A Yle journalist from Finland, Wali Hashi, has exposed controversial disciplinary camps in Kenya where children from Europe, including Finland and Sweden, face severe abuse under the pretext of rehabilitation. Hashi gained access by posing as a father seeking discipline for his son and secretly recorded footage of the abuses. The investigation highlights Somali parents in Finland sending their children to these Kenyan and Somali institutions for chaining, beatings, and isolation.
Yle's investigation, led by journalist Wali Hashi, uncovered these secret camps operating in Kenya and Somalia, where he posed as a father seeking discipline for his son to gain entry and record hidden footage. He met a teenage boy sent from Stockholm, Sweden, and administrators confirmed hosting youths from Finland. The facilities are marketed to parents as religious or moral rehabilitation centers, but the videos depict young people chained to beds, beaten with sticks and pipes, and deprived of food.
A Finnish citizen described being sent to a Kenyan camp at age 12, enduring years of routine beatings and psychological torment. “They used wooden sticks until they broke, or water pipes because those wouldn’t break,” the victim recounted, noting that punishments were arbitrary and unexplained.
This practice, known in Somali communities as dhaqan celis or “return to culture,” has turned into a lucrative cross-border enterprise, with families paying hundreds of euros monthly—a substantial sum in Kenya and Somalia. Parents are often convinced by diaspora members that sending children to Kenya addresses issues like truancy, minor crimes, or perceived overly Western lifestyles.
Diplomatic officials from Norway and Denmark in Kenya have assisted multiple traumatized youths who escaped or were rescued from such camps. Human rights advocates emphasize the grave legal and child-protection implications, urging Kenyan authorities to scrutinize any institutions potentially violating children's rights under the guise of discipline or religious instruction.
