How Can Human Trafficking Be Reduced in South Africa?
What exactly is human trafficking?
Human trafficking, also known as person trafficking, is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, or trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others.
What are the different types of human trafficking?
Human trafficking is classified into two types:
1. Sex trafficking
2. Labor trafficking.
What are the causes of human trafficking?
1. Poverty.
2. A lack of education.
3. The demand for cheap labor/sex.
4. A lack of human rights protections.
5. A lack of legitimate economic opportunities.
6. Cultural factors.
7. Conflict and natural disasters.
8. A lack of safe migration options.
Who is most vulnerable to becoming a human trafficking victim?
1. Unhoused youth.
2. Refugees or migrant workers.
3. People with substance abuse disorders.
4. Survivors of other forms of past violence.
5. People with disabilities.
What are the effect of human trafficking?
1. physical and psychological abuse such as rape, beating and torture
2. Mental Trauma
3. Vulnerability to sexually transmitted diseases such as syphyilis.
4. Unwanted pregnancy
5. Death
How serious is human trafficking in South Africa?
According to the most recent Trafficking in Persons annual report, the number of people ensnared in human trafficking in South Africa has more than doubled in the fiscal year 2021-22. From April 2021 to March 2022, 83 persons were trafficked, compared to 16 person the previous year.
How can human trafficking be reduced in South Africa?
Human trafficking in South Africa can be reduced by using the following strategies:
1. Increase the number of investigations, prosecutions, and convictions of traffickers, especially organised criminal syndicates that aided in the crime.
2. Ban the demand for commercial sex.
3. Increase front-line responder resources and training to successfully apply victim identification and referral standard operating procedures (SOPs) to identify trafficking victims.
4. Increase outreach and awareness to vulnerable populations.
5. Train officers from the South African Police Service (SAPS) in trauma-informed interrogation techniques, as well as victim identification and referral (SOPs)