23 Mar 2022

Government aims to address legislative gaps to eliminate human trafficking and protect victims while effectively punishing perpetrators.

Acting secretary for safety and security in the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security, Ms Boikhutso Botlhole said this Tuesday when officiating  at a workshop on the draft Anti-Human Trafficking (Amendment) Bill. 

Ms Botlhole said the proposed amendments were a tangible way of reacting to the ever changing organised human trafficking activities and other transnational criminal enterprises.

“The object of the bill is to amend the Anti-Human Trafficking Act to ensure that government fully meets the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking as espoused in the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC) and its supplementing protocol to prevent human trafficking,” she said.

The aim was to identify new areas that would attach criminal liability to actors in sectors of the economy that might be knowingly or unknowingly complicit in matters of human trafficking, explained Ms Botlhole.

Government, she said, planned to dismantle criminal networks and enhance the criminal justice system as well as to identify, investigate and prosecute crimes on human trafficking.

Ms Botlhole pointed out that the efforts were in compliance with Botswana’s international obligations.

She said the workshop was therefore excellent testimony to the country’s commitment to the objects and purposes of UNTOC and its supplementing protocols.

“Specifically, the resulting political declaration on the implementation of the global plan of action to combat trafficking in persons, which Botswana also signed in September 2017, demonstrated Botswana’s political will and mandated us to do our utmost best to criminalise trafficking in persons in all its forms,” she said.

As of January, she said, Botswana had 20 cases of human trafficking before the courts with only four convictions attained since the enactment of the legislation in 2014.

“The slow disposal of cases is mainly attributed to the multi-faceted and complex nature of human trafficking case investigations. In addition, incidents of cross-border trafficking cases often require the administration of the requisite evidential gathering processes through Mutual Legal Assistance procedures,” she said.

Ms Botlhole said a total of 78 victims of human trafficking activities had been identified since 2014 while 40 individuals had so far been repatriated following the conclusion of investigations. BOPA