Rehabilitation, reintegration of trafficking survivors of paramount importance
AT LEAST 2 958 people were trafficked through African countries outside of South Africa over the 12-month period from January to December 2014 for unjust purposes, including sexual exploitation, domestic servitude and forced recruitment as child soldiers.
This is according to data drawn from the latest LexisNexis South Africa Human Trafficking Awareness Index, a knowledge management tool released periodically by this leading provider of content and technology solutions.
The report showed that hot spots for trafficking on the continent during 2014 included the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Sudan, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Madagascar.
At least 1 196 (or 40 percent) of the victims were adults, while 1 343 (or 45 percent) were children. A quarter (760) were potential victims of sexual exploitation, including at least 353 child victims counted among them. The next most prevalent forms of human trafficking on the continent during 2014 were for domestic servitude, child soldiers and forced recruitment by militia and terrorist groups such as Boko Haram.
In this third such study by the firm, Dr Monique Emser, a passionate countertrafficking researcher and activist, analysed human trafficking-related news using the organisation’s extensive Nexis database of searchable news articles. She is a research associate in the Criminal and Medical Law Department at the University of the Free State. She has been affiliated with the KZN Human Trafficking, Prostitution, Pornography and Brothel Task Team since 2009.
Emser said: “While the LexisNexis Human Trafficking Awareness Index can only speak to reported cases of human trafficking in the media, it does fill a very important gap in knowledge management surrounding the prevalence of human trafficking in South Africa and the African region. The index provides a global analysis of trends and developments relating to the modus operandi of traffickers, victimology, prosecution of cases and interlinking phenomena.”
Previous reports on the LexisNexis Human Trafficking Awareness Index (TM) showed the ongoing prevalence of child trafficking. “Despite child labour remaining an issue of key concern throughout the African region, the number of potential child victims detected and assisted was relatively low,” said Emser.
“This negative trend is a point of concern, especially in countries known for their poor track record in addressing the worst forms of child labour.”
She said children were trafficked for diverse reasons, but the most prevalent types of child trafficking on the continent during the reporting period were for sexual exploitation (including forced marriage), forced recruitment or child soldiers and illegal adoptions.
Unicef estimates that up to 300 000 children are involved in more than 30 conflicts worldwide, despite the recruitment of children under the age of 15 being incontrovertibly prohibited under international humanitarian law. The largest number of child soldiers, estimated at 120 000 (or 40 percent of the global total), are in Africa.
Emser said: “Child soldiers are any children under the age of 18 who are recruited by a state or non-state armed group and used as fighters, cooks, suicide bombers, human shields, messengers, spies or for sexual purposes.”
She said that while the HTA Index highlighted the issue of child soldiers and forced recruitment within Africa’s conflict zones as a cause for serious concern, media reports were unable to provide reliable figures of the magnitude of the problem due to prolonged political instability and internecine strife.
“Despite this, the forced recruitment of children and young adults is a serious violation of human rights and constitutes a war crime which needs to be forcefully addressed.”
Conflict currently affects 21 countries, involving 34 armed groups, militia and government security forces that systematically employ rape as a tool of war. In such conflict zones, brutal acts of sexual violence are used to gain control of territories with natural resources, which are used by groups to fuel further conflict, as well as human trafficking and the illegal drug trade.
Parents also try to protect daughters by pushing them into early and forced marriages, which has led to cases of human trafficking and sexual slavery. Rape has also been documented as a trigger for mass flight, which further makes women, and especially youth, vulnerable to abuses. While impunity for sexual violence remains prevalent, it is particularly acute in these situations. In particular, the prevalence of human trafficking in postconflict areas contributes to instability in these countries for years after peace agreements are reached and arms laid down.
Emser points out that a trafficking victim’s ordeal does not end with his or her extraction from a trafficking situation.
“The abuse and trauma that many victims were subjected to over time will follow them for years. The need for rehabilitation and reintegration programmes that adequately support survivors of trafficking on their journey to recovery is of paramount importance.”
Rehabilitation programmes remained underfunded and were often too short to help a survivor transition back into society or successfully reunite with their families. Stigmatisation, substance dependency or a lack of coping and life skills means that a number of survivors will return to their traffickers or a similarly exploitative life.
“The longer-term rehabilitative needs of survivors needs to be taken into account by policy,” she said.
Hlombe is the Corporate Communications Officer at LexisNexis South Africa