Torture in [South Africa]] [other countries]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 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.e-tools.co.za/newsbrief/2007/news0904.txt [accessed
3 September 2012] [scroll down] ‘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 Johannesburg. Specific legislation to tackle the issue
was needed to help the law enforcement agencies get to grips with the
situation. ' 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/report/freedom-world/2009/south-africa [accessed 28 June 2012] 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
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ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery – |
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Torture in [South Africa]] [other countries]Human Trafficking in [South Africa Street Children in [South Africa] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [South Africa] [other countries]