Human Trafficking in [South Africa Street Children in [South Africa] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [South Africa] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the early
years of the 21st Century - 2000 to 2010 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/SouthAfrica.htm
South Africa is a source, transit, and destination country
for trafficked men, women, and children. Children are largely trafficked within
the country from poor rural areas to urban centers like Johannesburg, Cape
Town, Durban, and Bloemfontein – girls trafficked for the purposes of
commercial sexual exploitation and domestic servitude; boys trafficked for
forced street vending, food service, begging, crime, and agriculture; and
both boys and girls trafficked for “muti” (the
removal of their organs for traditional medicine). The tradition of “ukuthewala,” the forced marriage of girls as young as 12
to adult men, is still practiced in remote villages in the Eastern Cape. - |
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CAUTION: The following links have been culled
from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** Caught In Traffic Show: Carte Blanche,
Producer: First Edit, Date: 28 January 2007 beta.mnet.co.za/carteblanche/Article.aspx?Id=3239 [accessed 23 December
2010] Every month thousands of children
are smuggled by greedy opportunists and syndicates across our international
and provincial borders. Once on the other side, they are sold as domestic
workers, for criminal activities, or for hard labour on farms. And many
of the young girls are forced into prostitution. Human traffickers aim to exploit 2010 Vivian Attwood,
Independent Online (IOL) News, 19 February 2009 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/human-traffickers-aim-to-exploit-2010-1.435090 [accessed 23 December
2010] TRUSTED - They were approached by people
they knew, and therefore trusted, to leave their homes. En route, they were
raped and had their documents confiscated. Some were sold to mine workers in
SA, and others were destined for brothels.
The undercover investigation team making the video posed as
prospective "clients," asking one trafficker: "How many women
can you get us?" "Depends
how many you need," was the response.
When asked what a woman cost, he replied "R1 000, and maybe R150
for the border official."
"How do you make sure the women don't run away when they find
they aren't going to be waitressing, but doing sex
work?" the interviewer asked.
"Sometimes we rape them. We call it 'washing the hands',"
the trafficker said. ***
ARCHIVES *** IOM's national 24-hour toll-free
telephone helpline 0800 555 999
was set up in August 2004 to encourage members of the public to report known
or suspected cases of sex-trafficking and to inform victims in South Africa
that they can seek help. The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on the Worst Forms
of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/south-africa.htm [accessed 23 December
2010] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - There are reports that child prostitution is increasing. There have been reports that some cities
are becoming destinations for tourists seeking sex with minors. Human Rights Reports » 2005
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, March 8, 2006 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61593.htm [accessed 23 December
2010] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – The
country was a destination, transit, and point of origin for the trafficking
of persons, including children, from other countries in Africa, Asia, and The extent of trafficking
operations was unknown, but the International Organization for Migration
(IOM) reported there were 12 major routes for trafficking operations,
including Southern Africa, Asia, and Trafficked women and children who
worked in the sex industry often lived with other trafficked victims in
segregated areas; were frequently under constant surveillance; usually had no
money or identifying documents; were often indebted to the agents who
arranged their travel; often worked long hours, in some cases up to 18 hours
each day, on weekends, and when ill; and sometimes were fined by their
trafficker for infractions of strict rules. Young men trafficked for forced
agricultural labor often were subjected to violence and food rationing. In most cases traffickers lured
women with promises of employment, marriage, or educational opportunities
abroad. Traffickers often lured the children of poor families with promises
of jobs, education, or a better way of life. Victims, who could be kidnapped
or forced to follow their traffickers, were subjected to threats of violence,
withholding of documents, and debt bondage to ensure compliance. Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of
the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 28 January 2000 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/southafrica2000.html [accessed 23 December
2010] [26] While the Committee notes
that the Child Care Act (1996) provides for the regulation of adoptions, it
is concerned at the lack of monitoring with respect to both domestic and
inter-country adoptions as well as the widespread practice of informal
adoptions within the State party. The Committee is also concerned at the
inadequate legislation, policies and institutions to regulate inter-country
adoptions. [40] The Committee notes the
efforts of the State party to address the situation of the sale, trafficking
and abduction of children, including the adoption of the Hague Convention on
Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, into domestic legislation.
However, the Committee is concerned about the increasing incidence of sale
and trafficking of children, particularly girls, and the lack of adequate
measures to enforce legislative guarantees and to prevent and combat this
phenomenon. Human traffickers aim to exploit 2010 Vivian Attwood,
Independent Online (IOL) News, 19 February 2009 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/human-traffickers-aim-to-exploit-2010-1.435090 [accessed 23 December
2010] TRUSTED - They were approached by people
they knew, and therefore trusted, to leave their homes. En route, they were
raped and had their documents confiscated. Some were sold to mine workers in
SA, and others were destined for brothels.
The undercover investigation team making the video posed as
prospective "clients," asking one trafficker: "How many women
can you get us?" "Depends
how many you need," was the response.
When asked what a woman cost, he replied "R1 000, and maybe R150
for the border official."
"How do you make sure the women don't run away when they find
they aren't going to be waitressing, but doing sex
work?" the interviewer asked.
"Sometimes we rape them. We call it 'washing the hands',"
the trafficker said. Human trafficking expands in KZN Barbara Cole,
Independent Online (IOL) News, September 15 2008 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/human-trafficking-expands-in-kzn-1.416494 [accessed 23 December
2010] BELIEF - The Daily News has learned of
several cases in this province of girls from other countries - The workshop heard about one case
where a girl had almost paid back her trafficker, only to find she was then
sold to another trafficker. "They
are regarded as property," said Mia Immelback,
of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), who is helping the Southern
African Counter-Trafficking Assistance Programme. War against trafficking - SA must enact laws to nail
perpetrators Lowesa Stuurman,
(Researcher at the South African Law Commission), Sowetan,
12 March 2008 At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 11 September 2011] Despite the best efforts of South African
courts to clamp down on practices related to human trafficking, they are
limited by current legislation, so it is important to promulgate
comprehensive trafficking legislation. Legalise prostitution for 2010 Xolani Mbanjwa,
Independent Online (IOL) News, December 7 2007 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/legalise-prostitution-for-2010-1.381832 [accessed 23 December
2010] Prostitution needs to be legalised in Alleged child trafficker walks free Raffaella Delle
Donne, Independent Online (IOL) News, December 1 2007 at 01:09pm www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/alleged-child-trafficker-walks-free-1.380989 [accessed 23 December
2010] Lured by promises of work and a
new life in the big city, children as young as 13 are being brought to Judges asked to clamp down on trafficking South African Press
Association SAPA, October 19 2007 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/judges-asked-to-clamp-down-on-trafficking-1.375558 [accessed 23 December
2010] "Malawian women are sold by
Nigerian syndicates... to Human trafficking as terrible as slavery South African Press
Association SAPA, October 19 2007 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/human-trafficking-as-terrible-as-slavery-1.375610 [accessed 23 December
2010] Langa also said about 1 000 Mozambican
girls and women were trafficked annually in SA. He said they were lured with promises of
lucrative jobs or picked up at taxi ranks while searching for a lift. "After crossing the border, many women
are subjected to an 'initiation' rape at transit houses near the border. "The girls are then sold as 'wives' to
men on the mines in the West Rand for around R650 or to SA brothels for
R1 000." Women and children trafficked at SA border Troy Martens and
Vivian Attwood, Independent Online (IOL) News, September 18 2007 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/women-and-children-trafficked-at-sa-border-1.371169 [accessed 23 December
2010] EXTENSIVE - "It is not uncommon in SA
for women and children to be trafficked within the borders and sold to
brothels in different cities," she said.
She described the trafficking chain as "extensive and highly organised".
Victims, said Toughey, are passed from
person to person. "In the case of cross border
trafficking, girls are kept in appalling conditions, smuggled into the
country in the backs of trucks, in taxis, cars and in some cases even on foot
or in containers as stowaways on ships. They are beaten and abused and often
do not speak any South African language". Tara, a former prostitute, said
more and more young girls under the age of 10 were arriving in the city from
rural areas. The South African Law
Reform commission is currently drafting legislation criminalising
the trafficking of humans. UN urges action on 'scary' levels of trafficking in
southern Agence France-Presse
AFP, 03 SEP 2007 www.haaba.com/news-story/un-urges-action-scary-levels-trafficking-southern-africa [accessed 23 December
2010] ‘None of the countries in southern
Africa has specific anti-human trafficking legislation in place,' Thomas Zindl-Cronin of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
told reporters in Human trafficking in the sex industry South African Press
Association SAPA, July 31 2007 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/human-trafficking-in-the-sex-industry-1.364282 [accessed 23 December
2010] Preliminary research suggests that
human trafficking in the sex industry in Gould was speaking on the early
indications of research by the ISS and the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy
Taskforce (Sweat) to determine the nature and extent of human trafficking in SA hotbed of human trafficking Rebecca Wynn (IOM's Southern
African Counter-Trafficking Assistance Programme):
COMMENT - Jun 05 2007 www.mg.co.za/article/2007-06-05-sa-hotbed-of-human-trafficking [accessed 23 December
2010] For 15-year-old Faith,
the impact was devastating. Struggling to make ends meet in New study shames human traffickers Patrick Mathangani, The
Standard, 11 May 2007 At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 11 September 2011] International Confederation of
Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) says Kenyans were also trafficked to Its report, ‘Trafficking in
Persons — The Eastern Africa Situation’, notes that women and children were favourite targets for well-organised
trafficking rings, which operate freely for lack of solid laws against the
vice. Human, drug trafficking at border on the rise South African Press
Association SAPA, www.iol.co.za/news/africa/human-drug-trafficking-at-border-on-the-rise-1.317866 [accessed 23 December
2010] "We are currently not
pre-occupied with people who enter illegally into Organisations working with trafficked women say
more than 1000 Mozambican women are trafficked each year, mostly to Caught In Traffic Show: Carte
Blanche, Producer: First Edit, Date: 28 January 2007 beta.mnet.co.za/carteblanche/Article.aspx?Id=3239 [accessed 23 December
2010] Every month thousands of children
are smuggled by greedy opportunists and syndicates across our international
and provincial borders. Once on the other side, they are sold as domestic
workers, for criminal activities, or for hard labour on farms. And many of the young girls are forced into
prostitution. Cops probed in human trafficking case Sibusiso Ngalwa,
Independent Online (IOL) News, December 24 2006 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/cops-probed-in-human-trafficking-case-1.308717 [accessed 23 December
2010] Police are investigating the role
of fellow officers in an alleged human trafficking case involving 26 Thai
women who were arrested in a dramatic raid on Durban's After Dark
"gentlemen's club" last weekend. The probe has also been widened to
include the murder of a young Thai woman, whose battered body was found near
the N3 at Camperdown last month. The woman had been in the country illegally
and was believed to have been working as a prostitute in a brothel in the Human trafficking rife in SA Lebogang Seale, Independent Online (IOL)
News, 7 December 2006 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/human-trafficking-rife-in-sa-1.306483 [accessed 23 December
2010] They are promised a better life in
Warning on human trafficking Tabelo Timse,
THE HERALD NEWSPAPER, PE, RSA, 15 Nov 2006 At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 11 September 2011] The report said women and children
were brought into the county by syndicates, individual agents, Nigerian drug
lords, Congolese businesspeople, Angolan crime groups, South African farmers,
and Chinese triads. Women trafficked from Human trafficking a grave concern in SA [access information
unavailable] "But certainly women and
children are being trafficked from She explained that most women were
lured by false promises to work in restaurants or with promises of
scholarship, school and study. She expressed concern at the lack of legisaltion that dealt with trafficking as a crime but
indicated that there was now progress in redressing this problem area. Human trafficking: 4 Asians held Graeme Hosken, Independent Online (IOL) News, October 13 2006 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/human-trafficking-4-asians-held-1.297452 [accessed 23 December
2010] A Bangladeshi man allegedly posing
as a department of home affairs official was among four people arrested on
Thursday as part of a police investigation into a human-trafficking gang. The arrests once again highlighted
the plight of thousands of people trafficked into Women sold into prostitution by gamblers Tash Reddy, Independent Online (IOL)
News, October 22 2005 www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/women-sold-into-prostitution-by-gamblers-1.256725 [accessed 23 December
2010] Women married to compulsive
gamblers are being raped or forced into prostitution by loan sharks after
being used as collateral by their addicted husbands. And the lack of action by the KZN Gambling
Board, among others, is exacerbating the problem. City a 'human trafficking centre' Candes Keating, Innocence in Danger IED, Click [here]
to access the article. Its URL is not
displayed because of its length [accessed 11
September 2011] Speaking at the launch, at the
Slave Lodge in the city, Jonathan Lucas of the UN office said Community Safety MEC Leonard Ramatlakane said the city remained a "targeted port
of entry" by child traffickers, creating "a major
problem". He said the Women Must Expose Sex-Trafficking Cartels Source: www.dailynews.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=500&fArticleId=2438880, Date of publication: 08 March 2005 [accessed 23 December
2010] The 18 women, according to police,
had been locked in a house by the home owner and not allowed to leave the
premises. The women are now receiving counseling before they face being
deported. But the extent of human
trafficking is not limited to women, with children often being the
victims. Edwards said that in The Cost Of Human Trafficking South African Press
Association SAPA, www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/The-cost-of-human-trafficking-20050216 [accessed 23 December
2010] It costs R50 000 a head to
move people between certain countries, a witness said in a Johannesburg High
Court murder trial that involved allegations of "human
trafficking". This was said by
Ali Tarssawari, who turned State witness after
having been in the dock for allegedly trying to cover up the execution-style
murder of Mozambican immigrant Fatima Momade and
her daughter, Nazia, 11. He said this fee related to two Pakistanis
who were "moved" from Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 2 Civil Liberties: 2 Status:
Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&year=2009&country=7705 [accessed 23 December
2010] Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org/africa/south-africa [accessed 23 December
2010] Library of Congress
Call Number DT1719 .S67 1997 lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/zatoc.html [accessed 23 December
2010] Tutu calls for child registration BBC News, 22 February
2005 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4289393.stm [accessed 23 December
2010] In Yazeed Kamaldien,
Inter Press Service News Agency IPS, ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=27772 [accessed 23 December
2010] Human trafficking, particularly of
women and children, in South Africa is not slowing down while the country’s
government has not yet implemented legislation recognising
this vicious flesh trade as a crime.
With legislation, activists like Vanessa Anthony, a researcher and counsellor with child rights non-governmental organisation, Molo Songololo, can see justice for the victims she deals
with. Anthony says it recently ‘’took
eight years to jail a man who kidnapped, gang-raped and exploited girls as
young as 13’’. Counter-Trafficking Information Campaign in humantrafficking.org,
News & Updates, March 2005 www.humantrafficking.org/updates/198 [accessed 23 December
2010] As part of its Southern African
Counter-Trafficking Programme (SACTAP), the IOM
office for All posters feature IOM's national
24-hour toll-free telephone helpline 0800
555 999, which was set up in August 2004 to encourage members of the
public to report known or suspected cases of sex-trafficking and to inform
victims in South Africa that they can seek help. FORGOTTEN SCHOOLS: Right to Basic Education for Children
on Farms in Human Rights Watch, 2
JUNE 2004 www.hrw.org/en/reports/2004/06/02/forgotten-schools [accessed 23 December
2010] The government faces enormous
challenges in attempting to protect the rights of those living in remote rural
areas, particularly the right of children living on commercial farms to
education. The present government has inherited a situation where a
child may have to endure long journeys on foot, be unable to meet schools
fees or pay for a school uniform. All these needs create a burden on
the child and parent(s). The South African government has
inherited an education system in rural areas based on racial, social and
economic inequalities. Through the 1996 constitution and the
ratification of international human rights law pertaining to children’s
rights to education, the government is obliged to protect the right to an
education. Children living on farms have the right to receive an
education freely and in an environment conducive to learning. U.N. Integrated
Regional Information Networks IRIN, www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=51758 [accessed 23 December
2010] EXTENT OF THE PROBLEM NOT KNOWN - According to the Geneva-based
International Organisation for Migration (IOM), However, Ted Leggett, a researcher
with the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), recently questioned the
benefit of promulgating new anti-trafficking legislation. In an ISS article titled, 'The Risks of
Human Trafficking Legislation', Leggett argued that the extent of trafficking
in Commenting on the unverified need
for additional legislation, Leggett noted that "the bottom line is that
virtually everything that is part of trafficking is already illegal, and
simply generating more legislation is unlikely to revolutionise
the situation". He suggested that "no policy decision should be
taken in this area without further research". Sexual abuse of young children in southern Africa Higson-Smith, C. & Richter, L. (2004)
Commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking of children. In Sexual abuse
of young children in southern Africa, At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 11 September 2011] In this chapter the authors argue
that both commercial sexual exploitation if children and trafficking in children
are significant and growing problems in southern 38 000 child prostitutes in SA South African Press
Association SAPA, www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/38-000-child-prostitutes-in-SA-20040511 [accessed 23 December
2010] Human Trafficking Stretches Across the Region Moyiga Nduru,
Inter Press Service News Agency IPS, www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=24338 [accessed 23 December
2010] IOM official Jonathan Martens told
a three-day conference which opened in Benoni, near
South Africa's main commercial city of Johannesburg, this week (Jun. 22) that
the women are promised employment, luxury accommodation, and a payment of
between 10,000 and 20,000 dollars. Their passports are confiscated once they
arrive in Martens said South African
traffickers earn around 500 dollars for every woman recruited for
prostitution in A 23-year-old woman identified as
Nicola reported to the IOM that she had met nine other black, white and mixed
race South Africans aged 18 to 21 in U.N. Integrated
Regional Information Networks IRIN, www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=50363 [accessed 23 December
2010] Mozambican women are recruited
either through a "passive" or an "active" method by organised groups or minibus-taxi operators. The passive
method targets female passengers already en route to "The women stay in transit
houses along Initiative to fight human trafficking to be launched U.N. Integrated
Regional Information Networks IRIN, www.irinnews.org/printreport.aspx?reportid=50302 [accessed 25 April
2012] An initiative to build
collaboration between government and NGOs to fight human trafficking will be
launched at a conference in The The global coalition will also
release video footage documenting sex tourism in U.N. Integrated
Regional Information Networks IRIN, www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=49630 [accessed 23 December
2010] The women and children are either
sexually exploited, used as labour or their organs are harvested. While poverty has been recognised
as the most "visible cause for trafficking human beings ... another
strong determinant is the particular vulnerability of women and children,
which makes them an easy target for traffickers". Patterns of
oppression, discrimination, social and cultural prejudices, and the
prevalence of gender violence put children and women at greater risk and
ensures the flourishing of the trafficking trade. U.N. Integrated
Regional Information Networks IRIN, www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=50347 [accessed 23 December
2010] "I am young - but up here is
old," says an 11-year-old girl working as a prostitute in Cape Town,
pointing to her head - one of many images in hard-hitting footage on the sex
industry, screened at the opening of a conference on human trafficking in
South Africa on Tuesday. A pimp in Cape Town, South
Africa's tourism capital, who supplies eight- to 11-year-olds to sex tourists
mainly from the US, Britain and Japan, commented in the film that children
are sometimes tied with barbed wire and told to perform sexual acts on
adults. The footage was shot by the global
coalition of NGOs. According to the South Africa-based child rights' activist
organisation, Molo Songololo, 25 percent of prostitutes in While the film alleged that child
prostitution in The country's attractive 40 000 child prostitutes - Street children vulnerable to
sex trade A. Bolowana, 2004 www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=283&fArticleId=2198903 [access date
unavailable] About 40 000 children in South
Africa are involved in child prostitution and the figures are rising as more
and more children are driven from their homes because of poverty, neglect and
abuse. The child prostitutes - all
under the age of 18 - are among 400 000 child labourers
in the country, according to the Network Against Child Labour. Once on the streets, children are
vulnerable to a booming sex trade and trafficking. Seduction, Sale & Slavery:
Trafficking In Women & Children For Sexual Exploitation In Jonathan Martens, Maciej ‘Mac’ Pieczkowski, Bernadette van Vuuren-Smyth,
International Organization for Migration (IOM) Regional Office for Southern
Africa, www.unicef.org.mz/cpd/references/40-TraffickingReport3rdEd.pdf [accessed 25 April 2012] EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - The major findings may be
summarized as follows: Refugees are both victims and
perpetrators of trafficking to All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE
RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES.
Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking
& Modern-day Slavery – |
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Human Trafficking in [South Africa Street Children in [South Africa] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [South Africa] [other countries]