More than 1 in 4 Kenyan children subjected to tech-facilitated sexual abuse — UNICEF

A UNICEF report reveals that more than one in four Kenyan children aged 12 to 17 have experienced technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse. The study estimates that approximately 1.29 million children in Kenya faced such abuse within a year before the survey. This prevalence rate aligns with the 26.8% average across six Eastern and Southern African countries - Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, and Uganda.

The report titled "Through Children’s Eyes: How Digital Technologies Enable Child Sexual Abuse," highlights that most incidents in Kenya involved people known to the children. Sixty-six percent of reported cases in Kenya involved someone the child knew, while 17% involved strangers and 18% had an unidentified perpetrator. Social media was found to be the most common digital environment for abuse, accounting for 61% of incidents in Kenya, followed by gaming environments at 11.6%.

In-person settings also played a role, with 17.9% of incidents facilitated through technology. However, the report indicates that only 32.7% of Kenyan incidents were disclosed to anyone, with only 1% being reported to authorities like the police, social workers, and helplines. The findings suggest a strong link between technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse and increased anxiety levels among Kenyan children, with an adjusted mean difference of 0.08 in standardized anxiety scores for those subjected to abuse.