| |
Human trafficking, the modern day form of slavery has been defined by the UN as: “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or the use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of other or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs…”
Women and children are the most vulnerable to trafficking because of, primarily, economic and social marginalization. The situation is dire in the Southern African region where women and children, especially from countries such as Angola, Mozambique and Malawi are trafficked in their numbers to South Africa, the United Kingdom and China with promises of jobs and a better life.
The UN has played a significant role in addressing human trafficking. This has been through the adoption of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons and the creation of the mandates of the Special Rapporteurs on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and on Trafficking in human beings. The Protocol is instrumental in that it identifies ways in which governments can prevent and combat trafficking in persons and it also facilitates cooperation against trafficking. In this regard, governments, international and non-governmental organisations, have a responsibility to ensure that a framework exists for combating trafficking. Although it is true that migration laws have been useful in apprehending and deterring both foreign and local nationals from trafficking people or receiving and harbouring trafficked persons, there is a growing need to promulgate specific anti- trafficking legislation.
Links to the following websites:
www.ohchr.org/english/law/protocoltraffic.htm
RESOURCES
|