Human Trafficking in [Zambia] [other countries]
Street Children in [Zambia] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Zambia] [other countries]
 

Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery

In the first ten years of the 21st Century - 2000 to 2009

Republic of Zambia Zambia's economy has experienced strong growth in recent years, with real GDP growth in 2005-08 about 6% per year. Zambia experienced a bumper harvest in 2007, which helped to boost GDP and agricultural exports and contain inflation. Although poverty continues to be significant problem in Zambia, its economy has strengthened, featuring single-digit inflation, a relatively stable currency, decreasing interest rates, and increasing levels of trade. [The World Factbook, U.S.C.I.A. 2009]

Zambia is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. Child victims, primarily trafficked within the country for labor and sexual exploitation, tend to be female, adolescent, and orphaned. In exchange for money or gifts, relatives or acquaintances often facilitate the trafficking of a child to an urban center for prostitution. Children are sometimes trafficked as a consequence of soliciting help from strangers such as truck drivers. Many Zambian child laborers, particularly those in the agriculture, domestic service, and fishing sectors, are also victims of human trafficking. Traffickers most often operate through ad hoc, flexible networks of relatives, truck drivers, business people, cross-border traders, and religious leaders. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 [full country report]

CAUTION: The following links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Zambia. Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

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Zambia should save its own children...

When Tomaida Tembo received news of her impending trip to Lusaka, she was 500 km away in Katete’s Kathumba village in the Eastern Province. The 11-year-old did not know how to react. Lusaka to her, has been a mythical place and according to those that had been to the city, it was a place of “agebenga” (bandits) and the “akapenta” (prostitutes) who patrolled and patronised the streets of the city of ‘lights’. What had been a mythical place to Tomaida was soon to become reality.

To make her travelling easy, the distant cousin had sent enough money to cover her travelling expenses and a lot more to help her mother settle down after her departure. That was five years ago since the morning Tomaida left the sanctuary of her mother on a journey that changed her life forever. Wondering on the cold streets of Lusaka, Tomaida awaits her next client on Addis Ababa drive.

Activists Urge Zambian Government to Crack Down on Human Trafficking

www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-05/2007-05-01-voa41.cfm?CFID=132078934&CFTOKEN=90141369

Kafukanya says Zambia is also one of the most vulnerable countries to human and child trafficking: "What they do in this recruitment, they use deception, they entice somebody.  And when they go there [the destination country] the ball changes.  They are forced into hard labor jobs.  And for the girl Childs is forced into prostitution while the boys into criminal activities."

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U.S. Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs

INCIDENCE AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Street children are especially vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation, and the problem of child prostitution is widespread in Zambia. Zambia is a source and transit country for women and children trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS – Women from the country were trafficked within the country and to other parts of Africa and to Europe, and the country was used as a transit point for regional trafficking of women for prostitution. Traffickers fraudulently obtained Zambian travel documents for their victims before proceeding to other destinations. During the year there were reliable reports that women were trafficked to the country for commercial sex work.

The government did not keep data on trafficking cases and the law did not define the crime of trafficking, making it difficult to profile the typical trafficker. A 2004 survey of service providers, community members, and children located in four cities indicated that traffickers come from a variety of backgrounds and include family members, truck drivers, prostitutes, and business persons. Foreign traffickers were said to have come from Asia, Europe, and North America as well as from countries in the region.

Traffickers often use promises of employment to entice young girls and women to leave their homes and families and then force them into prostitution.

Zambian's plight highlights Texas human trafficking problem

www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa080206_mo_humantrafficking.98d3e03a.html

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

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At age 11, Kechepa lived in Zambia, which is a country with no running water in many locations. He roasted mice for food. But with dreams of a better life, he put his trust into Keith Grimes. Grimes was a missionary for TTT: Partners and Education, which was a non-profit organization based in Sherman. He brought the Zambian Acapella Choir to America with big promises. "They are like my children," Grimes said while in Africa. In exchange for touring the choir, the boys would get an education, pay and even monthly salaries for loved ones at home. There was also a promise to build schools in Zambia. With Grimes' promises, the boys sang, sometimes performing eight times in one day.

"We noticed that all the things they promised in Zambia were not being fulfilled," he said. Money from churchgoers was coming in by the hundreds of thousands. Meanwhile, the boys felt like prisoners. They were not allowed phone calls, pay and sometimes were denied food. "We didn't eat for two-and-a-half days," Kechepa said. But Kechepa said they were threatened deportation if they complained, which Kechepa said would turn them into outcasts in Zambia. "And if you're deported, your family is going to disown you, saying you shamed our name," Kechepa said.

Director Amy Allais pours her soul into human trafficking ad

A gripping commercial for The International Organisation for Migration on human trafficking is definitely a commercial Director Amy Allais, from Fresh Eye Film Productions, poured her soul into.

The commercial focuses on a young girl, in Zambia, being lured into a trafficking ring under the false promise of becoming a model in South Africa. Messages like: “you will be raped” and “you will be a sex slave” become part of the dusty township landscape as the ad unfolds.

“The call centre is now receiving about 100 calls a day. We usually only receive no more than 50 calls a week. Who says advertising doesn't work?”

Activists Urge Zambian Government to Crack Down on Human Trafficking

www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-05/2007-05-01-voa41.cfm?CFID=132078934&CFTOKEN=90141369

Kafukanya says Zambia is also one of the most vulnerable countries to human and child trafficking: "What they do in this recruitment, they use deception, they entice somebody.  And when they go there [the destination country] the ball changes.  They are forced into hard labor jobs.  And for the girl Childs is forced into prostitution while the boys into criminal activities."

Human Trafficking - Danger to Social , Economic Growth

www.osisa.org/node/8745

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

Many of these children whose parents have died from HIV/AIDS or related diseases lack parental care and guidance, cultural, social and family ties and life skills that are usually passed on from generation to generation. They are deprived of their childhood love and care and many of them lose the opportunity to go to school. They become victims of human trafficking because they tend to be attracted to big cities and towns, with the view of earning a living.

Child Trafficking: Does It Exist In Zambia?

When 16-year-old Fridah Bwalya (not real name) visited a local restaurant on what had started as a normal day, little did she know that her life would change forever.

AIDS Now Compels Africa to Challenge Widows' 'Cleansing'

In Malawi and in a number of nearby nations including Zambia and Kenya, a husband's funeral has long concluded with a final ritual: sex between the widow and one of her husband's relatives, to break the bond with his spirit and, it is said, save her and the rest of the village from insanity or disease. Widows have long tolerated it, and traditional leaders have endorsed it, as an unchallenged tradition of rural African life.

Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 3 Civil Liberties: 3 Status: Partly Free

Twelve suspected human traffickers arrested

www.times.co.zm/news/viewnews.cgi?category=4&id=1092743245

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

Ms Mbangweta said the suspects were allegedly enticing Zambians by promising them lucrative employment and businesses in various parts of the world.

She said the group had also used fake passports and the department was making arrangements for one-way travel documents to send them back. She said the ring had set up several command posts where agents were being paid handsomely for facilitating the exit from Zambia of people to go and offer cheap labour and engage in other dubious acts in other parts of the world.

The Invisible people - Africa feeds new slavery

okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks/2004/08/the_invisible_p.html

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[scroll down] The African Gender Institute has launched a new report based on a study of human trafficking and prostitution in Zambia. Some of the findings:

In Zambia women and children are trafficked by road, rail and throughout Africa to Europe, Australia and the US.  Attached to prostitution and trafficking are violence and sexual abuse.

The Protection Project - Zambia [DOC]

FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE TRAFFICKING INFRASTRUCTURE - HIV/AIDS, coupled with poverty, has contributed to the proliferation of street children and child labor in Zambia. About 80 percent of Zambia’s population lives in degrading conditions. Poverty pervades both rural and urban areas, pushing most women, adolescents, and children into the informal sector of the economy, where they sell a variety of goods, their labor, or their bodies. Prostitution is rife in major towns and smaller urban areas. Nearly 1 million children are reportedly orphaned in the country, and 75,000 live on the streets. Nearly half of Zambian children, regardless of orphan status, are not enrolled in primary s. - htsccp

Zambia should save its own children...

When Tomaida Tembo received news of her impending trip to Lusaka, she was 500 km away in Katete’s Kathumba village in the Eastern Province. The 11-year-old did not know how to react. Lusaka to her, has been a mythical place and according to those that had been to the city, it was a place of “agebenga” (bandits) and the “akapenta” (prostitutes) who patrolled and patronised the streets of the city of ‘lights’. What had been a mythical place to Tomaida was soon to become reality.

To make her travelling easy, the distant cousin had sent enough money to cover her travelling expenses and a lot more to help her mother settle down after her departure. That was five years ago since the morning Tomaida left the sanctuary of her mother on a journey that changed her life forever. Wondering on the cold streets of Lusaka, Tomaida awaits her next client on Addis Ababa drive.

Massive child labour in Zambia denounced

With children working in dangerous occupations including portering, street begging and domestic labour, child labour is a widespread problem in Zambia, ICFTU says. "In contravention of the ILO's two core conventions on child labour, children are still toiling in even the worst forms of child labour such as small scale mining operations, agriculture and stone crushing."

The UN labour agency, ILO, has published figures that estimate that over 550,000 children were working in 2001. 85 percent of these were involved in the so-called "worst forms of child labour." According to the ICFTU report, "as the number of Zambians dying of HIV-AIDS continues to increase, the numbers of orphans, and the number of households headed by a child, increases as well. Nearly all of these children are working."

Neither were children safe from the perils of prostitution. The report states that "there are reports of forced prostitution [in Zambia], particularly of children, of the trafficking of women and children to neighbouring countries for the purposes of prostitution, and of combatants from neighbouring Angola kidnapping Zambians and taking them back to Angola to perform various forms of forced labour." - htcp

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Human Trafficking in [Zambia] [other countries]
Street Children in [Zambia] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Zambia] [other countries]