[1] In 2010 Botswana was a source and destination country for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation.
Batswana girls were exploited in prostitution within the country, including in bars and by truck drivers along major highways; it did not appear, however, that organized pimping of children occurred.
Residents in Botswana most susceptible to trafficking were illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe, unemployed men and women, those living in rural poverty, agricultural workers, and children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.
Botswana families which employed Zimbabwean women as domestic workers at times did so without proper work permits, did not pay adequate wages, and restricted or controlled the movement of their employees by holding their passports or threatening to have them deported back to Zimbabwe.
[2] In 2010, the Government of Botswana did not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it made significant efforts to do so.
Section 57 of the Act prohibits the facilitation or coercion of children into prostitution and prescribes sufficiently stringent penalties of two to five years’ imprisonment or a fine of $2858 to $7143.
In 2009, the Botswana Police Service conducted 10 in-service training courses for its officers, during which students received lectures on combating human trafficking.
During the reporting period, IO M identified 594 unaccompanied minors at the reception center in Plumtree for Zimbabweans deported from Botswana and expressed concern that some of them may have been victims of trafficking Botswana has an extensive public medical system, which includes psychological care facilities, and a university-run legal clinic which provides legal assistance to victims of any crime.
It produced and disseminated anti-trafficking education posters at all of its border posts and included trafficking awareness segments in some of its law enforcement training sessions.