14 Feb 2018

Trafficking in persons remains a concern affecting the public security in the SADC region.

As such the organisation has declared war on this manifestation.

Speaking during Botswana On-Site Data Collection workshop for law enforcement officers and prosecutors at Phakalane Gold Estates on Tuesday, a programme officer at SADC secretariat, Ms Jacinta

Hofnie said in view of this development SADC member states remained committed in addressing the challenge evidenced by member states that have put in place legislation specific to combating the crime.

She noted that to date the organisation has 14 member states with stand alone legislation, but stressed out that legislation development on its own was not sufficient.

In this regard, she said the Ministerial Council of the Organ (MCO) on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, which was held in July 2017 in Tanzania, approved the Revised Strategic Plan of Action on Combating Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (2016-2019).

Ms Hofnie explained that the strategic document outlines a holistic approach to combat and prevent trafficking in the region. The priorities for the region are capacity building and training, public education and awareness raising, victim support and witness protection, research and information sharing, coordination and regional cooperation, as well as harmonisation and operationalisation of laws.

Since the three-day workshop overlaps with two of the above-mentioned priorities, one on capacity building and the other on information sharing (data management), she thanked Botswana government, under the leadership of the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security for remarkable efforts in this regard.

Further, she stated that SADC secretariat and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) developed the regional database on trafficking in persons as a response to concerns raised by member states as well as regional and international stakeholders on the lack of reliable and validated data on trafficking in persons in the region.    

Ms Hofnie therefore expressed hope that through this database, the organisation would be able to collect reliable data to gauge the scope and trends of the crime in member states and in the region, leading to evidence-based programming and response and action.

For her part, political officer with the United State Embassy, Ms Elizabeth O’Rourke said the nature of human trafficking requires a comprehensive response across all levels of government, as well as internationally among regional bodies and international organisations.

She said in the US, federal agencies work to ensure a whole-of-government approach to address all aspects of human trafficking incorporating state, local, and Native American tribal entities, the private sector, civil society, trafficking survivors, religious communities, and academia to ensure a comprehensive effort to prevent the crime, prosecute the criminals and protect the survivors.

She said when the US Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in 2000, the law created the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (PITF), a cabinet-level body of 15 agencies across the federal government responsible for coordinating US government-wide efforts to combat TIP.  In the meantime, she said in addition to supporting UNODC’s collaboration with SADC Data Collection project, last year the US sponsored technical trainings, or symposia, for High Court judges and magistrates on Botswana’s Anti-Human Trafficking Act.

The symposia emphasised the gravity on the crime and the international standards for appropriate penalties. Ends