Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Poverty drives the unsuspecting poor into the
hands of traffickers Published reports & articles from 2000 to 2025 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Botswana.htm
Botswana is a
source, transit, and, to a lesser extent, destination country for men, women,
and children trafficked for the purpose of forced labor and sexual
exploitation. Children are trafficked internally for domestic servitude and
cattle herding, while women report being forced into commercial sexual
exploitation at safari lodges. Botswana is a staging area for both the
smuggling and trafficking of third-country nationals, primarily from Namibia
and Zimbabwe, to South Africa. Zimbabweans are also trafficked into Botswana
for forced labor as domestic servants. - U.S. State Dept
Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 Check out a later country report here
or the full TIP Report here |
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Botswana. 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. HOW TO USE THIS WEB-PAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Human Trafficking are of
particular interest to you. Would you
like to write about Forced-Labor? Debt
Bondage? Prostitution? Forced Begging? Child Soldiers? Sale of Organs? etc. On the other
hand, you might choose to include possible precursors of trafficking such as poverty. There is a lot to the subject
of Trafficking. Scan other countries
as well. Draw comparisons between
activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Botswana in sweat
shops, human trafficking crisis Gowenius Toka,
Sunday Standard, 21-10-2007 www.sundaystandard.info/article.php?NewsID=2186&GroupID=1 [accessed 23 January
2011] www.sundaystandard.info/botswana-in-sweat-shops-human-trafficking-crisis/ [accessed 28 May
2017] The Sunday Standard
turned up further information that another company, Zheng Ming, which
operated a sweatshop in Ramotswa, was part of an
international trade in modern day slavery. Industrial Court Judge, Elijah Legwaila, would later rule that “it appears that Chinese
nationals pay large sums of money to recruitment agencies who send them
abroad with all sorts of promises and that some Chinese nationals even leave
China with promises of work in developed countries and that by the time such
people land at any destination they have neither the money nor the bargaining
power to protect their rights. “These Chinese
nationals are then housed and fed in compounds at the pleasure of the
employer. Their passports, air tickets, work and residence permits are
retained by the employer.” Legwaila was passing judgment in a case in which Bin Quin
Lin, a Chinese national working for Zheng Ming Knitwear, was held in forced labour without pay. Chinese investors are the biggest
investors in the textile industry which exports garments to ***
ARCHIVES *** 2023 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor U.S. Dept of Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs,
Child Labor and Forced Labor Reports www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/resources/reports/child-labor/botswana
[accessed 22
December 2024] Moderate Advancement - In 2023, Botswana
made moderate advancement in efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child
labor. After several years of non-reporting on the matter, the government
reported that labor inspectors were trained on the elimination of child labor
through a month-long training program. Additionally, through a program
offered with the International Labor Organization, the government trained officers
from several civil society partners on the elimination of child labor.
Botswana also renewed its anti-human trafficking national action plan and
began using a model which allows for enhanced targeting of labor inspections
towards problematic sectors, including those in regular non-compliance with
child labor laws. Despite these efforts, gaps remain in the country’s legal
framework, including the lack of a minimum age for compulsory education and a
list of hazardous work activities for children. The government also did not
provide information on its criminal law enforcement efforts for inclusion in
this report. In addition, the design and implementation of social programs to
address child labor are insufficient to fully address the scope of the problem,
especially in commercial sexual exploitation, cattle herding, and domestic
work. 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Botswana U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/botswana/
[accessed 13 May
2021] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR The constitution and law prohibit and criminalize all forms of forced and compulsory labor, including by children. Civil society representatives reported in previous years the government did not effectively enforce relevant laws, particularly in remote areas, mainly due to a lack of staff and funding. Labor inspectors refer cases to the BPS for prosecution. In the past authorities prosecuted cases involving trafficked individuals and won convictions. There were anecdotal reports of forced child labor in cattle herding and in domestic servitude (see section 7.c.). Members of the San community, including children, were sometimes subjected to forced labor conditions on cattle farms in the Ghanzi district. The law prescribed penalties that were not commensurate with comparable serious crimes. PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT Despite laws and policies designed to protect children from exploitation in the workplace, child labor occurred mostly on small-scale cattle posts or farms, where employees lived with their children in family units, particularly in the Ghanzi region. Child labor also occurred in domestic work and street vending. Civil society representatives noted in such cases where it was likely to exist, child labor resulted from a lack of awareness of the law among parents and their employers. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/botswana/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 23 April 2020] G3. DO INDIVIDUALS
ENJOY PERSONAL SOCIAL FREEDOMS, INCLUDING CHOICE OF MARRIAGE PARTNER AND SIZE
OF FAMILY, PROTECTION FROM DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, AND CONTROL OVER APPEARANCE? Domestic violence
and rape are pervasive problems. The law does not recognize spousal rape as a
crime. Customary law restricts women’s rights within a marriage. When
husbands and wives separate, custody is traditionally granted to the father.
Child and forced marriages still occur under customary law. G4. DO INDIVIDUALS
ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? Workers enjoy a
number of protections against exploitative labor practices. However, employer
abuses in retail stores, the tourism industry, and private security sector
are an ongoing problem. Botswana lacks a strong regulatory framework for
labor brokers that dispatch workers to clients on short-term contracts, in
which exploitation is common. Human trafficking remains an ongoing challenge.
The Anti-Human Trafficking Act was amended in 2018 to include stiffer
financial penalties. 2017 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor Office of Child
Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, Bureau of International Labor
Affairs, US Dept of Labor, 2018 www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ilab/ChildLaborReport_Book.pdf [accessed 15 April
2019] www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2017/ChildLaborReportBook.pdf [accessed 23 April
2020] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor [page 191] According to UNICEF
data published in 2016, approximately 9 percent of children in Botswana are
engaged in child labor. However, the data did not provide information about the
sectors, types of activities, and hazards children encounter as child
laborers. (11) Reports also indicate that children in Botswana are victims of
commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor, sometimes as a result of
human trafficking. In addition, children of San ethnic minority groups may be
subjected to forced labor conditions on private farms and cattle posts. (5;
4; 3). Human trafficking
ring smashed in Botswana Press TV, Apr 19,
2009 edition.presstv.ir/detail/91932.html [accessed 23 January
2011] exoduscry.com/blog/reachingout/bust-in-botswana/ [accessed 29 January
2019] Botswana police
smashes a human trafficking ring suspected of smuggling into Canada some
1,000 people for servitude and sexual exploitation. The Reducing Exploitive
Child Labour in www.reclisa.org/content/index.cfm?navID=2&itemID=14
[Last access date
unavailable] The ILO estimates
that in 2000 there were 30,000 economically active children in Child labour persists in Botswana mainly because of limited
public awareness and research concerning children's participation in
exploitive labour; Inadequate harmonization and
definitions and laws protecting core labour
standards, including those pertaining to exploitive child labour,
and limited capacity to enforce existing laws; poor school transportation,
infrastructure, and material conditions in rural areas; and lack of
vocational primary and secondary educational opportunities for street
children, abandoned children, child-headed households, pregnant girls or
teenage mothers, children of migrant workers, HIV/AIDS orphans, and older
children. The Protection
Project - Botswana The www.protectionproject.org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/botswana.doc [Last accessed 2009] www.protectionproject.org/country-reports/ [accessed 13
February 2019] A Human Rights
Report on Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children Trafficking Routes
and Forms of Trafficking - Botswana is both a country of origin and a country
of transit for trafficking in women and children for commercial sexual
exploitation. Victims from More specifically,
porous borders, combined with recurrent civil and political unrest and a lack
of economic opportunity, have ensured a consistent southward flow of both
legal and illegal migrants in southern ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 3 Civil Liberties: 2 Status: Free 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/botswana/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 23 April
2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS
ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? Workers enjoy a
number of protections against exploitative labor practices. However, employer
abuses in retail stores, the tourism industry, and the private security
sector are an ongoing problem. Botswana lacks a strong regulatory framework
for labor brokers that dispatch workers to clients on short-term contracts,
in which exploitation is common. Human trafficking remains a challenge. While
the government increased trafficking prosecutions in 2017, efforts to
identify and protect victims were inadequate. 2017 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 20 April 2018 www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2017/af/276971.htm
[accessed 17 March
2019] www.state.gov/reports/2017-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/botswana/ [accessed 24 June
2019] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR The constitution
and law prohibit and criminalize all forms of forced and compulsory labor,
including by children. Civil society representatives, however, reported in
previous years that the government did not effectively enforce relevant laws,
particularly in remote areas, mainly because a lack of staff and funding made
it difficult for the government to send labor officers to remote areas. Labor
inspectors refer cases to the BPS for prosecution. There were reports of
probable forced child labor in cattle herding and in domestic servitude (see
section 7.c.). There were also anecdotal reports that members of the Basarwa community were subjected to forced labor
conditions on cattle farms in the Ghanzi district. Human Rights
Reports » 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/af/118987.htm [accessed 7 February
2020] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– The law does not prohibit trafficking in persons, although penal code
provisions cover related offenses such as abduction and kidnapping, slave
trafficking, and procuring women and girls for the purpose of prostitution.
One suspected trafficking case was prosecuted during the year on false
documentation charges, although anecdotal evidence suggested that additional
trafficking cases may have occurred and gone undetected. There were
unconfirmed reports that women and children from eastern Africa were
trafficked through the country to The Department of Labor’s 2006 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor [PDF] www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/tda/tda2006/botswana.pdf [accessed 23 January
2011] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL Worst Forms of Child Labor INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children in Botswana are employed in agriculture,
predominately subsistence farming, and family businesses. In remote areas,
young children also work as domestic servants. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some
children are exploited in prostitution.
In addition, there are unconfirmed reports that All
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