New report reveals South Africa as a hub for human trafficking

A report on the scope and nature of human trafficking in South Africa – the first of its kind – found that the country is a source, transit and destination country for Trafficking in Persons (TIP).

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NEW REPORT SHINES SPOTLIGHT ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN SOUTH AFRICA

The report, which was produced for the Laser Pulse Project in collaboration with the US Agency for International Development (USAID), sought to explore the available data and/or lived experiences related to human trafficking in South Africa.

The researchers pointed out that there is no centralised database on South African human trafficking data; therefore, the evidence presented was “deemed necessary” for exploring the nature and prevalence of trafficking in the country.

The key findings of the report were that South Africa is a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking, with victims and perpetrators often not being accurately counted. The majority of human trafficking cases involve sex trafficking, while labour trafficking cases are limited and in line with international trends.

“Evidence shows that TIP is fueled by several factors. This includes South Africa’s relentless structural inequalities, unconstrained consumer-level demand for commercial sex and forced labour, corruption and widespread indifference and several crippling response deficiencies,” read the report.

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POLICE DATA ON  HUMAN TRAFFICKING

According to the report, 91 human trafficking cases were reported to the Hawks between 9 August 2015 and 17 January 2022.

In those cases, 522 adult victims and 102 child victims were identified. The ages of the victims were unknown in six cases.

While between 2018 and 2021, the South African Police Service (SAPS) recorded 781 South African children as victims of child trafficking.

The report says the relationship between human trafficking and missing persons in South Africa is largely unexplored. However, evidence in successfully prosecuted human trafficking cases shows that there is an overlap.

“Available SAPS missing person data shows at least 23,803 adults that are still missing or unaccounted for (between 2000 and 2015) and at least 3,957 children for the same period (Van der Watt, 2018),” read the report.

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PROSECUTION DATA

The report considered a total of 79 human trafficking cases that were ongoing in the South African Criminal Justice System in 2021.

The data showed that South African nationals account for the majority of victims and perpetrators in the cases.

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VICTIMS

Sex trafficking cases accounted for the overwhelming majority of cases at 53. Followed by five forced marriage cases, four labour trafficking cases, four slavery cases, one illegal adoption case and one attempted body part removal case, one case of servitude, one case of involvement in TIP and nine cases with unknown forms of TIP.

In total, 400 victims were identified in the 79 cases. Women accounted for 226 of those identified, while 163 men were identified. The victims had unknown genders in 11 cases.

Adults accounted for 331 of the victims, while 64 children were identified as TIP victims. The victims’ ages were unknown in five cases. One hundred and forty-three victims were South Africans, followed by Malawi (105), Lesotho (54), Zimbabwe(43), Eswatini (21), Bangladesh (21), Mozambique (5), Ethiopia (3), Zambia (2), Nigeria (2), and unknown (1).

PERPETRATORS

A total of 176 people were accused of human trafficking in the 79 cases – 123 were men and 52 were women. The gender of one of the accused is unknown.

The nationalities of the accused include South Africa (73), Nigeria (44), China (11), Bangladesh (10), Zimbabwe (8), Ethiopia (4), Mozambique (4), Lesotho (3), Pakistan (3), Malawi (2), Cameroon (2), Eswatini (1), Ghana (1), and unknown nationalities (10)

 A researcher at the Free State Centre for Human Rights commented on the report and told SABC News that there are preconceived ideas about the profile of human traffickers.

“There are often preconceived ideas – so the profile of perpetrators, we’ve got multiple nationalities involved in trafficking in South Africa but South African nationals still eclipse all the nationalities in terms of perpetrators.

“Gender – very interesting in successfully prosecuted cases – 38 women being convicted of trafficking, 39 men, so that’s very interesting when you look at male and female and the role that women have to also perpetrate and enable these criminal networks. We’ve got victims of trafficking from several African countries,” he said.

Of the 44 successful human trafficking prosecutions in 2021, 36 of the cases involved sex trafficking followed by child labour (2), adoption scams (2) and buying and selling children (4). Children accounted for 59% of the 78 victims identified in these cases.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO TACKLE HUMAN TRAFFICKING

The report recommends a number of actions and interventions to address human trafficking in South Africa, some of them include:

• Prioritising and increasing efforts to detect, investigate and prosecute labour trafficking cases.
• Using laws to discourage demand for sexual exploitation.
• Reviewing the Prevention and Combatting of Trafficking in Persons Act (PACOTIP) to remove options for fines instead of imprisonment for sex trafficking crimes.
• Improving the collection of data and analysis of human trafficking through an integrated information system.
• Recognising and using the National Human Trafficking Hotline as an official reporting mechanism.

RESEARCH INTO THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS IN SOUTH AFRICA: by Storm Simpson on Scribd

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ARTICLES BY STORM SIMPSON

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