Single Trafficking Act needed

2007-12-05 21:06

Pretoria - South Africa urgently needs legislation to counter human trafficking, particularly to help the people who are abused, a panel discussion in Pretoria heard on Wednesday

"At some point we hope there would be a law protecting those victims who are not criminals," said Yitna Getachew of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

Speaking at the panel discussion hosted by the IOM and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), Getachew said trafficked people were simply deported by the South African authorities.

"For instance women who are trafficked for sexual exploitations simply get sent back before we can assist them or find out more about the networks who trafficked them," he said.

He said the law should not only focus on the criminal side of the issue but also how to deal with trafficked persons.

"What are you doing with a victim, about their immigration issues, are you going to send them back certainly not, you are going to keep them," Getachew said.

Patric Solomons of community-based organisation Molo Songololo said there was some legislation in the pipeline but this needed to be enforced or finalised.

They include the Children's Act and the Sexual Offences Bill, which make some provisions to tackle trafficking.

The SA Law Commission is also working on a comprehensive legislation proposal which is expected to be submitted to the justice department next year.

Professor Vasu Reddy of the HSRC gender and development unit said there was a need for organisations to push for the legislation.

"The next step would be to look at what mechanisms we can use to push for that," she said.

Reddy said this could include lobbying of parliament, research and further awareness raising of the issue.

Several of the organisations who attended the discussion undertook to take up the issue.

- SAPA