South Africa is a source, transit, and destination country for trafficked men, women, and children.
South African girls are trafficked internally for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic servitude. Women and girls from other African countries are trafficked to South Africa and, occasionally, onward to Europe for sexual exploitation.
Thai, Chinese, and Eastern European women are trafficked to South Africa for debt-bonded commercial sexual exploitation. Mozambican and Malawian boys and young men are trafficked to South Africa for agricultural labor. Small numbers of Swazi girls are trafficked to South Africa’s Mpumalanga Province for domestic servitude. Organized criminal groups and local gangs facilitate trafficking into and within South Africa, particularly for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation.
The amount of attention gives this evil is far too low for the extent of the problem. It is time now, in 2008, to speak out and do something about it.The problem extends further than the borders of South Africa and needs to be brought to the attention of governments and effective legislation proposed and enacted. We cannot go on like this and something needs to be done about it!
Thank you for this posting. You are absolutely right. It’s a horrible problem that leads to institutionalized exploitation of women and children. It’s so hippocrtical when countries make claims to stop human trafficking and then the prostitution industry, which utilizes so many of women slaves, is allowed to flourish. They’re one in the same.
The issue is also a big one in Kosovo. Come to Kosovo and you will see tons of motels on the street. Trust me when I say that there is really no legitimate need for that amount of motels. Ask the locals and everyone knows what’s going on in there: prostitution. Many of those are individuals who have been trafficked in from countries like Moldova.
And back to the whole institutionalized nature of the problem. A few years ago, some UN police were caught up in a prostitution ring stemming from human trafficking. How is this allowed to happen? Apart from the economic issues, there are deeper ones, such as how society views and objectifies women as sex objects.
You are what you think, right? If you look at society’s views — official and unoffical — it’s unfortunate that its no surprise at all that human trafficking is and will remain a problem.