INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION FOR MIGRATION Presented by Karen Blackman

SOTHERN AFRICAN COUNTER-TRAFFICKING ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME [SACTAP] Activities : Prevention of trafficking:  Field research and data collection; Eye on Human Trafficking quarterly news bulletin  Information dissemination; print, television, radio Protection of Trafficking Victims:  Training for Police and Immigration officials  Training for NGO and government service providers  Toll-Free National Trafficking Helpline in South Africa Assistance and Reintegration to trafficking Victims through:  NGO support network – shelters, medical, legal and psychosocial counseling  Relocation and/or AVR  Reintegration options for victims

What is the International Organization for Migration (IOM)?  Leading international organization working globally to manage migration challenges for the benefit of all.  Established 1951 to resettle European displaced persons, refugees and migrants, but has evolved with offices and operations in every continent. Currently 125 member states.  IOM helps governments and civil society in 7 service areas: i. Assisted voluntary returns ii. Counter-trafficking iii. Migration health iv. Movements of migrants [refugees and others] v. Mass information on migration vi. Technical co-operation on migration [border management] vii. Labour migration  IOM’s regional office for Southern Africa is situated in Pretoria

PATTERNS OF TiP IN SOUTHERN AFRICA Based on  6-month research conducted by IOM in  Additional interviews with victims of trafficking over the past 5 years

SOUTH AFRICA South Africa to Asia Recruitment  Recruiters usually SA national with links SA sex industry and Triad groups; earn US$ 500 per recruit.  SA women are recruited in strip clubs or as sex workers in Johannesburg.  Offered strip jobs or sex work in Macau, all expenses paid and US$ – Transportation  JHB – Hong Kong – Macau  SA Nationals enter HK on one-month permit, and must then apply to immigration office to continue on to Macau  Sold to organized crime bosses that operate saunas in Macau Exploitation  Confiscation of passport.  Sign contract in Chinese characters with no translation.  Imposition of escalating debt burden.  Drugs play a big role in controlling victims.  Confinement to flat; no telephone calls.  Experience physical abuse; death threats and threats of arrest.  Forcibly prostituted in saunas with long working hours – e.g. 16 clients per 12 hour shift.  Victims are numbered, colour-coded and ‘priced’ accordingly – e.g. Black [VIP] category = US$ 625 per client.

SOUTH AFRICA South Africa To Israel Recruitment  SA national recruit older SA women as au pairs.  Offered jobs in Israel, paid US$ 800 per month. Accommodation and air fare included. Transportation  JHB – Tel Aviv [EI AI Airlines]  Enter Israel with the trafficker on a three month tourist visa.  Victims were unaware that they are unable to work on this visa or that it is illegal for foreign nationals to work as au pairs in Israel. Exploitation  Confiscation of passport.  Not allowed to leave the premises.  Long working hours.  Payment less than half that was promised, if any.  No sick leave.  Forced to do all household tasks as well as au pair.  Experience verbal abuse.

SOUTH AFRICA South /Africa to Ireland, UK and US Recruitment  Young South African women recruited to work as domestic workers, professional employment or for education.  Many are students receiving post secondary education.  Recruited by West African and South African nationals - often friends of friends or boyfriends.  Also recruited by friends already in country of destination.  Cases in US – recruitment was advertised in newspapers or flyers.  Travel costs covered by traffickers.  Victims travel independently. Transportation  JHB – London direct  JHB – London – Dublin  JHB and CPT to various locations in US direct Exploitation  Confiscation of passport and travel documentation.  Forced to live in unsuitable conditions.  Movements controlled,  Forced to work long hours doing domestic chores and child care.  Experience verbal abuse from ‘employers’.  Told to repay debt for travel.  Not paid salary or salary much lower than promised.  May also experience sexual abuse or harassment from male employers.

REFUGEES TO SOUTH AFRICA Recruitment  Traffickers are unemployed men with refugee status in South Africa  Traffic women from home counties (e.g. Angola, DRC, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Somalia)  Victims are female relatives (aged 25-45), sometimes with children  Promised jobs in South Africa Transportation  Travel by boat, truck, car, bus, taxis  Woman sells everything to finance trip – families may contribute  Travel alone or accompanied by recruiter or refugee clan member  Borders crossed legally and illegally  Hazardous journey to South Africa Exploitation  Women apply for asylum in SA  Sexual initiation (recruiter or ethnic clan)  Street sex work  Long working hours and dangerous conditions  Minimum nightly earnings  Highly dependent of trafficker who will often physically abuse the victim if she doesn’t earn money  Small-scale  Ethnic clan networks: i. Control women ii. Involved in criminal activity

MOZAMBIQUE TO SOUTH AFRICA Recruitment  Traffickers involved in TRAFFICKING AND SMUGGLING of people, drugs and weapons  2 methods of recruitment: i. Active - (making false job offers) ii. Passive - (targeting female taxi passengers en route to SA) Transportation  Maputo – Komatipoort – JHB/PRET  Maputo – Ponta d’Ouro – JHB/DBN  By taxi along main routes to SA  Undocumented border crossings  Use of safe houses in border region between SA, Mozambique, Swaziland Exploitation  Sexual initiation at safe houses  In JHB women held captive in safe houses in Soweto and Lenasia  Taken to housing compounds on West Rand mines and sold to mineworkers  Sold as wives to SA and Mozambican men  Live under conditions of domestic servitude  Others are sold to brothels in Gauteng and KZN for R1000 – R15,000  Now into upmarket brothels in residential areas  Similar trafficking modus operandi does occur between Zimbabwe and South Africa

THAILAND TO SOUTH AFRICA Recruitment  Cottage Industry traffickers i. Small-time Thai traffickers ii. “Second-wave” traffickers iii. Brothel owners as traffickers  International Organised Crime i. Chinese organised crime ii. Thai organised crime iii. Women recruited are 60%-80% aging sex workers aged Transportation  Bangkok – Singapore – JHB  Bangkok – Hong Kong – JHB  Bangkok – JHB Exploitation  SOLD for between R – R or LEASED to brothels by agent  Debt bonded for R – R  Rotated between brothels and private venues by agents  Living conditions at safe houses are tightly controlled by mama san  Long working hours  Agents manipulate women’s legal status  Scale: at least 6 provinces [towns and cites]

CHINA TO SOUTH AFRICA Recruitment  Traffickers are Chinese organized crime groups operating in SA  Women recruited are poorly educated and unemployed  Women are most often recruited in Southern China  Women recruited by Traffickers & Smugglers  2 categories of Chinese women in SA Smuggled migrants Trafficked women  Women smuggled into SA are retroactively trafficked Transportation  Hong Kong- JHB  Hong Kong – JHB – Lesotho – JHB  Hong Kong – JHB – Swaziland – JHB  Hong Kong - JHB – Mozambique – JHB  Travel documents and air ticket paid for by agent Exploitation  Bonded for repayment of R to R travel debt  Private houses/flats or exclusively Asian or seamen’s clubs in Cape Town

EASTERN EUROPE TO SOUTH AFRICA Recruitment  Traffickers are Russian mafia & Bulgarian organized crime groups  Traffickers own clubs in SA  Recruiters are often women connected to Eastern European organized crime in SA  Women recruited are often highly educated but poor/jobless, aged  Promises of jobs as waitresses, dancers or hostesses Transportation  Russia/EE – EU – JHB  Russia/EE – EU- JHB – Moz – JHB  Russia/EE – EU – JHB – Lesotho – JHB  SA Visas fraudulently obtained in Russia. Exploitation  Debt-bonded on arrival for between US$ – US$  Women rotated between clubs & private venues. Mix with Thai women  Threat of physical violence  Family members in Russia/EE may be threatened and assaulted  Difficult to exit “system” run by traffickers – extremely difficult to escape

IOM’s HUMAN TRAFFICKING HELP LINE  REPORT A CASE  ASK FOR HELP  ASK FOR MORE INFORMATION (toll-free 7am -10pm)

FURTHER INFORMATION    Subscribe electronically to the EYE on Human Trafficking: