Human Trafficking in [Mozambique Street Children in [Mozambique] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Mozambique] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the
first ten years of the 21st Century -
2000 to 2009
Mozambique is a source and, to a
much lesser extent, a destination country for men, women, and children
trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. The use of
forced and bonded child laborers is a common practice in Mozambique's rural
areas, often with the complicity of family members. Women and girls, often
with promises of employment or education, are trafficked from rural to urban
areas of Mozambique, as well as to South Africa, for domestic servitude and
commercial sexual exploitation; young men and boys are trafficked to South
Africa for farm work and mining. Trafficked Mozambicans often labor for
months in South Africa without pay and under coercive conditions before their
exploiters have them arrested and deported as illegal migrants. A recent NGO report found that
human trafficking of Mozambican children and adults for the forcible removal
of body parts is significant; so-called witchdoctors in Mozambique and South
Africa seek various body parts of live victims for traditional medical
concoctions commonly purchased to heal illness, foster economic advancement,
or hurt enemies. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June,
2009 [full country report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been
culled from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** Mozambique
tries to curb human trafficking Mozambique has not prosecuted
anyone for human trafficking. Efforts to do so have been handicapped by the
former Portuguese colony's general tolerance of child labor, which is common
in its rural areas, as well as its weak border controls. Smugglers have seized on the country's
complacent attitude, arranging for young men and boys to be sent to work on
farms and mines, and young girls to be sold into domestic servitude and to
brothels in neighboring southern African nations. Authorities said the smuggling
networks were usually small operations run by Mozambicans and South Africans.
South Africa is one of the major destinations for those who fall prey to the
human traffickers. An estimated 1,000
Mozambican women and children are trafficked to South Africa each year,
according to a recent study by the International Organization on Migration
(IOM). They are promised a better life in
South Africa, but instead they are kidnapped, branded and sold into sexual
slavery for as little as R380. Women
and children, some as young as 13, are falling prey to syndicates operating
in Mozambique and Swaziland, trafficking and smuggling them to South Africa
on an unprecedented scale. Six held over nun's murder in Mozambique Four missionary nuns living in the
same town told Portuguese radio TSF last week that they had recently had a
narrow escape from an armed ambush after presenting what they said was
evidence that local children were being killed so that their organs could be
sold. The four nuns told a Spanish
newspaper earlier this month that they had gathered testimony from would-be
victims of the network who had managed to escape and had photographs of dead
children with missing organs. ***
ARCHIVES *** U.S.
Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - An increasing number of children, mostly girls, also work as
domestic servants. In some cases,
children are forced to work in order to settle family debts. Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – Poverty,
a history of child migration, and weak border controls all contributed to
trafficking. In a widely cited 2003 study, the International Office on Migration
(IOM) reported that approximately one thousand Mozambican women and children
were trafficked to IOM conducted an inquiry in April
that indicated women continued to be trafficked from the country and sold to
mine workers at a mining district west of In March police in Quelimane, Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2002 [66] The Committee is concerned
that (b) Some children are victims of
trafficking for the purposes of prostitution; UN urges action on 'scary' levels of trafficking in
southern Africa www.haaba.com/news-story/un-urges-action-scary-levels-trafficking-southern-africa At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
‘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 Mozambique
tries to curb human trafficking Mozambique has not prosecuted
anyone for human trafficking. Efforts to do so have been handicapped by the
former Portuguese colony's general tolerance of child labor, which is common
in its rural areas, as well as its weak border controls. Smugglers have seized on the country's
complacent attitude, arranging for young men and boys to be sent to work on
farms and mines, and young girls to be sold into domestic servitude and to
brothels in neighboring southern African nations. Authorities said the smuggling
networks were usually small operations run by Mozambicans and South Africans.
South Africa is one of the major destinations for those who fall prey to the
human traffickers. An estimated 1,000
Mozambican women and children are trafficked to South Africa each year,
according to a recent study by the International Organization on Migration
(IOM). Human
traffickers thrive in Mozambique Daring human traffickers are
taking advantage of Mozambique’s weak adoption laws in order to traffic
children out of the country for the purposes of prostitution or cheap labour, Vista News reported on Tuesday. A 2003 study on trafficking in the
region by the International Organization on Migration (IOM) estimated that
1000 Mozambican women and children were being trafficked to South Africa
every year for sexual exploitation. Mabunda maintained that although cases of cross-border
human trafficking received most attention in the media, trafficking by local
crime syndicates was by far the most prominent form of the crime. The main reason for the practice was the
extreme poverty besetting most people, and a culture that allowed girls to be
married off at an extremely young age. Human,
drug trafficking at border on the rise "We are currently not
pre-occupied with people who enter illegally into South Africa or Swaziland
to buy two or three kilograms of rice, but those who use the illegal points
for criminal activities," she said.
Apart from facilitating human trafficking, she said these points also
assisted criminals to traffic drugs and illegal arms between the countries. Organisations working with trafficked women say
more than 1000 Mozambican women are trafficked each year, mostly to South
Africa. They are promised a better life in
South Africa, but instead they are kidnapped, branded and sold into sexual
slavery for as little as R380. Women
and children, some as young as 13, are falling prey to syndicates operating
in Mozambique and Swaziland, trafficking and smuggling them to South Africa
on an unprecedented scale. Seduction, Sale & Slavery:
Trafficking In Women & Children For Sexual Exploitation In www.iom.org.za/Reports/TraffickingReport3rdEd.pdf At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - The major findings may be summarized as follows: Mozambican victims include both
girls and young women between the ages of 14 and 24. They are offered jobs as
waitresses or sex workers in Johannesburg, and pay their traffickers ZAR 500
to smuggle them across the border in minibus taxis either at Komatipoort or Ponta do Ouro. They stay in transit houses along South Africa’s
border with Mozambique and Swaziland for one night where they are sexually
assaulted as an initiation for the sex work that awaits them. Once in
Johannesburg, some are sold to brothels in the Central Business District
(CBD) for ZAR 1000. Others are sold as slaves on private order for ZAR 550,
or shopped around to mineworkers on the West Rand as ‘wives’ for ZAR 650. An
estimated 1000 Mozambican victims are recruited, transported, and exploited
in this way every year, earning traffickers approximately ZAR 1 million
annually. Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 3 Civil Liberties: 3 Status: Partly Free Organ
traffickers 'threaten' nuns Four Catholic nuns say they have
received death threats after exposing an organ trafficking network allegedly
operating in northern Mozambique. The
traffickers are said to target the sex organs of children, which are sold to
make magic charms. The nuns from the
Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate order say they have gathered evidence of
the trade. Six held over nun's murder in Mozambique Four missionary nuns living in the
same town told Portuguese radio TSF last week that they had recently had a
narrow escape from an armed ambush after presenting what they said was
evidence that local children were being killed so that their organs could be
sold. The four nuns told a Spanish
newspaper earlier this month that they had gathered testimony from would-be
victims of the network who had managed to escape and had photographs of dead
children with missing organs. Human
Trafficking in Mozambique:- Root Causes and Recommendations [PDF] [page 21] Sixteen year-old Tobi
wipes a tear from her eye as she recalls the night she was plucked from her
home, forced to trek through the bush and then sold to a recruitment agent in
South Africa. She recoils from memories of being handed to a buyer in
search of cheap farm labour, a nanny and sex slave,
who abused her for months before she escaped to safety. Tobi is one of the hundreds of young Mozambican girls
kidnapped or lured by cash who end up mainly in South Africa every year or
are shipped to Europe in an industry that is growing at breakneck speed. Lack of legislation fuels child trafficking www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/social/0,2172,93978,00.html At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
Recent findings revealed that
children are increasingly being trafficked to be used as cheap labourers, sexual exploitation and even for criminal
activities. To curb the trend, the Mozambique, Limpopo
and Mpumalanga Task Team against child trafficking
launched the child trafficking campaign at the Lebombo
border gate between South Africa and Mozambique. Child Trafficking Projects in southern Africa www.stopchildtrafficking.org/site/Southern_Africa.172.0.html At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here]
OFFERING REFUGE - In SOUTHERN AFRICA:
Major destination for traffickers in women and children Mozambican women have been
smuggled in by taxis because corruption in law enforcement or judicial systems
helps traffickers across borders. Child
Slave Rings Rife in Southern Africa But Leia
Boaventura, an activist who is alarmed at what she
sees as a growing trend in child trafficking in Southern Africa, feels that
child slave rings are already operating out of Mozambique. Her organisation, Terre des Hommes,
has found that foreign nationals, mostly from Russia and China, are currently
involved in child slave operations. Child slavery usually does not
involve kidnapping, but a financial arrangement with the family or guardian
of children who are from an impoverished background. "Sometimes, desperate parents who
cannot feed, clothe or give medical aid to their children will seek out
someone to take them off their hands, to give them the necessities of life.
In poor areas with underdeveloped social welfare institutions, this can mean
selling a child into servitude," says Lawrence Ngwane
of the refugee agency, CARITAS. "All such deals are
heartbreaking for everyone involved - the parents, the children who are torn
from the womb of their families - though not for the child traffickers who
can profit handsomely," he says.
An investigation by Child Network, a Mozambique non-governmental organisation, found that child trafficking currently
occurs in Mahubo, in the Boane
district of the Maputo province. Mozambique:
children sold for organs Children are being kidnapped or
sold in Mozambique and are being used in prostitution rings and forced labour rackets in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Others are
less fortunate – they are killed before their vital organs are removed and
sold for transplantation. 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 - Mozambique",
http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/ Mozambique.htm, [accessed <date>] |
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Human Trafficking in [Mozambique Street Children in [Mozambique] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Mozambique] [other countries]