Human traffickers target ‘vulnerable individuals’ for business

Is human trafficking fast becoming the biggest threat to vulnerable communities? A Cape Town-based organisation advocating against human trafficking believed this was the case and described it as a pandemic.

- KAYLYNNE BANTOM

The organisation called S-Cape aims to create a safe space, restore dignity and nurture hope for women survivors and their children.

The non-profit organisation (NPO) describes human trafficking as a crime that exploits people for profit involving the use of force, fraud or coercion to control and exploit victims in various forms, including forced labour, sexual exploitation or domestic servitude.

Traffickers target vulnerable individuals, often lured by false promises of jobs or better lives, only to be subjected to physical and psychological abuse.

According to the United Nations (UN), traffickers often use violence or fraudulent employment agencies and fake promises of education and job opportunities to trick and attract their victims.

The recent three life-imprisonment sentences of people accused of trafficking and kidnapping six-year-old Joshlin Smith has put the spotlight on human trafficking. World Day Against Trafficking in Persons is observed annually in July.

Babalwa Sindapi, a social worker at S-Cape, said sexual exploitation is one of the most common forms the organisation encounters. “The traffickers exploit the survivors mostly through deception or they use the lover-boy method. Those are the common tactics they have used to manipulate the survivors.”