In July 2013 the president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, signed into law the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Bill. South Africa now, for the first time, has one statute comprehensively addressing human trafficking enabling it to fulfil its international commitments to combat human trafficking – particularly in terms of the United Nations (UN).⁽²⁾

However, enacting a bill does not ensure the eradication of human trafficking. Human trafficking is more than just a matter of law and crime. What is missing in many discussions on ways to combat the scourge of human trafficking is the understanding and addressing of the root causes of this atrocity. This paper explores some of the measures already in place to combat trafficking in South Africa and asserts that a greater emphasis on human security concerns may aid the country’s attempt to address modern day slavery.

The Palermo Protocol and the 3 P’s

The latest global effort to address the issue of modern day slavery manifested as the UN Protocol to Prevent Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the UN Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime of 2000, Article 3 (known as the Palermo Protocol). It defines human trafficking in the following manner:

...trafficking in persons shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation...⁽³⁾

In addition to the above definition, the Palermo protocol promotes a three-pronged solution better known as the ‘3-P’ approach. All member states that signed the treaty should be committed to: 1) the prevention of human trafficking, 2) the protection of victims and 3) the promotion of cooperation amongst different state actors.⁽⁴⁾ In other words, governments who sign the protocol commit to the criminalisation of trafficking, investigation and prosecution of traffickers and the implementation of measures at borders to identify trafficking incidents. Furthermore, measures should be taken to protect victims, train law enforcers and border officials, educate possible victims and the general public and to cooperate with other states and civil society in addressing this issue. As South Africa signed the Palermo protocol on 14 December 2000, as well as ratified, accepted and approved this document on 20 February 2004,⁽⁵⁾ the country should comply with the measures as offered by the protocol.

Although the objective of the Palermo Protocol is clearly stated, debates surrounding what terms to use in defining trafficking during the Protocol’s negotiation sessions are all but settled.⁽⁶⁾ Furthermore, the lack in consensus over the definition of human trafficking contributes to the limited solutions found to combat the problem.⁽⁷⁾ The protocol is criticised for its misdirection of anti-trafficking efforts. Critics support this argument by pointing out that despite national and multi-national efforts to eradicate the crime, human trafficking incidents are increasing while only a small number of traffickers are convicted worldwide.⁽⁸⁾

South Africa and the Palermo Protocol

Conflict affected countries, marked with limited health care provision and gender based violence (such as Angola and Congo) are often source countries. South Africa and Zimbabwe are destination, source and transit countries of trafficked children, men and women. In the Zimbabwean case, victims are either trafficked internally, or to countries such as South Africa, China, Egypt and Zambia. Zimbabwe also serves as a transit country for women and children from countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi and Zambia to South Africa. Migrants from Zimbabwe to South Africa are often targeted for labour exploitation, organ trafficking and sexual exploitation ⁽⁹⁾ – especially given the fact that they often lack the proper documentation to migrate, and given their vulnerable economic situations.⁽¹⁰⁾

In South Africa, children are trafficked from rural and poor areas to urban city centres such as Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. Girls are trafficked to work as sex workers or domestic workers, while boys are primarily trafficked to work in agriculture, as criminals, to beg or to work as street vendors. Furthermore, particularly in the rural parts of the Eastern and Western Cape, the tradition of ukuthwala (forced marriages) is often associated with trafficking incidents.⁽¹¹⁾ The failure of parents to take care of their children and poverty are offered as some of the reasons for these incidences of child trafficking.⁽¹²⁾

Nigerian syndicates and street gangs are said to dominate the human trafficking industry in Johannesburg (particularly Hillbrow), while Russian and Bulgarian syndicates operate primarily in Cape Town. People are trafficked to South Africa from (among other countries) China, Taiwan, Thailand, Cambodia, Russia, Bulgaria, the DRC, Zimbabwe, the Republic of Congo, Lesotho, India, Rwanda, Swaziland, Brazil, Moldova, Ukraine and Mozambique.⁽¹³⁾ Often, these victims are lured by promises of prospects of legitimate work opportunities, but are then trafficked and forced into providing cheap agricultural labour, exploited by the sex industry or used to provide muti (medicine) or for organ “donations.”⁽¹⁴⁾ People are trafficked from South Africa to Europe and the Middle East. Incidents of trafficking from South Africa to Brazil, Bangladesh, Thailand and Namibia have also been reported.⁽¹⁵⁾

Attempts have been made to address these concerns. South Africa’s commitment to combat human trafficking in accordance with the Palermo Protocol has given rise to many initiatives,⁽¹⁶⁾ such as awareness campaigns and the training and education of government officials on the subject.⁽¹⁷⁾ However, ample room for improvement to comply with the 3-P approach is still evident ⁽¹⁸⁾ given considerable ignorance on the topic among prosecutors, immigration officials, government officials, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the media. There is confusion over the difference between human trafficking and smuggling. Furthermore, the concept is often conflated with sexual abuse, labour abuse or prostitution.⁽¹⁹⁾

This failure to deal with human trafficking in compliance with the Palermo Protocol, has placed South Africa on the “Tier 2 Watch List” by the United States (US) Department of Trafficking in Persons for four consecutive years (2005-2009).⁽²⁰⁾ This list forms part of the Annual Trafficking in Persons Report that rates countries according to their current efforts to combat the problem. According to the Central Intelligence Agency Tier 2 Watch List Countries are countries that:

...do not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but are making significant efforts to do so, and meet one of the following criteria: 1) they display high or significantly increasing number of victims, 2) they have failed to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking in persons, or, 3) they have committed to take action over the next year.⁽²¹⁾

South Africa’s rank improved after it established various initiatives to combat the crime in anticipation of the Soccer World Cup in 2010, however. Nevertheless, certain aspects still need to be addressed.⁽²²⁾ These include the excessive use of force against suspects and detainees by the police, prolonged pre-trail detention and delays in trials dealing with trafficking of persons. Moreover, up until July 2013, South African law did not prohibit human trafficking.⁽²³⁾ The absence of specific legislation to the trafficking of persons limited South African prosecutors to deal only with perpetrators directly involved with the offences as a consequence of trafficking, and not the perpetrators working behind the scenes of this organised crime. The enactment of the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) bill should resolve some of these limitations.

Another challenge – particularly as experienced by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice during the review of the TIP bill before it was enacted – are conflicting figures on the matter as provided by various sources. According to Zoe Rhode from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), different statistics were provided to the committee by the South African Police Services, the Department of Justice and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). More often than not, victims trafficked within South Africa are not included in the statistics. Furthermore, organisations – such as the Human Trafficking Rapid response Team in the Western Cape Province – struggle to prove and identify trafficking cases, partially since local communities often do not identify it as an offence.⁽²⁴⁾ Clearly, a better understanding and clarity on what is meant by trafficking in persons are needed.

It has further been revealed that foreign victims in South Africa often receive no protection by government officials and are treated as criminals.⁽²⁵⁾ Trafficking cases remain unreported, as victims fear deportation or the further violation of their human rights.⁽²⁶⁾ Law enforcement officers often regard human trafficking as low on their priority list, as no adequate legislation for the prosecution of traffickers and the protection of victims existed up until 2013. Additionally, trafficking arrests are often made based on testimonies. When the victim is deported to their country of origin, testimonies may not happen at all. Police officers refrain from prosecution as they know that their efforts rarely result in conviction ⁽²⁷⁾ or acknowledgement of their efforts, as pending prosecutions are barely made public.⁽²⁸⁾ It is clear that the country’s weak legal frameworks, reluctant witnesses and internal police issues may cause unsuccessful investigations and prosecution of perpetrators. Moreover, police units focused on human trafficking are often understaffed and tend to shift their focus to associated criminal elements that may be easier to eradicate. These units assign their staff to a wide range of duties, making it impossible to combat the problem effectively.⁽²⁹⁾ With the enactment of the bill to combat trafficking in persons in South Africa, some of these concerns may be addressed. However, will these measures manage to address the causes or merely the symptoms of deeper-rooted problems?

Human security and human trafficking

It seems that the discussions concerned with and policies aimed at addressing human trafficking in South Africa follow the pattern of what is internationally seen as ‘common’ ways to look at and address the problem 1) as a human rights violation, 2) as an issue of organised crime and 3) as culturally patterned.⁽³⁰⁾ These all offer valuable insights on and possible solutions for the matter at hand, but they lack insight on the root causes of human trafficking.

Framing the human trafficking problem primarily as a matter for law enforcement, fails to take into account the social causes of this crime. By failing to address the more complicated social causes of crimes, the symptoms might be addressed, but long-term solutions will not prevail.⁽³¹⁾ A growing body of scholars assert that what is lacking in dominant discourses on trafficking is that trafficked persons are often purposeful actors who made choices. These options and choices available for these actors are often very constrained.⁽³²⁾ Thus, furthering the discussion on human trafficking and exploring the root causes of trafficking in persons might be addressed by also looking at the structural factors (on a global and local level). In the search for root causes, looking at human trafficking as a human security concern can be helpful.⁽³³⁾

The UN introduced the term ‘human security’ in 1994 as traditional state security policies were no longer enough to guarantee individuals’ security and cover the full spectrum of human rights. Human security filled the need for a bottom-up approach to security that developed during the twentieth century. The term is characterised by four key-words: 1) it is universally applicable, 2) its components are interdependent, 3) it emphasises prevention, and 4) it is people-orientated.⁽³⁴⁾ The focus is on the security of the individual and the community, not the state and its territory. Human security approaches still regard states as playing a fundamental part in securing its citizens, but also assert that non-state actors play equally important roles in securing individuals. The discourse that arises from this approach is primarily concerned with human-induced problems such as migration, widening economic inequality, the rise of pandemic diseases such as HIV/AIDS, population growth, degradation of the environment and security concerns affecting individuals and communities (such as trafficking and terrorism). It seeks to address the root causes of conflict and violence, economic despair, political oppression and social injustices with an emphasis on prevention. At the heart of human security lie the individual and the protection of his/her physical security and civil liberties. In order to ensure the development and welfare of the individual, however, economic needs and the broader community (local and international) in which he/she operates should be taken into account. Human security thus views the individual not only as an object of security, but also as a subject of security, if empowered to act so – thus individuals can provide for their own security if allowed to do so.⁽³⁵⁾ This idea is vital when trying to combat human trafficking.

To both understand and address human trafficking, a human security emphasis to combat human trafficking is needed, as opposed to merely addressing the outcomes of this crime. Prevention should be at the heart of the actions taken to combat human trafficking.

Findings ways to combat human trafficking in South Africa

In limiting the trafficking of persons, policies to address this issue should take the human aspects of human trafficking into consideration. Magdalene Ionescu, drawing from Ramcharan,⁽³⁶⁾ offers a valuable classification of factors contributing to human trafficking: 1) international factors such as labour migration (and the increase in feminisation of it), 2) political and legal factors (e.g. inadequate legislation and political instability), 3) socio-cultural factors (e.g. discrimination based on gender and/or ethnicity, as well as violence targeted at women and children) and 4) socio-economic factors (which include poverty, inequality and unemployment). Thus, when making public policies to address human trafficking, countries should not only aim to address the matter through legislation, but also aim to address structural factors which make individuals vulnerable to traffickers (such as socio-economic factors), as well as rethink migration policies. The solution lies in empowering vulnerable people by providing them with the services they need and addressing the socio-economic concerns feeding both the migration and human trafficking problems.⁽³⁷⁾

In the South African case, adding human security perspectives to discourses on human trafficking is vital, not only as the country is struggling with inequality and poverty, but also as it serves as a source country for other less developed countries. The solutions to human trafficking should thus involve understanding the root causes of trafficking and the restricted choices of individuals as active actors as part of this issue. More than just passing the bill, the South African Government will need to rethink their border and migration control as possibly furthering human trafficking; ensure the proper implementation of legislation; understand and address socio-economic drivers of trafficking within, to and from South Africa; rethink how to address violence against women and children; and limit the corrosive effect trafficking can have on both state authority and the legitimacy of the state through corruption and illegal affairs. What has been done up to now seems to address the symptoms of a messy mixture of social concerns feeding into crime as opposed to addressing the root causes of this atrocity.

Concluding remarks

Human trafficking is the third largest criminal industry and a growing human rights concern of a global scale. Despite attempts to combat human trafficking, reports suggest a rise rather than decline in the extent to which this industry is growing.⁽³⁸⁾ Numerous member states of the UN are committed to the Palermo protocol as part of a global effort to address human trafficking – as is South Africa. However, South Africa primarily focuses on combating the symptoms, rather than the causes of human trafficking.

Although South Africa’s recent enactment of the TIP Bill is commendable, a lot still needs to be done with regards to the implementation of human trafficking legislation, as well as identifying and addressing the root causes of the trafficking in persons to, in and from South Africa. Only then will the attempts to combat human trafficking be fully effective. In order to identify and address these root causes, making use of human security insights will be valuable.

Written by Elnari Potgieter ⁽¹⁾

NOTES:

(1) Elnari Potgieter is a Research Associate with CAI and is an intern at the UN Peace Building Support Office in New York. Contact Elnari through Consultancy Africa Intelligence’s Conflict & Terrorism Unit ( conflict.terrorism@consultancyafrica.com). Edited by Nicky Berg.
(2) ‘Zuma passes human trafficking bill’, News24, 29 July 2013, http://www.news24.com.
(3) Gould, C. and Fick, N., 2008. Selling sex in Cape Town: Sex work and human trafficking in a South African city. Institute for Security Studies: Pretoria.
(4) Potts, L.G., 2003. Global trafficking in Human beings: Assessing the success of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent Trafficking in Persons. The George Washington International Literature Review, 35, pp. 227-249.
(5) United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) website, http://www.unodc.org.
(6) Potts, L.G., 2003. Global trafficking in human beings: Assessing the success of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent Trafficking in Persons. The George Washington International Literature Review, 35,pp. 227-249.
(7) Fredette, K., 2009. Revisiting the UN Protocol on Human Trafficking: Striking balances for more effective legislation.Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law, 17, pp. 103-134.
(8) Ibid.
(9) Cucumanova, V., ‘South Africa at the crossroads of trafficking: War-pushed and hope-driven’, Southern African Bishop’s Conference: Parliamentary Liaison Office, November 2010.
(10) Kropiwnicki, Z., ‘Wolves in sheep’s skin: A rapid assessment of human trafficking in Musina, Limpopo Province of South Africa’, International Organisation for Migration, 2010, http://www.iom.int.
(11) ‘Trafficking in persons report 2013’, US Department of State, 2013, http://www.state.gov.
(12) Sylvester, W., ‘Shocking reality of SA human trafficking’, IOLNews, 31 January 2012, http://www.iol.co.za.
(13) ‘Trafficking in persons report 2013’, US Department of State, 2013, http://www.state.gov.
(14) Sylvester, W., ‘Shocking reality of SA human trafficking’, IOLNews, 31 January 2012, http://www.iol.co.za.
(15) ‘Trafficking in persons report 2013’, US Department of State, 2013, http://www.state.gov.
(16) Allais, C., ‘Tsireledzani: Understanding the dimension of human trafficking in Southern Africa’, Human Research Council, March 2010, http://www.santac.org.
(17) Ibid.
(18) ‘Trafficking in persons report 2009’, US Department of States, June 2009, http://www.state.gov.
(19) Allais, C., ‘Tsireledzani: Understanding the Dimension of Human Trafficking in Southern Africa’, Human Research Council, March 2010, http://www.santac.org.
(20) O’Connor, M., ‘South Africa addresses human trafficking in advance of World Cup soccer’, Spero News, 12 February 2010, http://www.speroforum.com.
(21) ‘Trafficking in persons’, Central Intelligence Agency: The World Factbook, 2009, https://www.cia.gov.
(22) O’Connor, M., ‘South Africa addresses human trafficking in advance of World Cup soccer’, Spero News, 12 February 2010, http://www.speroforum.com.
(23) ‘2009 human right report: South Africa’, US Department of States, 11 March 2010, http://www.state.gov.
(24) ‘South Africa: Still waiting for an anti-human trafficking law’, IRIN News, 20 June 2011, http://www.irinnews.org.
(25) ‘Trafficking in persons report 2009’, US Department of States, June 2009, http://www.state.gov.
(26) Laczko, F., 2002. ‘Human trafficking: The need for better data,’ International Organisation for Migration, http://www.migrationinformation.org.
(27) Ibid.
(28) ‘Trafficking in persons report 2009’, US Department of States, June 2009, http://www.state.gov.
(29) Laczko, F., 2002. ‘Human trafficking: The need for better data,’ International Organisation for Migration, http://www.migrationinformation.org.
(30) Kokko, L., 2008. People for sale? Three different approaches to human trafficking. Human Security Journal, 6, pp. 46-53.
(31) Ibid.
(32) Davidson, J. O., 2008. Trafficking, modern slavery and the human security agenda. agenda. Human Security Journal, 6, pp. 8-15.
(33) Ibid.
(34) Ionescu, M.,‘A human security approach to anti-trafficking policies in the EU: Tackling the structural sources of vulnerability’, http://www.desk.c.u-tokyo.ac.
(35) Ibid.
(36) Ibid.
(37) Ibid.
(38) ‘Human trafficking: A Human security crisis of global proportions’, Future Group, 2007, http://www.thefuturegroup.org.