SOUTH AFRICA
Cape is child trafficking centre in SA
Iafrica.com
The symbolic slave lodge in Cape Town was the setting for a Western Cape anti-child trafficking initiative, described on Thursday by acting US Consul-General Paul Patin as the "dark face of globalisation".
Cape is child trafficking centre in SA
The symbolic slave lodge in Cape Town was the setting for a Western Cape anti-child trafficking initiative, described on Thursday by acting US Consul-General Paul Patin as the "dark face of globalisation".
"All humanity must work together to close down trafficking routes, prosecute and convict traffickers, and protect and reintegrate victims into society," said Patin at the launch of a partnership between the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and children's rights organisation Molo Songololo.
Patin said responsibility did not rest solely with developing countries to combat the trade in human chattel, estimated at 800000 people globally, but also on developed countries such as the United States which acted as destination countries.
In South Africa...
The Western Cape, and Cape Town in particular, has been identified as a centre for sexual exploitation and trafficking in children in South Africa.
Doctor Jonathan Lucas of UNODC said the joint project aimed to enhance the provincial capacity to prevent child trafficking, specifically by assisting victims and increasing awareness and capacity.
"We will expand the awareness-raising activities and organise intersectoral training with the aim of ensuring that the terrible crime of trafficking in children can be prevented and the perpetrators punished accordingly."
Lucas complimented the South African government for drafting specific anti-trafficking legislation, expected to be presented to Parliament before the end of the year.
The lack of a comprehensive legislative framework was one of the obstacles confronting authorities when dealing with trafficking.
More than "great laws" needed
However, deputy correctional services minister Cheryl Gilwald said while legislation was critically important, it was not the panacea to the problem.
"We have great laws... the fact is that in poor communities the gangsters are the role models, because they practise patronage politics. They keep people in the money, just enough to buy their loyalty."
Gilwald said those behind the trafficking were making loads of money, some even abandoning the lucrative cocaine trade to concentrate on the trade of humans.
"The flesh, living, of women and children, of young boys and adult men, of people, of humans, is far more valuable than that dangerous white commodity."
Gilwald said it was time to get as tough as the opponents, suggesting that communities even start making use of the Financial Services Board to make known dubious transactions.
Call sounded to "good men"
She called on "good men" to help fight the scourge of abuse and trafficking, saying that only when men stopped playing golf with friends who beat up their wives, could public campaigns make a difference.
"If, when men know that somebody is behaving badly and in terms of abusing, says: 'Listen mate, get help, get counselling.' If that person does not respond, 'sorry chap, you do not serve on the same boardroom and you do certainly not play golf with me on a Wednesday'," Gilwald said.
Provincial Community Safety MEC, Leonard Ramatlakane, said the time had come to cure society of the sickness of abuse and trafficking.
He said communities needed to embrace Ubuntu and adopt their neighbour's children, and not "trek die gordyne toe en sé dis hulle probleem" (close the curtains and say its their problem).