data was done using descriptive statistics by the help of SPSS version 23. Qualitative data was analysed in themes. Qualitative data was identified and analysed in themes (patterns). The research looked across all the data to identify the main themes and give a summary of all the views collected. Thematic analysis was used to interpret different aspects of research and simply organize and describe data set in details. Findings indicate that whereas there exist clear and well laid out migration policies, they have not been significantly effective in curbing human trafficking in the study area, owing to a variety of inadequacies in their formulation, enactment and execution. It was also found that various socio-economic factors constitute the underlying factors and are responsible for increasing human trafficking cases across the Kenya-Somalia border, as well as inhibiting enforcement efforts to curb the same. Findings further reveal that a myriad of challenges hamper efforts to implementation migration policies in the country, with a view to curb human trafficking