Human Trafficking In South Africa (Part two)

Human Trafficking Prevention

No matter who offers you a job, whether a friend, family member, or employment agency, make sure the offer is real.

Check that the employer is a registered company with a physical address and a landline.

Try to contact them before accepting the offer.

If you have relatives or friends in the area of the job, give them the physical address and ask them to check it out for you.

Make sure that you sign a legal contract with terms that you have agreed to, such as hours or work, wages to be paid, working conditions etc.

If possible seek legal advice regarding the contract or ask someone you know with understanding of contracts to look over the contract with you.

Make sure you have a valid passport and a work permit for the country you will be travelling to.

It is illegal for an employer or any person to keep your passport.

Familiarise yourself with the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the rights of a worker in a foreign country, before you go.

If your future employer offers to pay for your travel your contract should state the amount you will owe and how long it will take you to repay and what happens if you fail to pay.

Call a friend or family member regularly, once you arrive at your destination, call them with your exact location, they will know something is wrong if you don’t get in touch with them.

If the job is situated overseas, speak to the embassy of the country you are going to.

This is a list of organisations/entities that can provide assistance:

Childline/Lifeline – 08000 55555

Safe-line – 08000 35553

The Salvation Army – 021 761 8530/1/2/3/4/5

www.s-cape-home.org

The South African Police – 10111

The Department of Community Safety and Liaison through its Victim Empowerment Programmes incorporate Human Trafficking education and awareness.

An embassy can:

Provide you with emergency contact numbers for their country.

Help you obtain the correct documents to work legally in their country.

Give you information regarding their laws on immigrant workers.

Help minimize Human Trafficking....




Written by: Zibusiso Nzimande
TBT (Thoughts Become Things) Creative Agency
Director

Human Trafficking In South Africa

Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation or forced labour. Human trafficking is one of the greatest injustices on our planet today; it is second to the drug trade as the largest criminal activity in the world.

This illegal trade is a form of modern day slavery which is not only a dehumanizing crime, stealing away an individual’s dignity, but a myriad of other complex social and health issues surround it. For example: victims of human trafficking are generally subjected to intimidation, rape, drug abuse and countless forms of violence. 

It is estimated that nearly 2 million children around the globe are currently in forced sexual exploitation. Of the estimated 2,000,000 persons trafficked each year, Africa accounts for 450,000.


South Africa has an estimated 30,000 child prostitutes. The vast majority of these human trafficking victims are young women under the age of 18 years. There is a growing need to protect South African citizens from crimes such as trafficking, and to educate them on both awareness and prevention. Studies show that South Africa is one of the main countries for human trafficking activity.

Victim protection weak

South Africa is a major human-trafficking destination for victims from within the country, the region and beyond, yet there is no legislation that specifically criminalises human trafficking and protects victims. A human trafficking law would give police and the NPA (National Prosecuting Authority) a better tool for prosecuting offenders.

The experience of Mozambique and Zambia, which both passed counter-trafficking laws in 2008, suggests that legislation can improve prosecution rates while doing little to help victims. The State Department report points out that Mozambique has not taken the necessary steps to implement the protection and prevention provisions of its anti-trafficking law, and that Zambia’s protection for victims is also weak.

The South African government does not provide any funding for the care and accommodation of trafficking victims. "Victims have a variety of needs and there's a severe gap," Rohde of IOM (international Organization for Migration) confirmed. Poor screening by the police leads to some victims without documentation being arrested and deported. 

The IOM has held training sessions for officials from various government departments on how to identify and assist trafficking victims, and it was noted that several departments were drafting regulations in anticipation of the bill being enacted.

Let’s minimise the Traffic 

The methods used to recruit people:

· People are lured with promises of employment or educational opportunities abroad,
· Deception and false promises,
· Some victims respond to advertisements in the belief that they would secure a job in a new place. Traffickers usually make use of advertisements in which they offer work at, e.g. a health club or restaurant,
· Others are sold by family members, friends, or a family friend into the modern equivalent of slavery,
· Traffickers pay for women’s travel expenses and accommodation,
· On arrival at the place of destination, they are informed that they will be required to pay back these costs,
· Passports and other travel documents are taken away,
· No option but to work in the sex industry,

For the traffickers, this business makes good money, since it is often hidden and hard to address. Children are vulnerable in the case of sexual exploitation, as it is mostly seen as a private matter and communities are reluctant to change their attitude towards sexual exploitation. Child exploitation can also include forced labour or services, removal of organs, trafficking for early marriage or illicit international adoption

Causes of Human Trafficking 

· Lack of economic opportunities,
· Gender discrimination, particularly, in access to employment and education,
· Tolerance of gender-based violence
· Conflict
· Breakdown in law and order
· Growth of global, commercial sex industry,
· Unregulated labour markets that enable exploitative practices to flourish

· Global demand for: 

1. Slave labour
2. Child labour
3. Sex trafficking (prostitution)
4. Child soldiers

Watch out for our next blog post on Human Trafficking Prevention Methods.




Written by:  Zibusiso Nzimande
TBT (Thoughts Become Things) Creative Agency
Director

Human Rights Month

As we focus on Human rights this month; we would like to reflect & create awareness on Human Rights, a subject that is rarely spoken of. This is about YOU and YOUR rights.

Human rights are inherent to all human beings, whatever your race, your gender, your age, ethnicity, your place of residence, your language or creed. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination; the right to life, liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and equal treatment before the law, among others.

Human rights are interrelated and the inclusion of each on South Africa’s Bill of Rights increases the coverage of protection for the people in this country.

This Bill of Rights is a cornerstone of democracy in South Africa. It enshrines the rights of all people in our country and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom. The state must respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights in the Bill of Rights.

How South Africa’s Human Rights Day came about

The Sharpeville Massacre

 It has been 43 years since the Sharpeville massacre which occurred on 21 March in 1960. The massacre took place at a police station in the South African township of Sharpeville in the Transvaal (today part of Gauteng). After a day of demonstrations, at which a crowd of black protesters far outnumbered the police, the South African police opened fire on the crowd, killing 69 people. Sources disagree as to the behaviour of the crowd; some state that the crowd were peaceful, while others state that the crowd had been hurling stones at the police, and that the shooting started when the crowd started advancing toward the fence around the police station. In present-day South Africa, 21 March is celebrated as a public holiday in honour of human rights and to commemorate the Sharpeville massacre.

Pass laws

Since the 1920s, the movements of black South Africans had been restricted by pass laws. Leading up to the Sharpeville massacre, the apartheid-supporting National Party government under the leadership of Hendrik Verwoerd used these laws to enforce greater segregation and, in 1959-1960, extended them to include women. From the 1960s, the pass laws were the primary instrument used by the state to arrest and harass its political opponents. By the same token, it was mainly the popular resistance, mobilised against those pass laws, that kept resistance politics alive during this period.

The African National Congress (ANC) had decided to launch a campaign of protests against pass laws. These protests were to begin on 31 March 1960, but the rival Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) decided to pre-empt the ANC by launching its own campaign ten days earlier, on 21 March, because they believed that the ANC could not win the campaign.

The demonstrators in the township of Sharpeville were protesting against the pass laws of the time. Many of these people were shot in the back as they turned to flee, 69 of them were killed.

From that day on the 21st of March became known as South African Freedom Day.

As part of TBT’s campaign to increase awareness on human rights (especially to women and young people), we will be posting The Human Rights Articles as they appear on the South African Bill of Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.


Know YOUR Rights!!!

The role of CSI in alleviating poverty through education

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest” Benjamin Franklin

Education is a contentious issue in South Africa - from the quality and the efficacy of the system, right down to the attitude and performance of leaners and teachers.

The key question is: how do we improve the quality of South Africa’s education?

The first step would be to identify existing problems that are undermining the education system – a lack of infrastructure and insufficient material resources.

Frequent curriculum changes have contributed to a withdrawal in interest on the part of some of our educators. The State needs to ensure that all educators are well acquainted with the curriculum and that they are equipped with the necessary resources and tools.



The 2nd step would be to re-look at our education system to establish whether it is reflective of South Africa’s needs. We import our education systems from developed countries which have the necessary infrastructure and resources to make their systems work.

South Africa need’s to do a needs analysis in order to come up with a system of education that is relevant to its people while maintaining global competitiveness. This is one way in which we can become a nation of learned and well-rounded individuals.




As we close TBT’s education month (February), we would like to take this moment to also recognise and appreciate all the teachers who continue to make a difference in the lives of their learners.

We celebrate the men and women who in spite of South Africa’s history and condition of the Education system, still have the zeal to motivate and inspire their learners to achieve greatness. These are teachers who walk into classrooms and equip their students with self-belief, optimism and the promise of working together along the way to achieve success.

We appreciate your continuous dedication towards the future of our nation.



Where the problem

· Skills shortages
· Historical backlogs make the national budget insufficient
· National illiteracy levels are too high
· Education receives almost 40% of CSI spend and about 20% of government’s budget (which has
  never been enough)
· Some CSI initiatives tend to have minimum impact
· Money goes to grades 9 - 12, when it should go into grades 2, 3 & 4 where early development
  starts
· Graduation in higher grade maths continues to be meek
· CSI support in educational aid materials is low
· Priority is given to short-term project-based funding in order to gain returns on investment quickly.
· Corporates tend to look at CSI initiatives as marketing which is driven by PR stunts rather than
  focusing on sustainable development and social upliftment
· Funding to Adult Basic Education and Training has declined

How CSI can contribute

· Corporate South Africa has made contributions to support curriculum innovation and other
  educational programmes. But there is still more to be done in this regard to ensure sustainability.
· Mentoring, equipping and guiding school leaders in effectively running their schools
· Literacy programs
· Making long term investments in Education 
· Geographic spread by going into rural areas where information is not easily accessible.
· Department of labour should get more involved in synergising CSI endeavours in education
· Increase expenditure on maths and science programmes.
· Creating sustainable initiatives by giving a hand-up instead of a hand-out (so to speak)
· Encouraging development in the areas of communication, collaboration, strategic alignment and
  on-going learning.





Implementation Strategy

South Africa needs to adopt a multi-stakeholder approach towards education: where government, business, teachers and students become actively involved in the education system. What is important here is business involvement as it will ensure that our curriculum is relevant to the economy. Not only can businesses fund schools so they can expand their infrastructure and resources - but they can monitor what is being taught to ensure that what students are learning will make then employable in the future.







Written by: Ems Moipone Tsotetsi

TBT Creative Agency
Marketing Director



Guest contributor:  Anele Nzimande

(responsible for the introduction)

2nd year LLB student, Member of Golden Key International Honour Society, Ambassador for PresidentGirl, member of Wits Debating Union and Performance Poet.

Visit: www.thatanelegirl.wordpress.com