IOM Championing Ethical Recruitment in Kenya's Coastal Cities

In the coastal cities of Kwale, Kilifi and Mombasa, a transformative change is taking hold, challenging, and championing an end to modern slavery and human trafficking. For years, labour exploitation, sexual exploitation, forced marriage and child trafficking have been rampant, leaving vulnerable migrant workers in despair.

To end this cycle of modern slavery and human trafficking and make recruitment fair for all, IOM Kenya is working with the Government of Kenya to provide training to Private Recruitment Agencies (PRAs) on the International Recruitment Integrity System (IRIS) capacity building programme. This is a global multi-stakeholder initiative that supports governments, civil society, the private sector and recruiters to establish ethical recruitment as a norm in cross-border labour migration.

Over two hundred (200) private recruitment agencies have been trained on the International Recruitment Integrity System and have:

• Draft policies in accordance with the IRIS principles and some are in the process of communicating with the employers/business partners in countries of destination.
• Established mechanism of communicating with the migrant workers once they arrive in Gulf Council Countries - using WhatsApp groups - for access to remedy.
• Document record keeping has been improved - have documents stored in both soft and hard copies - in line with data protection policy.