Human trafficking alive in Zululand

PREVENTION is better than cure – and a warned person counts for two.

This is why SAPS Richards Bay and Freedom Generation SA have joined hands to launch a high-impact schools campaign to raise awareness on human trafficking among local pupils and teachers.

Pastor Caroline Pitout, Captain Debbie Ferreira, members of SAPS, local volunteers and the Zululand Observer visited John Ross College, Veldenvlei and Floraton primary schools, with others already lined up.

Pastor Pitout said that human trafficking is happening in Zululand and involves all sectors of society and income groups.

A recent case reported to her involved an underage Afrikaans girl who was sold to an adult male in his 30s by her parents. She later managed to contact a friend who reported the matter to the police, but her whereabouts remain unknown.

Shocking as it may seem, children are also groomed by their parents and relatives to be sexually exploited for income, while numerous foreign and local syndicates prostitute women who they have brought into the country illegally.

Ritual killings involving the removal of body parts and abduction of infants and children have also been reported locally.

Approximately 80% of trafficking involves sexual exploitation, while 19% involves labour exploitation.

There are more human slaves today than ever before.

Thousands die each year from abuse, disease, torture and neglect.

According to UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund), an estimated 300 000 children younger than 18 are currently trafficked to serve in armed conflicts worldwide.

Over the past 30 years, more than 30 million children have been sexually exploited through human trafficking.

Human traffickers are increasingly trafficking pregnant women.

Babies are sold on the black market and the profit is divided between traffickers, doctors, lawyers and border officials.

Global warming and severe natural disasters have left millions homeless and impoverished, causing them to become soft targets.