80%of human trafficking victims are women
MANZINI - Out of the 800　000 people that are trafficked across international borders every year, 80 per cent of them are women while 50 per cent are children.
This was revealed by The Will of Hope Trust Public Relations Officer (PRO) Nomubuso Mndzebele when responding to a questionnaire.
This meant that 640 000 women are trafficked per year worldwide and 320 000 of them are children.
She said human trafficking was now the third largest source of income for organised crime after drug smuggling and arms smuggling.
Mndzebele said the victims enter a range of economic sectors, but predominantly the sex industry while a small number are subjected to forced labour.
She said while recent research clearly indicated that human trafficking should be a concern for Southern Africa, there was still lack of empirical documented information on this trend in this region.
"In Swaziland, human trafficking has not been well researched and is hardly documented."
She said reference to Swaziland as being the site of human trafficking activities has been through reports conducted in the SADC region or that which relates to countries such as Mozambique and Swaziland which share borders where a greater awareness of the phenomenon existed.
Instances
She said the media have published certain instances of Swazi women, men and children being trafficked.
She cited the United States of America Department Human Rights 2010 report that indicated that Swazi women were trafficked to South Africa for the purpose of forced cohabitation which often involved sexual abuse.
She said the police and Immigration department have also reported an increase in women and children disappearing to neighbouring countries.
"Although, no research has been done in this regard, indications are that they are lured by employment or taken through false marriages in which they find themselves working as sex slaves."　
　
She said as The Will of Hope, they have since collaborated with entertainment stables like SwaziBoy, Blaque Creations and others to stage the greatest benefit awareness concerts during the festive season.
"We have seen that entertainment and music have a captive audience and in that way we have seen an opportunity to grow our educational campaigns even bigger to reach out to more people."
She said The Will of Hope Trust has targeted the communications industry as a partner in the fight against human trafficking.
"The organisation deals with the issue of trafficking on the ground, for instance providing counselling for victims, giving support and training to caregivers and assisting in re-uniting families with lost and found victims of smuggling," she said
... IT can happen to anyone
MANZINI - The Will of Hope Trust Public Relations Officer (PRO) Nomubuso Mndzebele warned the nation that human trafficking can happen to anyone and said that was the part that makes it so scary.
She said it was everyone’s responsibility to protect and assist these people who are being exploited, and this can be done through communication efforts which was what the Will of Hope Trust was doing.
In a bid to raise funds and create awareness on human trafficking, the Trust hosted an end of year cross-over party on the December 31, 2011 at Esibayeni Lodge. They did this in collaboration with MTV Base, Channel O, e.TV, 5Fm, and Africa Magic to mention a few. This event attracted revellers from all over Africa.
Mndzebele said they believe the event drew the desired attention to the cause of human trafficking. She said this after judging by the great responses they were still getting from attendants.
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COLANI VILAKATI
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19/05/2016 07:25:09
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17/05/2016 10:36:53
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Xolani Simphiwe Mkhatshwa
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Concerned woman
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