Child trade rife in KZN cities
2003-03-03 22:55
Craig Bishop
Pietermaritzburg - Pietermaritzburg and Durban are two of the worst cities in South Africa for
the trafficking in children for prostitution, according to a report
delivered to the KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature on Monday.
Cape Town based humanitarian welfare organisation Molo Songololo (hello
millipede) project co-ordinator Debora Mobilyn delivered a harrowing account
of how international crime syndicates use local couriers to target children
as young as four from indigent families, promise them meaningful work
overseas and then force them into a debt-bound, inescapable life of
prostitution and drugs.
A young girl could be bought for as little as R800 and earn her pimp many
times that each week, the legislature heard.
Third largest
profit-making criminal enterprise
According to SAPS statistics, it is estimated that there are over 28 000
child prostitutes in South Africa.
The SAPS dealt with 38 000 cases of child
prostitution in 1998 while 500 of Cape Town's 2 000 street sex workers are
believed to be children.
Mobilyn warned that child trafficking had become the third-largest
profit-making criminal enterprise after drug and gun running, earning
billions of dollars every year.
According to the organisation's research, South Africa's 17 million children
make up 44% of the population, and more than 60% of these live in poverty.
Poverty among black children is the worst at more than 70% and it is estimated
that, despite child labour being illegal, more than 400 000 children work in
South Africa, half of them under the age of 14.
Factors contributing to children's vulnerability include economic migration,
family disintegration, sexual abuse and an increased demand for sex with
children.
Various methods used
Children are targeted by various methods, including abduction, threats and
deception, and are destined primarily for countries in Eastern Europe,
south-east Asia and other African countries, especially Nigeria, Uganda,
Angola and Mozambique.
Mobilyn said Molo Songololo has worked closely with the government to ratify
the United Nations optional protocol on the sale of children, child
prostitution and pornography, while the SA Law Commission is drafting a bill
on sexual offences that includes trafficking.
- The Witness