SA Migration International

News Articles

South Africa: No New Evidence That 30,000 Children Are Trafficked in South Africa Each Year

Source: Kate Wilkinson – Africa Check, 23/07/2015

Home Affairs officials have put in place strict new travel
regulations, which they claim will help prevent 30,000 children being
trafficked each year. We previously found this number to be
exaggerated. Has new evidence emerged?
Are 30,000 children trafficked each year in South Africa? In October
2013, Africa Check investigated the claim and found it to be
exaggerated and unsubstantiated.
Nearly two years later the statistic is again making news headlines.
This time the South African government is citing it as a reason for
introducing stricter regulations for children traveling into and out
of the country.
How many children are trafficked in South Africa each year? Are the
estimates reliable? And will stricter visa regulations help? We
reviewed the evidence.
Full birth certificate to 'protect children'
South Africa's Department of Home Affairs started enforcing new travel
regulations in June 2015. Children under the age of 18 must now carry
their full, or "unabridged", birth certificate when crossing South
Africa's borders. This shows the names of both parents.
A month before the regulations came into effect, director-general of
the department, Mkuseli Apleni, briefed parliament on the new travel
requirements. In his presentation he was reported to have claimed that
an estimated 30,000 children were trafficked through South Africa
every year.
His presentation stated that one of the benefits of requiring minors
to travel with an unabridged birth certificates was "protecting [them]
from child trafficking".
23 victims detected by government in last 3 years
Unfortunately there is little data and research on the prevalence of
child trafficking in South Africa. This is partly because it is
extremely difficult, and in most cases impossible, to quantify how
many cases go undetected. Available research only sheds light on
detected victims.
Marcel Van der Watt, lecturer and researcher at the University of
South Africa's Department of Police Practice, told Africa Check that
no one knew how many children were trafficked in South Africa each year.
Researching the matter previously, we found that the International
Organisation for Migration reported assisting 306 victims of
trafficking in the Southern African region between January 2004 and
January 2010. Of these, 57 were children. In 2011, they reported
assisting 13 victims in South Africa, but did not state how many were
children.
In their 2014 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime stated that "the police reported to
have detected 155 victims of trafficking [of all ages] during the
fiscal years 2011/12 and 2012/13" in South Africa.
When asked whether new evidence of child trafficking cases have
emerged since, Jo Vearey, associate professor at the African Centre
for Migration and Society, directed us to a parliamentary question
answered by Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, in June this year.
Gigaba said that his department had recorded no instances of child
trafficking between 2009/10 and 2011/12. Between 2012/13 and 2014/15
they had detected 23 victims.
Regulations won't reduce child trafficking - experts
The director of the Centre for Child Law at the University of
Pretoria, Professor Ann Skelton, has said her centre believes the new
requirements are "far too broad" and that "the inconvenience to
ordinary people far outweighs the actual risk of trafficking".
Liesl Muller and Patricia Erasmus, both attorneys at Lawyers for Human
Rights, previously told Africa Check that the measures will not
prevent child trafficking.
"Real human traffickers don't follow legitimate and documented methods
of travel but cross the border in illegitimate and clandestine
circumstances. The regulations won't prevent this," they said.
Conclusion: The claim remains exaggerated and unsubstantiated
South Africa's Department of Home Affairs recently told parliament
that their new travel regulations would help prevent an estimated
30,000 children being trafficked in the country each year.
While the true extent of human trafficking is unknown, no evidence
supports the claim. The Department of Home Affairs reported that they
had detected 23 cases in the last three years.
Government must act to prevent the horrifying act of child
trafficking. However, policies and interventions must be based on
sound research and accurate estimates, not exaggerated claims.

Search

Latest News

This was revealed in the 2025 Easter border operations report, which saw border management authority officials, saps officers and home affairs workers intensify efforts to prevent illegal travel into the country over the holiday period.JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwean nationals have been identified as the leading individuals attempting to illegally gain entry into South Africa.... Read more...

THE High Court has nullified the re-registration of a birth certificate for a child born out of wedlock, ordering the Registrar-General to strike it from the records.This ruling declared the birth certificate invalid, questioning the legality of attributing paternity to a deceased man decades after his death.The dispute arose from a contested inheritance involving the late Lazarus Mkuduâs estate.Teresiah Mkudu, the applicant, sought a declaratory order to invalidate Ruvimbo Manyondaâs birth certificate, issued nearly 20 years after Mkuduâs death.... Read more...

Residents from 34 countries can now apply for a visa to South Africa online. There are now 34 countries that can apply for a visa to South Africa online, which National Treasury says will help attract more tourists and skills into the country.This was trumpeted in Wednesday`s Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) as being one of the key successes of Operation Vulindlela. Operation Vulindlela is a joint initiative of the Presidency and National Treasury to assist in the acceleration of critical reforms needed to accelerate the economy.... Read more...