The Government of Swaziland / eSwatini does not does
not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of people trafficking
but is making significant efforts to do so, according to the latest
annual report from the United States State Department.
The report covered the year 2018. ‘Poor performance by leadership personnel at the anti-trafficking secretariat remained the principal obstacle to progress on trafficking during much of the reporting period,’ the report stated.
The report covered the year 2018. ‘Poor performance by leadership personnel at the anti-trafficking secretariat remained the principal obstacle to progress on trafficking during much of the reporting period,’ the report stated.
The government shelved a long-pending draft bill to
amend the 2009 People Trafficking and People Smuggling (Prohibition) Act, as it
determined it would have created expensive new bureaucratic structures.
However, the Sexual
Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Act came into force
in August 2018 which included provisions for people trafficking. The Act provides for penalties of up to 20 years’
imprisonment, a fine of up to E100,000 (US$6,970), or both, for the commercial
sexual exploitation of an adult and, up to 25 years’ imprisonment with no
option of a fine if the offense involved a child.
The report stated the government investigated more than 2,000 cases under the SODV Act, although it was unclear how many included potential trafficking crimes. The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking offenses.
The report stated the government investigated more than 2,000 cases under the SODV Act, although it was unclear how many included potential trafficking crimes. The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking offenses.
The government increased efforts to
prevent trafficking. It finalized a new, five-year national action plan. The
task force for the Prevention of People Trafficking and People Smuggling was
re-established in January 2017 after a four-month lapse and met regularly in
2018 and early 2019.
The report stated, ‘As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Eswatini, and traffickers exploit victims from Eswatini abroad. Swati trafficking victims come primarily from poor communities with high HIV/AIDS prevalence rates.
The report stated, ‘As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Eswatini, and traffickers exploit victims from Eswatini abroad. Swati trafficking victims come primarily from poor communities with high HIV/AIDS prevalence rates.
‘Traffickers exploit Swati girls, particularly
orphans, in sex trafficking and domestic servitude, primarily in Eswatini and
South Africa. Traffickers force Swati boys and foreign children to labor in
agriculture, including cattle herding, and market vending within the country.
‘Mozambican boys migrate to Eswatini for work washing
cars, herding livestock, and portering; traffickers exploit some in forced
labor. Traffickers use Eswatini as a transit country to transport foreign
victims to South Africa for forced labor.
‘Traffickers reportedly force Mozambican women into
prostitution in Eswatini, or transport them through Eswatini to South Africa.
Some traffickers force Swati into commercial sex in South Africa after
voluntarily migrating in search of work.
‘Reports suggest labor brokers fraudulently recruit
and charge excessive fees to Swati nationals for work in South African
mines—means often used to facilitate trafficking crimes. Swati men in border
communities are recruited for forced labor in South Africa’s timber industry.’
King Mswati III, the absolute monarch of Swaziland,
was himself named in a global report on modern slavery in 2018 for forcing his
subjects to weed his fields.
His supporters say the work is done in the name of
culture but others say if they do not work for the King they are punished.
The Global Slavery Index 2018
said
there was evidence that the practice of kuhlehla
continued, ‘where the community is forced to render services or work for the
King or local chiefs’.
The report estimated there were 12,000 people in
Swaziland in modern slavery. This number increased from 1,302
people in 2013 and 6,700
people in 2014. The numbers for 2018 may have been
distorted by changes in the way victims were counted.
The report stated modern slavery, ‘refers to
situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of
threats, violence, coercion, deception and / or abuse of power’.
This was not the first time King Mswati was named in a
report on modern slavery or human trafficking. The annual Trafficking
in Persons Report for 2017 from the United States State
Department said, ‘Swazis are culturally expected to participate in the seasonal
weeding and harvesting of the King’s fields and those who may refuse are
subject to coercion through threats and intimidation by their chiefs.’
Seven in ten people in Swaziland live in abject
poverty earning less than the equivalent of $US2 per day. They can be forced to
work under the Swazi Administration Order, No. 6 of 1998 which makes it a duty
of Swazis to obey orders and participate in compulsory works; participation is
enforceable with severe penalties for those who refuse.
See also
Swaziland’s
King Mswati Named as Offender in Global Report on Modern Slavery
Swazi
Govt misleads on child labour
Kids
forced to weed King’s fields
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/01/kids-forced-to-weed-kings-fields.html
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