08 Oct 2019

 The North West District Council Deputy Commissioner Ms Goitseone Nkwe-Tabane has called on the Civil Society, NGOs and parents to work in unison to protect children from human trafficking.

Ms Nkwe-Tabane who is also Chairperson of African Community of Experts on Rights of African Children was speaking at a training of Civil Society and Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) on human trafficking at Maun on Monday.

The two-day training organised by the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security aimed at empowering some civil society and NGO personnel from across the country to be able to sensitise their communities on human-trafficking.

Ms Nkwe-Tabane said children were sometimes made vulnerable to trafficking by parents who posted about their children on social media.

She said children born by house helpers working for expatriates were also susceptible to trafficking since in some instances the children got registered under their parents’ employers’ names instead of their parents.

Ms Nkwe-Tabane therefore appealed to all to work together to help protect children against such crime.

Further, she said all stakeholders should work together to ensure that Maun does not become a destination for human-trafficking.

She said Maun as a tourism hub and having the busiest airport in the Southern African region had potential of becoming a human-trafficking destination not only a transit.

Ms Nkwe-Tabane said it was vital to empower stakeholders in human-trafficking to be able to identify cases of human-trafficking in their communities.

Human Trafficking Manager from Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security Mr Madoda Nasha said about 31 cases of human-trafficking had been registered in Botswana so far.

Mr Nasha observed that the civil society was crucial in curbing trafficking of people which was a threat to the country.

He said the training of trainers was meant to ensure the civil society was equipped with skills to identify human-trafficking as well as to sensitise the communities.

He noted that with apt skills the civil society and NGOs would help intensify the response to trafficking of people. ENDS