Trafficking in persons and violence against women and children highlighted at seminars

In commemoration of Human Rights month, UKZN hosted two awareness seminars on human rights issues. These were held at the Howard College campus in Durban and Pietermaritzburg campus.

UKZN's School of Law lecturer, Advocate Victoria Balogun hosted a discussion on aspects related to the dynamics of Human Trafficking in Persons (TiP) in the 21st Century. The seminar focused on how to use anti-trafficking laws to ameliorate or eradicate trafficking in persons in South Africa and beyond. Balogun stressed the need for effective prosecution of TiP activities and the need for adopting a holistic approach in addressing human trafficking.

"In 2018, when one may consider the idea of Human Trafficking a terrible myth, the reality of this practice is not only real, but happening in our midst. Children, women and men are simply taken, sold, transported and abused by the use of force through coercion, abduction, fraud and deception. It is a global phenomenon of epic scale and considered to be the largest source of profits for organised crime, after drugs and guns. Remaining vigilant and aware of TiP trends is the first step to creating effective preventative measures in communities. There is an obvious nexus between human trafficking and violence against women," said Balogun.

Advocate Elsa Smith, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions of the National Prosecution Service within the National Prosecuting Authority, discussed the concept of TiP, its elements and phases. "Trafficking in person is modern day slavery and generates billions in profit each year, requiring little or no capital input. The trafficked person or 'commodity', can be sold and resold repeatedly forcing the victims to suffer as 'sex machines' for monetary gain.

"Unsuspecting job seekers have even been known to respond to innocuous job placement adverts, locally and internationally, promising lucrative opportunities. Open any newspaper and you'll see them. In many instances, these are actually highly organised syndicates serving up the bait. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is," concluded Smith.

The workshop further covered the role of the Open Door Crisis Centre as well as various case studies related to human trafficking activities.

Representatives of the Centre, Mpho Makhetha, a Social Auxiliary Worker, and Bongi Nkomo, a specially trained counsellor who specialises in trauma debriefing, described the centre as a multifaceted, multi-disciplinary non-profit organisation established to address serious issues in all forms of violence against women and children. Since its inception, it has assisted over 100 000 men, women and children with counselling, social services and support in their times of crisis and trauma.

According to the United Nations, an estimated 21 million people are victims of forced labour globally. These include victims of human trafficking for labour and sexual exploitation. The UN further states that every country in the world is affected by human trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit, or destination for victims.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Global Report on Trafficking in Persons states that children comprise almost a third of all human trafficking victims worldwide, with women and girls comprising 71% of victims.

The second seminar, titled Sex Work in South Africa: Implications for Sexual Violence and Public Health, focused on the current pervasive question: to criminalise or decriminalise sex work in South Africa.

Reflections included the impact of decriminalising sex work in South Africa, and its impact on sexual violence such as reported rape offences, harassment, battering, susceptibility to human and organ trafficking, and drug use among sex workers.

Jan Thatiah, a representative of Networking HIV/AIDS Community of South Africa (Nacosa) and Lifeline, began the discussion by flighting the documentary Ordinary People, Extraordinary Laws by the Asijiki Coalition. The documentary tells the stories of five women who relayed harrowing tales related to them being sex workers. Virtually all of the women appearing in the documentary cited the need to be providers as the sole reason for going down this path.

"Understanding the legislative position, our primary aim within our organisation is to reduce social and structural barriers to HIV, STI and TB prevention, care and impact among sex workers; reduce the sexual transmission of HIV among sex workers, their clients and sexual partners by at least 50% using combination prevention approaches; to sustain sex workers' health and wellness, and; to strengthen the health system for National Sex Work Plan (NSWP) implementation," said Thatiah.

Discussing the 2017 South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC) which reiterates that, as the law currently stands in South Africa, adult sex work which is simply defined as the selling of sexual services, buying of voluntary adult sexual services, and all sex work related acts are criminal offences, Dr Monique Emser from UKZN's School of Law, reflected on the correlation (if any) between criminalised sex work and the disregard for the rights of sex workers, including arbitrary arrests and senseless killings by criminal syndicates.

"As the seller of sexual services is criminalised, sex workers say that they fear arrest and suffer abuse from the police, including rape, violence and being forced to pay bribes. This would have an impact on the ability of sex workers to report crimes committed against them, further increasing their vulnerability to violence and abuse perpetrated by clients, pimps/managers, and other people.

"Sex workers have little or no power. This has a negative impact on the ability to negotiate condom use with clients. They also often have their condoms confiscated by the police, or fear to carry condoms with them as this could be used as "evidence" of an offence. Further, sex workers are highly stigmatised and vulnerable to abuse and poor treatment by public services, including health services which is very problematic given the high levels of violence and HIV found in this population," stated Emser.

Other speakers included Patricia Bongi Zengele of the Department of Social Work and School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics, Zamankwali Thandeka Njobe, lecturer at the School of Law as well as Ayanda Sithole and Portia Kubheka - social workers at the Open Door Crisis Centre.

Words: Rakshika Sibran