UN says South Africa attractive to human traffickers

South Africa is an attractive destination for human trafficking and drug smuggling by organized crime syndicates, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

Johan Kruger, the project coordinator for the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said South Africa's "open, cosmopolitan" society is being used to facilitate human trafficking.

He said that South Africa is being used also because of its technical and travel infrastructure.

In addition its cosmopolitan society is being used for the facilitation of crime, Kruger added.

"Its own open society and democracy environment is conducive to trafficking."

Syndicates are using another of South Africa's attributes, its economic strength, to aid their profitable human trafficking endeavors, Kruger said.

Another UNODC official, international law enforcement advisor Patrik Engstrom agreed that economic factors are drawing human traffickers.

"The strong economic pull factor in the region is not just for people, but for traffickers," he said.

"I'm absolutely convinced that it is a real problem with South Africa."

Kruger and Engstrom were speaking to the South African Press Association (SAPA) on the sidelines of a workshop in Johannesburg on international cooperation in trafficking in persons and smuggling migrants.

The workshop was hosted by the UNODC and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Jonathan Lucas, UNODC regional representative, said a lack of legislation has hindered law enforcement against human trafficking in SADC.

"In the whole of the SADC region there has not been a single conviction for human trafficking," Lucas said.

Of the 15 SADC countries, only five have proposed legislation to deal specifically with human trafficking. These are Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia, Tanzania, and South Africa.

On Tuesday the South African government tabled draft anti- trafficking legislation in its Parliament.

Source: Xinhua