Programme Director, Mr Banele Kunene 
Regional Representative of UNODC South Africa, Ms. Zhuldyz Akisheva
Representatives of the EU Delegation to South Africa
Representatives of the NPA
Members of civil society organisations 
Ladies and gentlemen, friends

Human trafficking is a global phenomenon and is a devastating crime for its victims. It affects each and every country, whether as a country of origin, transit or destination for victims. 

Earlier this month we saw media reports of a middle-aged man from Brits, who kept a 15-year-old girl locked up in his shack as a sex slave convicted on a charge of human trafficking and child rape. The man had brought the girl and her mother to South Africa under the impression that she was coming here to work, but he then kept her locked up as a sex slave.

A UN General Assembly Resolution designated July 30th as the World Day against Trafficking in Persons.

This resolution declared that such a day was necessary to raise awareness of the situation of victims of human trafficking and for the promotion and protection of their rights.

This year, the focus is on 'responding to the trafficking of children and young people'. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Global Report on Trafficking in Persons children make up almost a third of all human trafficking victims worldwide.  This year's campaign highlights this fact and, hence, the theme draws attention to the issues faced by trafficked children and to possible action initiatives linked to safeguarding and ensuring justice for child victims.

So how is South Africa dealing with issues of trafficking in children and young people?

As you know, South Africa’s Prevention and Combatting of Trafficking in Persons Act came into operation in August 2015, creating a comprehensive legal tool to combat trafficking in persons in all its forms. The Act created the offence of trafficking in persons which included labour trafficking and broadened the scope of offences.

According to the Act, a person is guilty of trafficking if he or she “delivers, recruits, transports, transfers, harbours, sells, exchanges, leases or receives” another person within or across the borders of the Republic for the purposes of exploitation.

This may be done through the threat of harm, the threat or use of force or coercion, the abuse of a person’s vulnerability, through fraud or deception, abduction, kidnapping or an abuse of power.

It can also be through, directly or indirectly, giving or receiving payments or benefits to obtain the consent of a person having control or authority over another; or directly or indirectly giving or receiving payments, compensation, rewards, benefits or any other advantage.

It expressly provides that these actions may be aimed at the trafficked person him- or herself, an immediate family member or any other person in a close relationship to the victim. The Act further stipulates that a person is guilty of human trafficking if he or she adopts a child or enters into a forced marriage with another person for the purpose of exploiting that child or other person in any form or manner.

Children trafficking usually take the form of either sex trafficking or forced labour. But these are not the only forms – other forms of human trafficking include domestic servitude, organ smuggling, child-brides, illegal child adoptions, debt-bondage, forced surrogacy, and the use of body parts.

On child labour, our Department of Labour has a National Child Labour Programme of Action (2017 – 2021). The Child Labour Programme of Action defines child labour as work being done by children who are under the age of 18 and it is work that is exploitative, hazardous or otherwise inappropriate for their age, detrimental to their schooling, or social, physical, mental, spiritual or moral development.

According to the International Labour Organisation it is work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and is work that is harmful to their physical and mental development. It affects not only their health and personal development, but interferes with their schooling and has a negative impact on children's well-being.

Last year, Stats SA released its Survey of Activities of Young People and it tells us that the number of children aged between 7 and 17 years in South Africa has increased to 11,2 million in 2015.  

What is very useful for TIP purposes is that the report provides some information on child labour:

There was a decline in the number of children who were involved in child labour from 779 000 in 2010 to 577 000 in 2015, this was a difference of 202 000 children.

In 2015 the difference between boys and girls involvement in child labour was minimal.

In KwaZulu-Natal about 1 out of 10 children was engaged in child labour and this was the highest when compared with other provinces, and

Urban areas had the lowest proportion of children involved in child labour at 2%.

Now these are the children that we know about – but what about those that we don’t know about?

And this is why reliable data becomes crucial and why we need more quantitative research.

To illustrate the point: In October 2013 Africa Check investigated claims of child trafficking. As many as “30,000 kids trafficked in SA” read a headline in The Times and a similar article appeared in the Pretoria News suggesting that “at least 30,000 children” are trafficked and prostituted annually in South Africa.

When Africa Check investigated they found that the figures were exaggerated and that the claims were not supported by the available quantitative research. They said, most importantly, that –

“Such overestimations, while successful in capturing public attention and generating moral outrage, do not provide a sound basis for policy-making and resource allocation”.

More recently, in January this year, Africa Check again investigated similar claims on social media which said that “every 30 seconds a child is stolen in South Africa”, with these children then “spirited away to the sex industry”.

Africa Check points out that is the equivalent of 2,880 children kidnapped a day or 84,000 children a month. Over a million children would be kidnapped in South Africa every year if the claims were true.

Once again, it found that there is no data or any reliable information available which speaks directly to how many people are trafficked into the sex trade.

So why is there this dichotomy? Why is there such a big discrepancy between the figures being claimed and reported TIP cases?

Experts have warned that the hidden nature of the crime makes it difficult to quantify. Under-reporting is also a problem. And, importantly, it appears that data collection is problematic the world over. In a UNICEF report on child trafficking in Central Asia it said:

“All national research teams faced difficulties in data collection because of the different terms, definitions and understandings of child trafficking held by key informants and in existing literature. This issue is not, however, specific to Central Asia – child trafficking research tends to be challenging in most parts of the world… 

It is therefore important to recognize that it is difficult to determine the incidence and prevalence of this phenomenon because associated terms and concepts are often not employed or understood at national, regional and local levels.”

One of the ways to address this issue is through proper coordination, collaboration and partnership. The GLO.ACT programme was launched in South Africa in September 2016. A dual approach of prevention and protection has been adopted.

Training of government officials is crucial if the law is to work.  The Department of Social Development has conducted national training in preparation for the formal accreditation of organisations and shelters that provide services for victims of human trafficking.  Training has also been undertaken with immigration officials of the Department of Home Affairs, whilst the National Prosecuting Authority has conducted training sessions for prosecutors on trafficking in persons.

In addition, a National Inter-sectoral Committee of Trafficking in Persons which comprises of national departmental representatives from, amongst others, Justice and Constitutional Development, Health, Home Affairs, International Relations and Cooperation, Labour, Social Development, Women, the SAPS, the NPA and civil society organizations was established. The Committee leads the implementation and administration of the Act at national government level.

Provincial Task Teams of Trafficking in Persons were also established as well as Provincial Rapid Response Teams to attend to operational matters relating to suspected complaints and pending cases of trafficking in persons, as well as ensuring the efficient monitoring of reported trafficking in persons’ cases and providing support to the victims.

Much work has already been done on our National Policy Framework on TIP. We believe that our NPF’s strategy and action plan should be informed by internationally recognized anti-trafficking guiding principles such as a human rights/victim-centered approach; a multi-disciplinary approach; government ownership; civil society participation; gender-sensitive approach and sustainability.

In addition, the strategy should address the 4 pillars of anti-trafficking interventions or components, namely Prevention, Protection, Prosecution, and Partnership. The NPF is currently being reviewed with a view to finalizing it by the end of August.

As with the rest of the world, in South Africa raising awareness about human trafficking and its implications is a key-element to prevent and protect people from this scourge. And when we raise awareness about human trafficking, perhaps the most important message we need to send is one of hope.

I was reading about the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Human Trafficking, which is administered by the UNODC. On the website there is a page called “Victims’ Voices”, and I would urge you to read some of these true-life accounts of children who have been victims of trafficking.

I want to leave you with Jacob’s story, it reads –

“Lured by promises of schooling and a job, 13-year-old Jacob left his village in Kenya and accompanied some men to Nairobi. Once there, they told him the plans had changed. The men took Jacob to Mombasa and made him hunt for scrap metal to sell. If he didn't find enough, he was forced to beg in the streets and would go to sleep hungry. He had no way to contact his family or seek help. 

After several months, Jacob ran away and fled to the nearby town of Malindi, but when he couldn't feed himself from begging, he started committing petty crimes. Soon he was arrested.”

An NGO that provides legal aid services to children, stepped in to help. It got a court to declare Jacob in need of care and protection, and criminal charges were dropped. The NGO provided Jacob with counselling and reunited him with his family.

Jacob, now 14, is happy to be home.  

He is studying hard so he can get into a national secondary school. About his future he says, "I would like to be a teacher or a policeman who helps people when they are in trouble."

So, on this day, as we raise awareness of the situation of victims of human trafficking and for the promotion and protection of their rights, let us send the message that there is always hope. Human trafficking can be stopped.

I thank you.