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Hon. Simai Mohammed Simai (Member of House of Representatives – Zanzibar)August 19th, 2018
1.0 Introduction
Right Honourable Chairperson, CPA Africa
Region,
Honourable delegates from various CPA Braches
and sub- branches,
Invited guests, ladies and gentlemen
In
the first place, allow me to convey my sincere appreciation to your office for
affording me the opportunity to address this congregation on the important
topic that reflects the welfare of our societies in Africa and elsewhere around
the globe. Before I venture in discussing this topic, i think it is imperative
to briefly define the term ''Human Trafficking''.
Human
Trafficking or as sometimes referred as Trafficking in persons is defined in
the relevant UN protocol as ''the
recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by
means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction,
of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability
or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of
a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation[2].
Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution
of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services,
slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs[3]. Human trafficking
infringes human rights as it denies one's inherent right to be free. As stated
in Universal declaration of human rights under article 4, “no one shall be in
slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all
their forms’.
After the campaign
which was seeking to abolish slavery became successful and that vice came to an
end, greedy traders evolved a modern day slavery which is commonly referred to
as '' Human Trafficking'' to which human beings are being abused and exploited against
their will. Hence, human trafficking is another form of slavery. In this
regard, although the campaign to end slavery and slave trade are greatly
commended, however, we should reserve our compliments for such efforts as today
men,
women and children are still being coerced, drugged, tricked, and sold to do
dangerous and degrading work against their will.
2.0 Types of Human Trafficking
In most cases, the kinds of human trafficking in Tanzania and Africa in
general are those that involve unfriendly house maid labour, forced child labour,
bonded labour, cheated or unfair contracted job, sex trafficking, child
soldiers, sale of body parts, and debt bondage. These types of human
trafficking fall in Intra state trafficking and intercontinental trafficking.
The world has over past recent years witnessed another type of human
trafficking which is trafficking in human organs. In resolution 59/156 of 20 December 2004, entitled
‘Prevention, combating and punishing trafficking in human organs, the United
Nations General Assembly required the Secretary-General to prepare a study on
the extent of the phenomenon for submission to the Commission on Crime
Prevention an d Criminal Justice at its fifteenth session[4].
Following that resolution, the workshop on the subject matter was held and the
paper thereof was released[5].
3.0 How does human trafficking operates
Traffickers search for soft reachable people whose environment invites
controllability. The affected groups are those people with undocumented status,
difficult with shelters, poverty and under poverty people and people who use drugs.
It
is said that trafficking in people represents the third largest source of
profits for organized crimes after drugs and guns, generating billions of
dollars each year. Organized crime groups operating within and across borders
often run trafficking networks. These networks are structured, organized,
well-funded, and operated beyond the reach of law enforcement.
The
traffickers use promises of better life to attract people who want to migrate
abroad to find employment. In the cases of children, the use of adoption
procedures has also been noted. Looking more specifically at trafficking in
women, the recruitment takes various forms, including advertising in newspapers
or through the use of marriage bureaus. While some trafficked women know they
will work as prostitutes, they do not know that they may be kept in
slavery-like conditions where they will be unable to escape from their
exploiters.
Human
trafficking has been practiced in different countries including Tanzania, where
a significant number of women are taken with unreliable contracts to abroad
especially Middle East for house maid jobs. Eventually, they return home with
empty hands; just narrating their life lasting humiliating stories. As stated
earlier, this vice has spread globally and African continent is not exempted.
In Western Africa the problem of human trafficking also prevails as girls are
taken to Europe with greater hopes of better job opportunities. With such
hopes, these girls accept the burden of passing difficult journeys from West
African countries where upon their arrival, they become goods to be sold to other
syndicates that transport them to Europe, as famous route via Italy and Spain. Poverty,
conflict and war have been motivating human trafficking as a number of people is
trafficked for the hope of better life abroad.
Traffickers
typically maintain subservience through debt-bondage, passport confiscation,
physical and psychological abuse, rape, torture, threats of arrest and
deportation, and threats to the trafficked person’s family. Victims often find
themselves cut off from the outside world, unable to speak the local language,
and without identification or documentation. In extreme cases, the people do
not know where they are. Consequently, it becomes difficult to find help. In
other cases, trafficked people fear the police because the law enforcement
system is, or is perceived to be, corrupt or because they fear immediate
deportation. Trafficked people often are afraid to return to their country of
origin because of remaining smuggling debt, fear of public humiliation upon
disclosure of the work that they performed, and possible further victimization
of the victims as well as their families.
4.0 Causes for human
trafficking
Many people who lack
financial stability are likely to become victims; however, human trafficking
does include a vast demographic of victims: men and women, adults and children,
educated and uneducated people, foreigners and natives. Generally, anyone can become
a victim of human trafficking.
Victims of human
trafficking usually show vulnerability to their perpetrators. Some of these
vulnerabilities include: poverty, illiteracy, unstable/abusive family life,
unemployment, corruption in government, unstable economy, violent
conflicts/wars, health epidemics, natural disasters, high demand for services, and
lack of rights.
The AU issued “The Khartoum
Declaration on AU-Horn of Africa Initiative on Human Trafficking and Smuggling
of Migrants during its meeting on Human Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants
in the Horn of Africa - Khartoum on 16th October 2014. The AU through this
Declaration, noted with concern the variety of pull and push factors creating
conducive environment for human trafficking and Smuggling, including conflicts,
persecution, poverty, natural disasters and unemployment as well as unilateral
economic sanctions and external debts that have negatively impacted on
development; “
Like in many of the developing countries, In Tanzania, Poverty and lack
of sufficient economic opportunities make women and children potential victims
of traffickers associated with internal criminal organizations. They are vulnerable
to false promises of job opportunities in other countries. Many of those who accept these offers from
what appears to more legitimated sources find themselves in difficult situations
as the actual situation turns to be contrary to what was promised.
The girls transported to Middle East, in most cases, find themselves in
slavery kind of home jobs that they ought to serve a huge number of family
members or houses, with very low wages not as stipulated in their working
contracts. The boys are forced to work at transit Goods Company as drivers at
very low wages and unfriendly working conditions. To some extent, inefficient law
enforcement mechanism make the human trafficking more possible as human
traffickers scares no law to bind them.
5.0 The scope of the problem
As stated by the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime, virtually every
country in the world is affected by Human Trafficking crimes[6]. It is estimated that more than two million people are affected with
human trafficking conduct annually. The world statistics reveal the first global assessment of the scope of
human trafficking and what is being done to fight it. This includes an overview
of trafficking patterns; legal steps taken in response; and country-specific
information on reported cases of trafficking in persons, victims, and
prosecutions.
According
to the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, the most common form of human
trafficking (79%) is sexual exploitation. The victims of sexual exploitation
are predominantly women and girls. Surprisingly, in 30% of the countries which
provided information on the gender of traffickers, women make up the largest
proportion of traffickers. Other forms is forced labour (18%), although this
may be a misrepresentation because forced labour is less frequently detected
and reported than trafficking for sexual exploitation. And It is said 20% of
all trafficking victims are children.
Despite international labour
standards and a UN Protocol against human trafficking, millions of victims,
particularly children - made vulnerable by poverty and exploited by criminals -
are working in mines, sweatshops, brothels and plantations - trapped by debt
and violence. In a perverse commercialization of humanity, they are used like
products and then thrown away.
One of the alarming incidents
of human trafficking that outraged regional bodies in Africa including ECOWAS
is the auction of African migrants as slaves in Libyan territory. ECOWAS has
been condemning all forms of assault on the dignity and integrity of human
beings wherever they may be. It passed the resolution to condemn human
trafficking in Abuja in November, 2017.
6.0 Parliamentary Efforts in Fighting Human Trafficking
On part of East Africa, there
have been some efforts put by legislatures in a bid to fight the vice of human
trafficking. This includes the regional Assembly, The East African Legislative
Assembly (EALA) which enacted a law that compels its member states to prevent
human trafficking and prosecute perpetrators of the crime. The Anti-Trafficking
in Persons Bill, 2016, came after an international report showed that the crime
of trafficking in persons is prevalent in all East African Community partner
states. According to the Trafficking
in Persons Report of 2016, Kenya and Uganda are in Tier 2; Rwanda
and Tanzania are in Tier 2 Watch List, while Burundi falls in Tier 3[7].
The Bill was moved by Dora
Byamukama (Uganda) and received affirmation from the House, in its fifth
session held in Zanzibar, Tanzania. This bill sought to provide a legal
framework for the prevention of trafficking in persons, protection mechanisms
and services for victims and development of partnerships for co-operation to
counter trafficking in persons in the community.
On its side, Inter-
Parliamentary Union (IPU) in conjunction with UNICEF issued a Handbook for
Parliamentarians No. 09 of 2005[8] In
Combating Child Trafficking. The handbook guides parliamentarians on various
strategies to engage on war against human trafficking especially trafficking of
children. The strategies include urging respective parliaments to establish
standing or select committees to address the problem of child trafficking by
making a follow up of issues pertinent to the child trafficking.
Also the handbook has
extensively tried to discuss the issue of funding the war towards eradicating
child trafficking through budgetary processes at the level of parliaments.
Through the handbook, parliamentarians and their respective parliaments are
urged to ensure that adequate funds are available in combating child
trafficking. The funds should focus on the protection efforts, capacity building
initiatives and victim protection and assistance. IPU through this handbook
insists that parliamentarians should use their influence to ensure that
governments are committing more funds in combating child trafficking.
Apart from these
international and regional parliamentary forums of IPU and EALA, national
parliaments have also played a significant role in combating this vice through
enactment of several legislations that seek to combat human trafficking. This
is especially true for the countries that have been much affected by the human
trafficking including the West African and East African countries.
7.0 Initiatives to curb the
problem in Tanzania
In 2008, The Tanzanian
parliament enacted the Anti Trafficking in Persons Acts. Pursuant to the
Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania, 1977, this Act is implemented
in both parts of the Union that is Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar. A number of
perpetrators of human trafficking vice have been apprehended and prosecuted
under the provisions of this Act. The Act is very comprehensive as it covers
and encompasses every type of human trafficking and hence it becomes difficult
for human trafficking traders to evade the enforcement of this Act whenever
arraigned.
8.0 Public Participation in the fight against Human Trafficking
The Tanzanian relevant
authorities have been playing their role in fighting the human trafficking in
the country. This includes the curbing of the operation of internal and
external human trafficking. Notably, Tanzania has been used as a destination
but also a route for human trafficking, en route to Southern Africa.
Among the reasons for
successful operations of curbing human trafficking in Tanzania is public
participation especially in sharing information to government authorities. Good
Samaritans have been according cooperation to the authorities that enable the apprehension
of perpetrators of this vice of human trafficking.
By this cooperation, the
relevant authorities in Tanzania has been able to reveal the complications
ensued as a result of trafficking unskilled labourers to Middle East including
the inhumane acts to these unskilled labourers inflicted upon them by their
employers. As a consequence, the government was compelled to restrict
Tanzanians youths from going abroad for the purpose of being domestic workers
and performing other unskilled jobs in some countries. The restriction is
subjected to compliance of the given procedures that include obtaining of
permit from the country, having proper and detailed contract with the envisaged
work place among others.
9.0 Initiatives taken to address the problem in Africa
Different instruments
have been passed in Africa seeking to address the problem of human trafficking
in the continent. This paper tries to provide some of these instruments and
their relevance towards curbing this problem in Africa:
Ø
Khartoum
Declaration on AU-Horn of Africa Initiative on Human Trafficking and Smuggling
of Migrants. The declaration among others agrees to Addressing the social,
economic, environmental, cultural, security and political factors that make
people vulnerable to human trafficking and smuggling such as poverty,
unemployment, social exclusion and marginalization, humanitarian emergencies as
well as demands and policies that foster exploitation in destination countries;
Ø
Ouagadougou Action Plan to combat trafficking
in human beings especially women and children. The plan insists the empowerment
of women and girls through national policies.
Ø
Southern African
Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development (2008). The
Agreement targets achieving gender equality by 2015 by improving education, socio-
economy welfare of women so as to prevent them from traffickers. The agreement
signed by all 14 member states.
The
charter provides right to children. Article 27 of the Charter provides that
Children should be protected from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual
abuse. For instance, in most trafficking cases,
children become victims of sexually abuse.
10.0 Recommendations
Ø Legislations.
African parliaments
should be ready to ratify agreements and protocols that seek to address human
trafficking. Also, it is imperative for
the respective Governments in Africa to enact Laws against traffickers.
Ø Enforcement of the legislations
It is time for us (parliamentarians) to manage the rules we have made
ourselves. Our people are being abused by this illegal business; human rights
are being violated for beneficiaries of few people. It is therefore significant
to improve our oversight role to our respective governments to ensure that they
increase their performance towards the implementation of the laws against human
trafficking. This includes taking measures establish
rehabilitation centres to assist victims of human trafficking, especially women
and children and ensure their safety, protection and facilitate their recovery
and social reintegration.
Ø Poverty reduction
We
as parliamentarians should insist on promoting the empowerment of girls and
women in their national policies so as enable them economically to be independent.
The empowerment of women and girls through national policies is an important
part of combating trafficking as a significant number of victims of trafficking
fall in that vice because of the promises and hopes of better life due to
economic hardship existing among them.
By
providing viable employment or other livelihood opportunities to youths in general
and in particular for young women at risk, especially in regions prone to
trafficking would significantly reduce the problem.
Ø Awareness / education
The key preventive measure to combat human trafficking is to ensure
provision of education and trainings, including life-skills, awareness raising
and counselling to the people.
Ø Civil society and NGO involvement
Government should engage
civil societies and NGOS in combating human trafficking. This is because NGOs
and CSOs have a wide range in reaching people especially those found in remote
areas. We as parliamentarians should play our role to ensure that our
governments set aside an appropriate amount of money to fight this problem
including empowering these CSOs and NGOs in fighting human trafficking.
Ø Review of the Legislations
There is a need for
African countries to review their laws that are meant to combat human
trafficking in order to ensure that such laws are relevant and up to date. For
instance, the issue of punishment for perpetrators of human trafficking
offences should be reviewed to ensure that adequate punishment is imposed to
those perpetrators.
11.0
Conclusion
The world and in this context African
continent is taking much efforts to combat the human trafficking. Despite such
efforts and the efforts that are taken by the African parliaments towards
eradication of human trafficking, our parliaments should put more efforts and
come with more elaborate and feasible strategies if we are serious in addressing
this problem. Due to intensity of the problem, parliaments should be more
active and act seriously to end this problem. The anti human trafficking should
be a dominant parliamentary agenda that needs to be extensively discussed in a
bid to find adequate means to end the problem. This is because although our
efforts have yielded some positive results, yet we have a long way to go
towards eradication of this problem.
In concluding, let me borrow
the words of the former Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Koffi
Annan who said, ''Inspired by the abolitionists of two centuries ago (who
fought slave trade and slavery), let us fight against exploitation and
oppression and stand up for freedom and human dignity''[9]. We,
the parliamentarians across the African continent, have great role to play
towards achieving this better end for the dignity of human kind, our countries,
our continent and the entire globe.
statement was made by Koffi Annan, the former UN
Secretary General while addressing the House of Lords and House of Commons in
London on 8th May, 2007 in commemorating two centuries of the abolition of Slave
Trade.
[2]Protocol to
Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children,
supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized
Crime: Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General
Assembly resolution 55/25 of 15 November 2000
[3] Ibid.
[4]https://www.unodc.org/documents/humantrafficking/2008/BP011HumanTraffickingfortheRemovalofOrgans.pdf
[5]
The Vienna Forum to
fight Human Trafficking 13-15 February 2008, Austria Center Vienna
Background
Paper: 011 Workshop: Human Trafficking for the Removal of Organs and Body
Parts
[6] http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/index.html?ref=menuside
[7] Tier 1 comprises
countries whose governments fully meet the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s
minimum standards: Tier 2 are countries that do not fully comply with the TVPA
minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into
the compliance with those standards. Tier 2 Watch List is similar to Tier 2 but
countries in this category further commit to undertake additional steps over
the next year in combating trafficking in persons. Countries in Tier 3 do not
fully comply with the minimum standards and are yet to make significant efforts
to do so.
[8] IPU Handbook for
Parliamentarians on Child Trafficking, No. 09 of 2005
[9] Note, 1.
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