PRESS STATEMENT ON THE DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD – 16 JUNE 2007

Combat Child Trafficking

DITSHWANELO – The Botswana Centre for Human Rights joins the rest of the world in commemorating the Day of the African Child on 16 June 2007. This year the theme for the Day of the African Child is: “Combat Child Trafficking”.

Because of the illicit nature of child trafficking in Botswana, the extent and magnitude of the problem is not widely known. While child trafficking has not been widely discussed or reported to authorities in Botswana, DITSHWANELO believes that child traffickers may be using Botswana as a transit point.

A 2003 UNICEF study on human trafficking in Africa acknowledges that trafficking of persons may be “the third largest source of profits for organized crime, behind only drugs and guns.” People are victims of a multitude of exploitative and abusive situations such as gangs, the sex industry, drug couriers, slavery and forced marriage. The Assistant Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Hon. Matlhabaphiri, noted at a SADC Workshop on Migration Dialogue for Southern Africa on Human Trafficking and Legislative Responses in Southern Africa in May 2007, that 600 000 to 828 000 persons are trafficked across international borders every year. The majority of victims are women (80%) and children (50%), and often come from poor regions and from vulnerable communities such as streetchildren, orphans, and displaced persons.

Botswana does not have specific laws prohibiting the trafficking of persons, although the Penal Code prohibits abduction, kidnapping, slave trafficking, and the buying of women and girls for commercial sex. Botswana has also committed herself to several international agreements including the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography, and the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others, as well as the International Labour Organisation Convention Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour. These agreements place obligations on Botswana to make every effort to prevent the sale, trafficking and abduction of children and to provide for assistance for the removal, rehabilitation and social integration of these children.

DITSHWANELO urges the Government of Botswana to address the issue of child trafficking by incorporating these conventions into national laws. We take seriously our Government’s human rights commitments to the international community. These commitments should be translated into action at the national level by the Government of Botswana working with civil society organizations which address issues concerning children. We call upon the Government of Botswana to develop guidelines and a national legal framework to protect children and prevent child trafficking.

16 June 2007

Gaborone