DEAL WITH HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Allow me once again to voice my concern regarding human trafficking in the country.

I do know that one may argue that it has not reached a point where it can be a national concern but the fact of the matter is that it is happening. Firstly I want to point it out that I feel that as a nation we are seemingly not concerned about this issue yet it is becoming serious in the whole world including our beautiful country. But perhaps before I even highlight my views, I must point out that there are many reasons why human trafficking happens. The most common causes that lead to people being trafficked are poverty, lack of prospects and the belief in a better future while from the traffickers’ side, the most common purposes of trafficking include exploitation, forced labour, sexual exploitation, slavery and more.

It must also be considered that some people are simply kidnapped before being sold.  Human trafficking is becoming one of the most lucrative illicit businesses in different parts of the world, with criminal groups making millions from it per year. This makes it a considerable criminal business that preys on the world’s most marginalized persons and our own citizens are not safe especially since we have challenges such as unemployment which means it would be easier to lure our people. We have had incidents in the country which is why I feel something needs to be done. How many daughters and mothers should go missing before we take such a crime seriously If Swazis do not act now many people will keep vanishing into thin air. It has been that most countries have implemented different protocols and are working towards anti-human trafficking legislation into their domestic laws and I am sure that Swaziland is one of them. However, implementing protocols is not enough and this is supported by the fact that despite increasing conviction rates for the crime of human trafficking, the number of such convictions remains low.

This therefore means that there is a need for extra efforts to tackle this and these include bringing in more effective implementation of the protocols at the national level and push for greater degrees of regional and international cooperation. I do understand, however, that human trafficking is in one way or another difficult to deal with especially because most victims do not even understand it because when it happens they see it as a way of getting greener pastures when in actual fact they are going to be made slaves.

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