'Bought at a price': Trafficking in human beings – a brief study of the law in South Africa and the United States
| Jurisdiction | South Africa |
| Published date | 06 September 2019 |
| Date | 06 September 2019 |
| Citation | (2011) 24 SACJ 245 |
| Pages | 245-265 |
| Author | Darren Cavell Subramanien |
articles
‘Bought at a price’: Trafcking in
human beings – a brief study of the
law in South Africa and the
United States
DarreN caVell sUBraMaNieN*
aBstract
The crime of trafficking has become a global phenomenon. The international
trafficking of human beings is an extremely profitable business. In the 2010
Trafficking in Persons Report it was esti mated that there are approximately
12.3 mill ion people arou nd the world, including adu lts and children, who
are v ictims of either forced labour, bonded labour or forced prostitution.
The prevalence of trafficking victims around the world is 1.8 per 1000
inhabitants. Hum an trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation i s
most prevalent fro m the economica lly less advant ageous regions to the
more developed countries. South Africa is regarded as the main destinat ion
for tr afficked people in Africa.1 In many cases, women and children are
lured to South Afr ica with promises of jobs, educ ation or marriage, only to
be sold and s exually exploited in the cou ntry’s major urban centres, small
towns and more rural envi ronments. South A frica has signed and ratified
the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking
in Persons, Especially Women and Ch ildren. Despite this, South Africa
has no comprehensive human t rafficking leg islation. With th is in mind the
writer attempts to highlight the attempts made by South Af rica to deal with
the cr ime of huma n tra fficking, the effectiveness of c urrent legislation in
dealing wit h the cr ime and t he lessons t hat can be learnt from the Un ited
States of America (USA) and t heir anti-tra fficking legislation.
1. Introduction
Human trafficking, or traffick ing in persons, is defined as the practice
of people being deceived, lured, coerced or other wise removed from
* LLB LLM (UKZN), PhD candidate, Advocate of the High Court of South Africa, Lecturer,
University of KwaZulu Natal (PMB).
1 ‘Human Trafficking in Southern Africa’ International Organization for Migration
(2009), available at http://iom.org.za/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view
&id=67&Itemid=73 , accessed on 12 September 2011.
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(2011) 24 SACJ 245
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their home cou ntry and then compelled to work with little or no
payment, or on terms which are deemed to be highly exploitative.2 Th e
practice i s considered to be trade or commerce i n people, involving
the trading of persons as commodit ies by various means. It has similar
features to th at of slavery, is of ten connected to organised c rime and
is illegal in most countries. T he victims of human tra fficking are used
variously, including for prostitution, forced labour3 and other forms of
involuntary servitude.4
Trafficking in p ersons is regarded as one of the most profitable
businesses today and is prevalent around t he world.5 The factors that
contribute to human trafficking include poverty, lack of economic
opportunities, war, natural disasters and political instability.6 This
article will focus on South Africa as a countr y of desti nation for victims
of trafficki ng,7 the reasons why this is the case, current legislation
against human t rafficking in South Afr ica and attempts by authorities
and civil societ y to combat this problem. The author wil l also look at
American legislation and the attempts made by the American authorities
to deal with the crime of tra fficking in persons. First ly a sketch of the
international legal context with regard s to human t rafficking sha ll be
provided.
2 The United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in
Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the UN Convention Against
Transnational Organized Crime (2000); US Department of State Trafficking in Persons
Report (2010) 8-9, available at http://www.state.gov./g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2010, accessed on
30 May 2011; International Labour Office: A Future Without Child Labour (2002);
Tsireveledzani: understanding the dimensions of Human Trafficking in Southern
Africa Research Report (March 2010) 32.
3 KA McCabe The Trafficking of Persons, National and International Responses (2008)
40.
4 Article 3 of Division 1, Annex ii of the United Nations Convention against Transnational
Organised Crime.
5 South African Law Commission (SALC) Discussion Paper 25 (Project 131) ‘Trafficking
in persons report’ (2008) at 1.
6 Ibid.
7 SALC op cit (n5) 1. See also The United States Depar tment of State: Trafficking
in Persons Report (2007), available at http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2008/,
accessed on 6 June 2011. See also ‘Children smuggled into SA to work as slaves’
(2008) 17 Eye on Human Trafficking Bulletin 2; N Tshisela ‘First child trafficking
case in court’ Sowetan 13 May 2008 at 6; P Goliath ‘Human Trafficking: A Southern
African Perspective’, Paper presented at the International Association of Women
Judges Conference held in Panama, 25-28 March 2008 at 4-5; A Hlongwane ‘Thai
women held after raid on suspected brothel in Umbilo’ Sunday Tribune 29 April 2007
at 4; M Laganparsad ‘Marked rise in Thai sex trafficking’ Daily News 9 April 2007 at
5; S Ngalwa ‘Trafficking: Police investigated’ Sunday Tribune 24 December 2006 at 8;
M Savides and S Mchunu ‘International trafficking syndicate suspected: Police, Thai
Embassy to meet over sex slave probe’ The Mercury 19 December 2006 at 3; S Ngalwa
‘Cops want to see Thai girls’ clients’ Sunday Tribune 17 December 2006 at 5.
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