19 Jun 2019

Botswana has embarked on a nationwide campaign to ensure Batswana, together with relevant officials, engage in harmonising regulations which support the 2014 Anti-Human-trafficking Act. 

Acting Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security permanent secretary, Mr Victor Paledi said this at commencement of a two-day workshop organised by the ministry together with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Gaborone on June 18. 

Government, he said, had through National Development Plan 11, Vision 2036 and Sustainable Development Roadmap made several pronouncements to root out human trafficking, punish perpetrations, protect victims and maximise anti human trafficking initiatives through strategic alliances.

Mr Paledi said the workshop was indicative of milestones achieved by the National Human Trafficking Committee which had the overall responsibility of determining policies, making recommendations and developing strategies and measures to give effect to objects and purposes of the UN protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons. He said it was important that everyone charged with implementing the act was fully conversant with it in order to create systemic solutions that addressed issues associated with trafficking in persons. 

Mr Paledi said the aim of the workshop was to encourage stakeholder knowledge about the act and foster debate on how best to improve the legislation and efforts to operationalise it. 

He pleaded with workshop participants to realise the seriousness of the act and its capacity in regulating the criminality of human trafficking. Recognising the support and technical assistance of the UNODC and SADC Secretariat as important to the fight against human trafficking, he however said everyone needed to be committed to ensuring information was disseminated to all Batswana. 

SADC police liaison officer Mr Fernando Cumbe noted that trafficking in persons was a great concern not only to Botswana but the whole SADC region. 

He applauded the Botswana government for continually striving to strengthen counter trafficking implementation regulations which was in line with SADC’s revised strategic plan of action on combating trafficking in persons. 

Mr Cumbe said the workshop was a step in the right direction as it afforded stakeholders a chance to outline a holistic approach for combating and preventing trafficking in persons in the region. 

He stressed the need to strengthen systems saying legislation on its own was not adequate. 

Furthermore, Mr Cumbe revealed that very few countries in the region formulated implementation regulations after enacting anti-trafficking legislation, saying Botswana’s example would go a long way in sensitizing other member states on the processes and special considerations when developing regulations. 

The workshop drew attendees from across government, civil society, regional and global development partners with the sole purpose of charting ways that would shape regulation for the maximisation and operationalisation of the act. ends