He was speaking at the 'Day of the African child' commemoration at Boipuso Hall on June 16.
The theme of the day was 'Combat Child Trafficking'. He said that child trafficking involved sale and purchase of children, usually with the involvement of a middleman and often involving transportation of the children across borders.
He said that they are then exploited as domestic workers, farm labourers, factory workers or as prostitutes.
"They are sometimes left without even a name or a nationality and they are always left without dignity," Betts said.
He said because they are away from their homes, they are left vulnerable without access to family, health services and education.
Betts said that the children are exposed to hazardous labour. Many are exposed to disease including HIV for those who are recruited into commercial sex work. He pointed out that most suffer mental and emotional stress.
After the experience of trafficking, the chances of the children ever living a full, safe and satisfying life are close to zero.
The Minister of Local Government, Margaret Nasha, said that when they started talking about children's rights ten years ago it was not easy. She said that they were often told that they want to lead children astray. She said that in a traditional set up, children were not allowed an opinion.
She said that in Botswana children are not necessarily sold but some are removed from households and taken to farms under difficult conditions.
Nasha condemned those who say they have hired them and questioned how one can hire a person who is unable to negotiate a contract. She said those who do it take advantage of a sad situation.
Nasha promised to get to the bottom of the problem. "Those children have no business baby-sitting for anybody. If one wants a baby sitter they should get someone old enough," she said.
Nasha said Batswana had a tendency of turning a blind eye when they see something happening next door and urged people to report suspicious activity.
She promised to infiltrate those farms that have been 'padlocked' to get the children out.
Olorato Mbi, addressing issues of child protection from a child's perspective, said the issue of child trafficking was not clearly known in Botswana but that it was rampant in some African countries. He said sometimes they were moved across borders or within the country.
Mbi said there were cases in which children were made baby-sitters or herd boys. They are often forced to work for little or no pay at all. He said others were used as prostitutes, or as child soldiers, or used to traffic illegal drugs. He urged Botswana to say 'No' to child trafficking.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government, Gabaake Gabaake advised children that they had a responsibility to set themselves goals in life. He said there were two types of people in the world; those who wait to die for their story to be told by others, and those who tell it while they are still alive.
"I urge you to achieve your goals," he said.
