Police: 16 human trafficking cases in five years
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Tuesday February 7, 2023 06:00
Minister Kagiso Mmusi told Ntlo ya Dikgosi on Friday that the Botswana Police Service (BPS) has recorded 16 cases of human trafficking in the last five years. “There were five cases reported in 2018, two in 2019, and six in 2020, one was recorded in 2021 and two in 2022,” he said.
The minister was responding to a question from Kgosi James Khumanego of Ngwaketse West Region who asked the minister to state the number of human trafficking cases that have been reported to the police service in the last five years.
Botswana has been grappling to contain the growing scourge of human trafficking in recent years despite increased anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. In 2021, civil society organisations submitted to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) that there is a growing trend of trafficking of women and children in the country. In a report titled ‘The Big Governance Issues in Botswana’ government identified 13 potential victims of human trafficking in 2018 with nine adult males exploited in forced labour, three women exploited in sex labour in neighbouring countries, and one woman exploited in sex labour within the country. However, civil society organisations say the numbers could be even higher as most cases are not reported nor detected.
“It is possible that numbers of both local and international victims remain unidentified. Many are made to work on private farms and homes as slaves where they are exposed to physical, verbal, and sexual abuse,” read the report in part.
The report also bemoans the Judiciary’s lack of knowledge of the 2014 Anti-Human Trafficking Act. “While government has increased anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts, the Judiciary’s lack of familiarity with the 2014 Anti-Human Trafficking Act has impeded its ability to prosecute suspected traffickers,” continued the report. According to that report, officials prosecuted 11 suspected traffickers in 2018 but failed to convict a known trafficker for the second consecutive year.