Human trafficking in South Africa
[1] Generally, South African girls are trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic servitude, while boys are used for street vending, food service, and agriculture.
[4] Human trafficking is the result of a combination of several factors, including gender inequality, economic instability, and political conflict.
urge for the need of a cultural shift to reduce instances of human trafficking by lessening the demand for sex and unpaid labor.
[6] Human trafficking refers to the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain labor or commercial sexual act, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
[13] This can occur as agentic victims are coerced by employers or pimps to become a trafficked person for a number of false benefits such as better pay, for example.
[17] Following the apartheid of South Africa during the 20th century, inequality increased as the higher classes held most of the state's income.
Ukuthwala (child marriage) is a tradition common in some South African provinces wherein young girls are married to older men, which may also account for some trafficking victims.
[24] Women and girls from other African countries are often imported to South Africa for commercial sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, and other jobs in the service sector.
Young men and boys from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi are notably trafficked to South Africa for farm work, extending for months without pay before "employers" have them arrested and deported as illegal immigrants.
Organized criminal groups—including Nigerian, Chinese, and Eastern European syndicates, local gangs and individual policemen facilitate trafficking into and within South Africa, particularly for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation.
[23] The United States passed the Prevention and Combatting of Trafficking in Persons Act in 2013, which the former president of South Africa Jacob Zuma signed.
[28] In 2008, South Africa was placed on the US Department of State's Tier 2 list, which designates it as a country whose government does not currently comply with TVPA's minimum standards against human trafficking, but is making efforts toward compliance.
[6][23] This lack of systematic data collection makes it difficult to record incidents of human trafficking and take measures against it.
[31][34] A Trafficking in Persons Task Team was established in 2012 by the National Prosecuting Authority's Sexual Offenses and Community Affairs Unit (SOCA).
This task team works toward collecting data on trafficking in South Africa and taking measures to reducing incidences.
