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'Criminalise human trafficking'
23/01/2004 13:33 - (SA)
Pretoria - Efforts to criminalise human trafficking in terms of South African law received a kick-start on Friday with the release of an issue paper on the topic by the SA Law Reform Commission.
Receiving the document in Pretoria, Justice Minister Penuell Maduna said existing legislation was inadequate and did not deal with the problem at all.
People suspected in South Africa of trafficking in human beings had to be charged with other crimes like kidnapping, sexual offences, or contraventions of immigration legislation.
"The intention of the government is to criminalise trafficking," Maduna said. "If you participated in trafficking, we will be able to charge you with a crime very soon."
Commission researcher Lowesa Stuurman told reporters the paper raised several questions on how the legal system should be improved to deal with the problem of trafficking.
It would serve as a basis for the commission's deliberations with South Africans on the issue before it prepares draft legislation - expected to be completed around year-end.
The document, therefore, did not contain any recommendations.
Stuurman said South Africa was viewed as a country of destination for trafficking victims.
Exploitation
"It is also being used as a transit point for trafficking operations from the developing to the developed world."
Trafficking was mainly for the purposes of sexual exploitation of human beings, but also for forced labour, forced marriages, and the removal of body parts and organs for sale.
While several measures were in place to protect child trafficking victims, such as housing them in places of safety while deliberating on the best course forward, adults did not enjoy the same level of compassion.
They were merely arrested, detained and deported without officials having investigated what kind of circumstances they were being sent back to, Stuurman said.
In some cases, victims were charged with crimes committed as a direct result of them having been trafficked into the country - like prostitution.
No register existed of trafficking victims, making it difficult to establish the exact extent of the problem, she added.
Language
Other problems that needed to be addressed by legislation was victims' refusal to testify against their kidnappers for fear of their safety. Language was also an obstacle in court cases, with some 85 percent of trafficking victims unable to speak any of South Africa's official languages.
There were also no facilities to house victims pending the completion of a trial, and victims were often deported before they were able to testify.
Punishing victims was clearly not the right way of handling the issue, Maduna pointed out. "We need to ask the question whether the law is providing us with the necessary instruments to deal with the larger problem?"
South Africans had until May 31 to comment on the issue paper.
- SAPA
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