S. Africa Updates Archaic Trafficking Laws

For years, vicitms of trafficking in South Africa were prosecuted for prostitution and illegal immigration, adding copious insult to injury, while the traffickers responsible for their exploitation went largely uncaught and unpunished.

The IOL news service in South Africa reports that all this is changing with current reviewing of these archaic laws:

The South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC) is recommending the non-renewable suspension of deportation of victims of human trafficking.

The SALRC has, in a discussion paper on trafficking in persons, recommended the provision of proper care and the possibility of temporary or permanent residence or refugee status for such victims....

"Apart from dealing with the trauma of being trafficked, victims of trafficking are faced with arrest and prosecution for offences committed as a direct result of their situation as victims of trafficking," the discussion paper states.

It says that in South Africa victims may be prosecuted for prostitution, even though they were forced into it by their traffickers. They may also be prosecuted for illegal entry into the country.