Pretoria is a major destination point for trafficking of sex slaves within South Africa. This has been revealed by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) which has completed a six-month study into trafficking within South Africa’s borders. The report: No Experience Necessary; The Internal Trafficking of Persons in South Africa, was released last week. The Pretoria News reports that it will be used as a basis for further research into trafficking in South Africa and to help civil society and government come up with comprehensive plans to assist victims and combat trafficking syndicates ahead of the 2010 World Cup.
Children will be at risk from sexual predators during the 2010 World Cup. The Daily News reports that this was the warning sounded by Acting Film and Publications Board CEO Iyaver Chetty at the opening of the board’s Durban office. He said not all those coming to South Africa in 2010 would be football enthusiasts. Among the fans would be paedophiles looking to target children. Approached for comment, Childline national co-ordinator Joan van Niekerk agreed, saying they were extremely concerned about paedophiles entering the country during 2010. And while there was a host of initiatives in the pipeline, they were not being well co-ordinated, she said.
Concerns have been raised that child pornography site users and sex offenders may slip through unnoticed to prey on the youth of South Africa when soccer fever hits with an influx of foreign tourists in 2010. Advocate Iyavar Chetty of the Film and Publications Board said it was important to raise public awareness that South Africa did not have an effective regulatory system to monitor pornography sites and sex offenders to match those of international counterparts, particularly European countries. The Cape Argus reports that the board hosted a workshop to discuss various concerns and developments regarding child pornography and related offences. Chetty said there were concerns that many entering the country for the World Cup may not be interested in the football, even though the world focus would be on the games.
A co-ordianted intervention programme to curb child prostitution and human trafficking is needed urgently as the problem has reached crisis proportions, says Khula Community Development project director Petros Majola. ’ All stakeholders need to come together and come up with a programme that will get off the ground and confront this challenge,’ he said. The Herald reports that the organisation’s programmes include children’ s rights and responsibilities, child participation, child labour, child trafficking, child prostitution, child pornography, children in conflict with the law and children used by adults to commit crime. ’With the 2010 World Cup approaching, it was time to act now as the problem was going to get even bigger,’ Majola said.
2010 security issues under the spotlight - 21/10/2008
Various 2010 security initiatives between SA and Botswana will be addressed at a four-day meeting between the two countries kicked off in Cape Town on Tuesday. The Joint Permanent Commission on Defence and Security will also look at cooperation between the two countries to combat firearms and drug smuggling, and human trafficking. Defence Minister Charles Nqakula and his Botswana counterpart, Dikgakgamatso Seretse, will address issues such as military cooperation ’and security arrangements to ensure a successful hosting of the World Cup’. Botswana is actively involved in promoting itself as a destination for visiting teams in 2010. Costruction of a new terminal at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport is due for completion in early 2010.
Military co-operation between South Africa and Botswana will be high on the agenda at a four-day meeting between the two countries that starts in Cape Town today. According to a Mail & Guardian Online report, the Joint Permanent Commission on Defence and Security will also look at co-operation between the two countries to combat firearms and drug smuggling, and human trafficking, said South Africa’s Defence Ministry. ’Issues such as military-to-military co-operation between the governments of ... South Africa and Botswana will be high on the agenda,’ said Defence Minister Charles Nqakula. ’(It) is further expected to discuss plans and security arrangements to ensure a successful hosting by South Africa of the 2010 World Cup,’ he added.
