South Africa is a hotspot for human trafficking, according to a recent report – TDPel Media

The research, which was developed for the Laser Pulse Project in conjunction with the US Agency for International Development (USAID), attempted to analyze the available data and/or lived experiences connected to human trafficking in South Africa.

The researchers noted out that there is no centralised database on South African human trafficking data; consequently, the evidence presented was “deemed necessary” for studying the nature and frequency of trafficking in the country.

The primary findings of the investigation were that South Africa is a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking, with victims and perpetrators often not being adequately counted. The majority of human trafficking cases involve sex trafficking, while labour trafficking cases are minimal and in keeping with international trends.

“Evidence shows that TIP is fueled by several factors. This includes South Africa's unrelenting structural inequities, unrestricted consumer-level demand for commercial sex and forced labour, corruption and widespread indifference and multiple devastating response deficiencies,” read the report.

According to the study, 91 human trafficking incidents were submitted to the Hawks between 9 August 2015 and 17 January 2022.

In those cases, 522 adult victims and 102 child victims were identified. The ages of the victims were unknown in six cases.

While between 2018 and 2021, the South African Police Service (SAPS) reported 781 South African children as victims of child trafficking.

The nexus between human trafficking and missing persons in South Africa is largely unexplored, according to the report. However, data from successfully convicted cases of human trafficking reveals an overlap.

According to the report, between 2000 and 2015, at least 23,803 adults and at least 3,957 children remain missing or unaccounted for.

Four ladies were rescued from a human trafficking ring in a “luxurious house.”In 2021, the report examined a total of 79 ongoing human trafficking cases in the South African Criminal Justice System.

The data revealed that the majority of victims and perpetrators in the cases were South Africans.

The resumption of the trial of Chinese men accused of human trafficking and child labor

At 53, sex trafficking cases represented the vast majority. Followed by five instances of forced marriage, four instances of labor trafficking, four instances of slavery, one instance of unlawful adoption and one instance of attempted body part removal, one instance of servitude, one instance of engagement in TIP, and nine instances of unknown kinds of TIP.

400 victims were identified in all among the 79 incidents. 226 women out of 163 men were identified, while 226 women were identified. In 11 cases, the gender of the victims was unknown.

331 adults were identified as victims, while 64 minors were recognized as victims of the TIP. In five cases, the age of the victim was unknown. 143 victims were South Africans, followed by victims from Malawi (105), Lesotho (54), Zimbabwe (43), Eswatini (21), Bangladesh (21), Mozambique (5), Ethiopia (3), Zambia (2), Nigeria (2), and other countries (1).

PERPETRATORS A total of 176 individuals were charged with human trafficking in the 79 incidents, including 123 men and 52 women. Unknown is the gender of one of the accused.

South Africa (73), Nigeria (44), China (11), Bangladesh (10), Zimbabwe (8), Ethiopia (4), Mozambique (4), Lesotho (3), Pakistan (3), Malawi (2), Cameroon (2), Eswatini (1), Ghana (1), and unknown nationalities are the nations of the accused (10)

A researcher at the Free State Centre for Human Rights remarked on the study and told SABC News that the profile of human traffickers is predefined.

Multiple nationalities are involved in human trafficking in South Africa, however South African people outnumber all other nations when it comes to perpetrators.

“Gender – particularly noteworthy in successfully prosecuted instances – 38 women were convicted of trafficking, compared to 39 men. This is really intriguing when you consider the role that women play in perpetrating and enabling these criminal networks. We have victims of human trafficking from multiple African nations,” he stated.

36 of the 44 successful prosecutions for human trafficking in 2021 featured sex trafficking, followed by child labor (2), adoption scams (2), and the buying and selling of minors (4). 59% of the 78 victims identified in these cases were children.