SOUTHERN AFRICA: Better Research Needed to Combat Trafficking

JOHANNESBURG, 21 Jun 2006 (IRIN) - The evil of human trafficking has become a hot-button international issue, but not that much is actually known about the practice, according to a new study by the South Africa-based Institute of Security Studies.

In a report entitled 'Getting to grips with trafficking: Reflections on human trafficking research in South Africa', researcher Robyn Pharoah argues that before policy makers rush to respond to a phenomenon shrouded in secrecy, there is a critical need to make sure the information on which decisions are based is accurate.

"For the most part, concerns over data quality have been eclipsed in the clamour to produce the information needed to motivate and support policy intervention and the resultant findings have been accepted uncritically by those working in the field," said the report.

Even though facts and figures on trafficking in South Africa vary widely, "the numbers have gone unchallenged and little attention paid to project conceptualisation, data collection or how reliable the findings can be," the study noted.

South Africa is believed to be both a source and a country of destination for trafficking, but understanding of the problem remains "rudimentary" and based on three limited pieces of primary research.

Pharoah said research projects had been crippled by the absence of police records on human trafficking. Most victims do not report the perpetrators because they would have been brought into the country illegally and fear the consequences.

"There are so many problems associated with human trafficking. South Africa receives many trafficked humans and loses many, but there are no records or officials statistics that define the nature and conduct of the crime," Pharoah said at the launch of her report.

"All the studies that have been carried out have been focused on the trafficking of women for purposes of prostitution and child labour. Little is known about trafficking of adults for cheap labour and no studies have focused on the trafficking for purposes of harvesting body organs, and men and boys into prostitution," she added.

The report noted that the constituent elements of trafficking - namely coercion, deception and exploitation - are difficult to define. "Within the labour context, notions of what are socially acceptable and unacceptable working conditions also vary between sectors and countries, and there is no universal yardstick against which exploitation can be measured."

As a possible solution, the report recommended that limiting the definition of trafficking to activities involving organised crime groups could help distinguish trafficking from forced labour and migration.

Joan Groenwald of South Africa's Department of Social Development acknowledged that collecting data on human trafficking was a complicated process. However, she said there were various initiatives including new legislation being crafted to deal with the identification, assistance and protection of trafficked victims in the country.

"Activities are often disguised and they take place behind closed doors. The victims are often too ashamed or simply unwilling to talk. Even security agencies have found it difficult to infiltrate trafficking rings because of that. But the departments involved are working towards broadening legislation like the Child Victims Act and the Sexual Offences Act in the hope that they might fill in some of the loopholes identified in tackling the problem," said Groenwald.

South Africa has also ratified the Palermo Protocol which commits it to formulating specific anti-trafficking legislation.

_____________________________________________________________________________