Our investigative piece into Lebanon's #Kenya consul, tasked with the protection of some of the most vulnerable migrant women in Lebanon. Instead he is accused by multiple Kenyans of exploitation, assault, and coercion to pursue sex work. edition.cnn.com/2020/07/28/mid…
One Kenyan woman I spoke to said the consul slapped her and shoved her around when she asked to be reimbursed for repatriation fees she believed her overcharged her for. The consul later called the police on her and got her arrested, although a consulate official denied it.
But a police source said there was no way authorities would have entered and detained the woman without the consul's consent. Such a thing would have been in violation of the Vienna Convention. "Of course we did not force ourselves in. What was it, a terrorist act?"
In the midst of her confrontation with the consul, he encouraged her to pursue sex work in order to cover her exorbitant repatriation fees, she said. "I said or maybe he's joking. And no, he wasn't joking."
Stories such as this appear common. Several women I spoke to said they either witnessed or were subject to the consul's suggestions to pursue sex work to cover their fees. All of them believe they were being overcharged. In one case, I witnessed the fee inflation by $550.
While a consulate official denies all allegations of wrongdoing, they acknowledge that Kenyan women are "afraid from the consulate and I don't know why."
