More work needed in Swaziland to eliminate human trafficking, new report states

Swaziland (eSwatini) has a long way to go before it eliminates human trafficking, but it is making progress, according to a new global report.

The United States Department of State stated in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report that as with the past five years, human traffickers continue to exploit domestic and foreign victims in Swaziland, and traffickers exploit victims from Swaziland abroad. Trafficking victims come primarily from poor communities with high HIV/AIDS prevalence rates. 

Traffickers exploit Swazi girls, particularly orphans, in sex trafficking and domestic servitude, primarily in Swaziland and South Africa. Traffickers force Swazi boys and foreign children to labour in agriculture, including cattle herding, and market vending within the country. 

Mozambican boys migrate to Swaziland for work washing cars, herding livestock, and portering; traffickers exploit some in forced labour. Traffickers use Swaziland as a transit country to transport foreign victims to South Africa for forced labour. Traffickers reportedly force Mozambican women into commercial sex in Swaziland, or transport them through Swaziland to South Africa. 

Some traffickers force Swazis into commercial sex in South Africa after voluntarily migrating in search of work. Reports suggest labour brokers fraudulently recruit and charge excessive fees to Swazi nationals for work in South African mines, means often used to facilitate trafficking crimes. Swazi men in border communities are recruited for forced labour in South Africa’s timber industry.

The report stated there had been some progress. In the past year a trafficker in Swaziland was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for forced labour and the Swazi Government trained front-line responders on how to identify trafficked people. It also launched a five-year national action plan.

‘However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. The government did not have shelter policies or guidelines to ensure quality of care for trafficking victims, and the primary shelter available was inadequate. While the government did take action against a government protection officer who assaulted and traumatized three foreign victims while they were in a government shelter, overall lack of protection efforts and oversight created the environment in which the assault took place,’ the report stated.

The report added, ‘While there were general reports of government corruption, including immigration officials seeking bribes to issue government documents such as visas, there were few reports of direct official complicity in trafficking. The government investigated a senior official for sex trafficking.’

The report listed a number of recommendations for improvement. These included increasing efforts to identify, investigate, and prosecute more trafficking crimes, including internal trafficking cases; implement the national anti-trafficking action plan; address leadership issues at the anti-trafficking secretariat and enable the taskforce to fulfil its statutory responsibilities; ensure all victims of trafficking are provided appropriate and comprehensive care.

See also

University lecturers ‘forced to weed fields of Swaziland absolute monarch’

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/01/university-lecturers-forced-to-weed.html

Swazi Govt misleads on child labour

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/01/swazi-govt-misleads-on-child-labour.html
 

Kids forced to weed King’s fields

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/01/kids-forced-to-weed-kings-fields.html

University lecturers ‘forced to weed fields of Swaziland absolute monarch’

University lecturers in Swaziland (eSwatini) say they have been forced to abandon duties to work unpaid in the fields of absolute monarch King Mswati III.

In the past the King has been criticised by modern-day slavery campaigners for forcing people, including children, to work in his fields.

Lecturers said they feared they would lose their jobs if they did not obey the call to work for the King.

This has been going on for years, but has only now been revealed publicly.

The Swaziland News, an online newspaper, reported lecturers at the University of eSwatini (formerly University of Swaziland – UNISWA) ‘were forced to protect their jobs by participating in royal assignments and abandon their professional duties thus comprising the quality of education within the University’.

It said, ‘lecturers who spoke to this publication on condition of anonymity said they were not comfortable with working in the King’s fields but attend the royal duties in fear of losing their jobs in the event they defy the King.’

Salebona Simelane, the university registrar, confirmed that some lecturers attended the royal fields but said none of them was under duress or forced to demonstrate allegiance to the King.  

Musa Nkambule, a lecturer at the university who is also Chairman of the political party Sive Siyinqaba ‘Sibahle Sinje’, told the News, ‘the administration normally made an announcement among the staff that the university would be closing early for lecturers to attend to the royal duties.

‘We should be marking the [examination] scripts by then but we can’t do that because we are expected to attend to the royal assignment, this is not right,’ he said.

In 2018 King Mswati was named in a global report on modern slavery for forcing his subjects to weed his fields.

The Global Slavery Index 2018, said there was evidence that the practice known as 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 had been 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 it had been reporting conditions in Swaziland for the previous five years. It 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.’

A report Child Labor and Forced Labor from the US Department of Labor looking at 2016 stated penalties imposed by chiefs included ‘evicting families from their village and confiscating livestock’. 

Separately, the 2014 Trafficking in Persons report revealed, ‘Swazi chiefs may coerce children and adults—through threats and intimidation—to work for the King. Swazi boys and foreign children are forced to labor in commercial agriculture, including cattle herding, and market vending within the country.’

King Mswati was at the centre of an international controversy in January 2015 when Swazi Media Commentary revealed that schools in Swaziland were forced to stay closed after Christmas so children could weed the King’s fields. As many as 30,000 children were thought to have missed schooling as a result. 

The Global Slavery Index for 2016 reported that the Swazi Government ‘attempted to backtrack on its intentions when its use of unpaid child labour was reported by international media’.

Seven in ten people in Swaziland live in abject poverty earning less than the equivalent of $US3 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.

This is allowed even though the Swaziland Constitution that came into effect in 2006 prohibits forced or compulsory labour. 

See also

Swazi Govt misleads on child labour

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/01/swazi-govt-misleads-on-child-labour.html
 

Kids forced to weed King’s fields

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/01/kids-forced-to-weed-kings-fields.html

Victims of human trafficking in Swaziland on hunger strike as protest against police detention

Three victims of human trafficking in Swaziland / eSwatini who are being kept against their will at a police station in Mbabane have started a hunger strike demanding they be released.

Earlier, they had been under the protection of the kingdom’s human trafficking secretariat but a senior officer threatened to shoot them.

The news comes after Swaziland was found not to meet minimum international standards in the elimination of human trafficking.

The three middle-aged men from Bangladeshi had been working in Swaziland for three years and were employed at a business run by a fellow national, the Sunday Observer newspaper reported.

They were discovered on 26 June 2019 when police raided the business. They were then sent to a half-way house. The Observer reported, ‘What has frustrated the three is the conditions they have endured for the duration of their stay at the halfway house and alleged threats by a senior official of the secretariat who is said to have threatened to shoot the Bangladeshi.’

It added, ‘According to a source, they were shocked and feared for their lives when they were threatened last Saturday [27 July 2019] by the officer, in the presence of a police officer who is supposed to protect them.’

It added, ‘They were subsequently moved to the care of the police, where they have said that they have had enough of the bad living conditions such as sleeping on the floor, without any necessities and proper meals.’ Their phones have also been taken away.

The newspaper added the men started a hunger strike on Tuesday, ‘as they stated that they should be released or let to die from hunger’ rather than be kept under the government’s watch.

The Government of Swaziland was found not to fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of people trafficking, 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 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.

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.’

Another report, the Global Slavery Index 2018, estimated there were 12,000 people in Swaziland in modern slavery. 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’.

See also

Swaziland falls short on eliminating human trafficking, but is making efforts, says new report

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/swaziland-falls-short-on-eliminating.html

Swaziland falls short on eliminating human trafficking, but is making efforts, says new report

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 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 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. 

‘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

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/07/swazilands-king-mswati-named-as.html

 

Swazi Govt misleads on child labour

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/01/swazi-govt-misleads-on-child-labour.html
 

Kids forced to weed King’s fields

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/01/kids-forced-to-weed-kings-fields.html

Swaziland’s King Mswati Named as Offender in Global Report on Modern Slavery

King Mswati III the absolute monarch of Swaziland / Eswatini has been named in a global report on modern slavery 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, just published, 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 has 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 are 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 is not the first time King Mswati has been 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 it had been reporting conditions in Swaziland for the previous five years. It 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.’

A report Child Labor and Forced Labor from the US Department of Labor looking at 2016 stated penalties imposed by chiefs included ‘evicting families from their village and confiscating livestock’. 

Separately, the 2014 Trafficking in Persons report revealed, ‘Swazi chiefs may coerce children and adults—through threats and intimidation—to work for the King. Swazi boys and foreign children are forced to labor in commercial agriculture, including cattle herding, and market vending within the country.’

King Mswati was at the centre of an international controversy in January 2015 when Swazi Media Commentary revealed that schools in Swaziland were forced to stay closed after Christmas so children could weed the King’s fields. As many as 30,000 children were thought to have missed schooling as a result. 

The Global Slavery Index for 2016 reported that the Swazi Government ‘attempted to backtrack on its intentions when its use of unpaid child labour was reported by international media’.

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.

This is allowed even though the Swaziland Constitution that was enacted in 2006 prohibits forced or compulsory labour. 

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in a 2009 report said the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions called the administration order a form of forced labour which reinforced the traditional powers of chiefs to demand uncompensated labour from citizens and apply punishment in case of refusal.

See also

SEX TRAFFICKING RIFE IN SWAZILAND

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/11/sex-trafficking-rife-in-swaziland.html

 

SWAZI GOVT MISLEADS ON CHILD LABOUR

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/01/swazi-govt-misleads-on-child-labour.html
 

KIDS FORCED TO WEED KING’S FIELDS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/01/kids-forced-to-weed-kings-fields.html

PROBE INTO SWAZI CHILD EXPLOITATION

Swaziland is being put under the spotlight by a United Nations group following fears that child sexual abuse and forced labour is rife in the kingdom.

The Swazi Government has failed to account for its actions in protecting children.

Swaziland ratified the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 2004 and its initial report on progress was due by 2005, but 13 years later it has failed to report. After such a long delay, the Human Rights Committee (HRC) has scheduled a review of the kingdom in the absence of report. This review will take place in July 2017.

The HRC has tabled a list of questions for the Swazi Government to answer. It believes Swaziland is ‘a country of origin, transit and destination for men, women and children trafficked for sex and forced labour’. It also says ‘forced and child labour are prevalent in the country and that orphans are particularly affected’.

In the past, King Mswati III, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, has been criticised by human rights groups for exploiting forced child labour.

A report from the US State Department on Trafficking in Persons in 2013 investigated Swaziland and found children in Swaziland were being used as forced labour to tend the fields of King Mswati III.

Chiefs in rural areas who represent the monarch, ‘may coerce children and adults—through threats and intimidation—to work for the king’, the report revealed.

The report also said, ‘Swazi girls, particularly orphans, are subjected to sex trafficking and domestic servitude in the cities of Mbabane and Manzini, as well as in South Africa, Mozambique, and the United States.’

The Trafficking in Persons Report 2013 also revealed, ‘Swazi boys and foreign children are forced to labor in commercial agriculture and market vending within the country.’

The report said, ‘The Government of Swaziland does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so.’

An earlier report in 2009 from the US State Department reported that women and children in the kingdom were bought and sold for sex, domestic servitude and forced labour. 

Mbabane and Manzini were again identified as the centres of trafficking of girls, particularly orphans, for sex.  

In 2009, the The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) reported that a form of serfdom existed in the kingdom. The report said Swazis were forced to work without pay on projects determined by local chiefs (who are appointed by the King). These included agricultural work, soil erosion and construction and maintenance.

Swazis, seven in ten who live in abject poverty and earn less than two US dollars a day, are 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.

In October 2013 it was reported there were an estimated 1,302 people living in slavery in Swaziland.

The report called the Global Slavery Index 2013 and published by the Walk Free Foundation stated, ‘Modern slavery includes slavery, slavery-like practices (such as debt bondage, forced marriage, and sale or exploitation of children), human trafficking and forced labour.’

See also

SLAVE LABOUR RIFE IN SWAZILAND

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2009/11/slave-labour-rife-in-swaziland.html

 

US EXPOSES CHILD SEX TRADE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2009/06/us-exposes-swazi-child-sex-trade.html

NEARLY 7,000 PEOPLE IN SLAVERY

There are an estimated 6,700 people in Swaziland living in slavery, according to a global survey.

And, the response by the Swazi Government to the problem is ‘inadequate’, according to report publishers, the Walk Free Foundation, a global human rights organisation dedicated to ending modern slavery.

The Global Slavery Index 2014 estimates that in Swaziland, ‘The government response to modern slavery is inadequate, with limited and/or few victim support services, a weak criminal justice framework, weak coordination or collaboration, while little is being done to address vulnerability. There are government practices and policies that facilitate slavery. Services, where available, are largely provided by IOs/NGOs with little government funding or in-kind support.’

The report said, ‘Modern slavery involves one person possessing or controlling another person in such as a way as to significantly deprive that person of their individual liberty, with the intention of exploiting that person through their use, management, profit, transfer or disposal.’

It added, ‘Modern slavery is a hidden crime. It takes many forms, and is known by many names: slavery, forced labour, or human traffcking. All forms involve one person depriving another person of their freedom: their freedom to leave one job for another, their freedom to leave one workplace for another, their freedom to control their own body.’

This is the second annual Global Slavery Index. In 2013 it reported there were an estimated 1,302 people living in slavery in Swaziland. The reports publishers said the increase in numbers from last year were probably due to an improvement in the way information was collected, rather than an increase in slavery.

A separate report, the 2014 Trafficking in Persons, revealed that King Mswati III, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, uses forced child labour to work in his fields. ‘Swazi chiefs may coerce children and adults—through threats and intimidation—to work for the king. Swazi boys and foreign children are forced to labor in commercial agriculture, including cattle herding, and market vending within the country,’ the report from the US State Department said.

See also

SWAZILAND HAS 1,302 PEOPLE IN SLAVERY

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/10/swaziland-has-1302-people-in-slavery.html

SEX TRAFFICKING RIFE IN SWAZILAND

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/11/sex-trafficking-rife-in-swaziland.html