Thank you, Deputy Speaker and hon members. Trafficking in persons has been aptly described as modern-day slavery. It is a crime against humanity. Every year, thousands of men, women and children fall into the hands of traffickers through false pretences, abduction or other means for the sole purpose of exploitation in one way or another. Every country in the world is affected by trafficking, whether it is a country of origin, transit or destination for victims. Various factors contribute to the trafficking of persons. These include poverty, lack of equal opportunities and political instability.
Imagine what a big break it would be for a young girl of 17 years, who is an orphan from a rural town in the Eastern Cape with very little infrastructure and economic opportunities, to be offered a good job in Bloemfontein. Imagine the shock and trauma once she arrives there to find herself enslaved for commercial sexual exploitation. This girl was eventually found, beaten and unconscious, in the street. Yes, this girl survived, but sadly she passed away from Aids-related complications later. She was also three months pregnant at the time of her death.
A little girl from a township outside Port Elizabeth was 12 years old when she was trafficked to downtown Port Elizabeth. She was raped, groomed, given drugs and later sold and taken to another city. She was kept in a block of flats ruled by criminal gangs. She was forced to work alongside numerous other trafficked girls and for years she endured unimaginable hardship by being beaten, stabbed, raped and even shot at. Traumatised as she was, she had to witness abortions and had helped other girls give birth. She managed to escape and seek refuge in a safe house. However, her road to recovery will never be easy because of the severe trauma she had to endure for many years. Fortunately, her case led to the police uncovering a syndicate and numerous arrests have been made as a result. These are but a few cases in an industry that is one of the most lucrative criminal business enterprises globally. Victims of trafficking are subjected to numerous ordeals, as is evident from the examples I have just given. It is therefore of the utmost importance to adopt legislation that addresses this crime against humanity comprehensively and meaningfully. Our international obligation as a signatory to the UN protocol is to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children. The UN convention against transnational organised crime also requires us as Parliament to promote domestic legislation dealing with trafficking in persons.
In addition, the Bill of Rights in our Constitution enshrines the right to human dignity, equality, freedom and security of the person, which includes the right not to be deprived of freedom arbitrarily or without just cause. It also includes the right not to be treated in a cruel, inhuman and degrading manner; the right not to be subjected to slavery, servitude or forced labour; and the right of our children to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse and degradation.
As much as the prosecution of alleged traffickers is important, the protection of victims of trafficking is equally important. Therefore this Bill provides for the mandatory reporting of child victims of trafficking to the police for investigation. The protective measure of the Children's Act will apply to all child victims of trafficking. Other protective measures for victims of trafficking include the affirmation of the right to public health care services, as provided in Section 27 of our Constitution.
Another important provision in this Bill is the issue of payment of compensation to victims of trafficking by all the perpetrators. Many stories have been told of parents who are involved in trafficking of their own children, whether by deception - for example, where family members promise their children a better education in the city - or intentionally - for example, through prostitution. All these children must be protected.
In conclusion, I would like to thank all of those who have already done well in bringing perpetrators who had committed these heinous crimes to book within the parameters of current legislation. Let me thank the members of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development for their firm commitment in ensuring that the end product reflects the views and norms of the people that they represent as far as possible. [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, trafficking in humans is slavery. All the fundamental rights in our Constitution are often violated by trafficking in persons. South Africa is a signatory to the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children. This protocol is commonly referred to as the Palermo Protocol. Signatories to the Palermo Protocol are all required to pass domestic legislation that addresses human trafficking. The protocol is not only aimed at ensuring the prosecution of perpetrators but also requires our domestic legislation to provide for the prevention and combating of human trafficking, as well as the protection and provision of assistance and care to victims of trafficking.
South Africa has existing laws that can be, and have been, successfully used to prosecute perpetrators of trafficking. Some of these laws relate to abduction, kidnapping, common assault, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, extortion, attempted murder and murder, all of which are common law offences. However, existing laws used to prosecute human trafficking are fragmented.
Importantly, the Bill before the House creates a specific offence of trafficking in persons. Essentially, the offence of trafficking in persons criminalises the conduct that includes the delivery, recruitment, transportation, harbouring, selling, exchanging, leasing and receiving of a person accompanied by force or coercion for the purposes of exploitation. Moreover, illegal adoption and forced marriage for the purpose of exploitation are also offences.
The Bill also criminalises debt bondage and the possession, destruction, confiscation, concealment of or tampering with official documents. Perpetrators of trafficking in persons often ensure that their victims have no official documentation, such as passports, identity documents and so on, as a way of keeping them trapped.
Other offences created by the Bill are the use of the services of trafficking victims, facilitation and, more importantly, the liability of carriers - that is aeroplanes, ships, long-distance trains, etc - and permitting unauthorised persons to access victims or the disclosure of certain information relating to a victim of trafficking. For all these offences, penalties and sentences are provided in the Bill - and we say this for our judicial officers.
When we began our consideration of the Bill, we found a provision in it that catered for nongovernmental organisations and civil society organisations accredited by the Minister of Social Development, which would assist and care for victims of trafficking. Such organisations would automatically qualify for international donor funding, as well as resources from our government. However, we quickly realised that this had the potential of being abused.
Let me give you a scenario: Somebody boards a bus in Johannesburg and drives to the border post where people cross, as they normally do from day to day. They are encouraged to board the bus because they will receive free health care, housing, accommodation, grants, etc. Sixty of them board the bus and when this bus reaches Johannesburg, the person driving the bus then contacts the international donor organisations and says he or she needs funding for these 60 persons who have been trafficked. Hence, the committee has seen fit to involve the provincial department of social development in the assessment of victims of trafficking, after which such victims must be referred to the relevant accredited organisation for the necessary assistance and care, including the protective custody of the police, if required, accommodation, counselling and health care.
It is important to note that trafficking in humans flourishes because it is extremely lucrative. It is estimated to be worth about US$32 billion per annum globally. Estimates of the number of trafficking victims vary. For example, the US government estimates that up to a million people are trafficked worldwide each year, of whom approximately 80% are women and children, trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. People are also trafficked for other reasons: forced labour, organ harvesting, etc. Consequently, among other sanctions, the Bill provides for a fine of up to R100 million and/or imprisonment, including life imprisonment.
The Bill also proposes compensation by a convicted person to victims of trafficking, as well as to the state. Payment by a convicted person or a carrier to the victim is made to the Criminal Assets Recovery Account, or Cara. More importantly, the law bypasses the route of our civil courts and grants courts jurisdiction to order a convicted perpetrator to pay compensation to his or her victims as part of the criminal trial. This has been described as revolutionary by some members of the portfolio committee.
The Bill also enables the forfeiture of profit used during or for the commission of a trafficking offence. It seeks to punish landlords who allow their buildings and property to be used for trafficking purposes. I say this again: trafficking in humans is slavery.
A significant feature of this legislation is its multisectoral nature. Entities and state departments that are key role players in this Bill are the Hawks, the SA Police Service, the National Prosecuting Authority, the Departments of Home Affairs, Social Development, International Relations, and, of course, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.
The responsibility for the co-ordination of functions relating to the Bill's implementation lies with the Director-General of Justice who, after consultation with other stakeholders and agencies, must, among other things, develop a draft national policy framework; establish an integrated information system to monitor the situation regarding trafficking; develop and review guidelines on identifying victims of trafficking; and establish public awareness programmes. The challenge posed by this multisectoral approach is the ability of the departments and entities to work cohesively. We trust that all these role-players will succeed in doing so. In conclusion, we wish to commend NGOs, faith-based organisations and religious organisations, as well as civil society organisations that played a crucial role in exposing perpetrators and victims of trafficking in South Africa. These organisations also play an important part in ensuring that the welfare of victims of trafficking is provided for. We commend them for their excellent work and trust that this Bill will enhance the work they are doing.
We also want to take this opportunity to place on record the portfolio committee's gratitude for the excellent work done by the drafters of this legislation, namely Ms Steyn and Mr Basit of the Ministry, as well as Ms Williams and Ms Steerman of the Chief State Law Adviser's office and the Law Commission respectively. We commend this Bill to this House and we ask that you approve it. [Applause.]
Chairperson, one of the consequences of globalisation is the increasing ease with which organised crime can be committed, with the concomitant increase in the difficulty of detecting and prosecuting the perpetrators. This applies particularly in the case of human trafficking, which has been described as one of the most lucrative and fastest-growing businesses today and is considered to be the third-largest source of profits for organised crime, after drugs and guns.
One of the reasons for the increase is that it is very low risk, as many countries have no legislation to govern it and insufficient co-ordinated efforts between countries occurs. Such efforts are essential, given that human trafficking invariably involves more than one country.
The Bill we are passing today has certainly been a long time coming - far too long to our liking and to that of the United Nations, which had placed South Africa on its Tier 2 Watch List for years.
South Africa signed the Palermo Protocol in December 2000, but it was ratified only in February 2004, some three years and two months later. Another eight years later, we are standing here with a completed Bill. It is most unfortunate that the process has taken this long, but we are certainly very pleased that we now have a Bill for approval by this House today.
Deliberations on this Bill have been long and arduous, and we are satisfied that we have carefully considered all aspects surrounding this very difficult issue. We have deliberated long and hard as to how we balance the needs of genuine victims of trafficking with those of the state when it comes to the potential abuse of resources by unscrupulous people who may try to take advantage of the benefits and who are, in fact, not genuine victims.
One concern that arose during the course of the passage of this Bill is the lack of hard statistics regarding the true extent of this problem. At the time of the 2010 World Cup, there were deep concerns raised by nongovernmental organisations, both locally and internationally, with some citing that over 100 000 people would be trafficked in and to South Africa at the time. This, by all accounts, did not happen.
It is a real concern when there are no adequate statistics available from organisations who claim to be working to combat trafficking, yet these same organisations make ongoing claims about how huge the problem is. The government departments were not much better in this respect. The National Prosecuting Authority did give us some statistics, which they started collecting in 2010. According to these, 32 cases have been investigated or are under investigation over this period, with five having been finalised. This is certainly far less than we would have expected.
Although there are numerous laws in place to deal with trafficking, which have been used in prosecutions to date, this Bill creates the offence of trafficking in persons for the first time. The Bill deals comprehensively with all aspects of identifying and protecting victims of trafficking and prosecuting the perpetrators. One of the crucial issues tackled by this Bill is how to facilitate trafficked victims testifying for the state in criminal proceedings. To this end, we have provided that the Director- General of Home Affairs may, despite the provisions of the Immigration Act, issue a visitor's visa to a victim of trafficking who has been identified as such and who has agreed in writing to co-operate with the law enforcement or prosecuting authorities in the investigation or prosecution of a case of trafficking and who is, according to the National Police Commissioner or National Director of Public Prosecutions, required for the purposes of an investigation or prosecution. In so doing, we hope to prevent victims from returning to their countries of origin, and then failing to return to South Africa to give evidence in the trial, thus allowing the perpetrators to go free.
Clause 29 of the Bill allows for the payment of compensation to victims of trafficking upon the conviction of an accused for the offence of trafficking. This can be made an order by the criminal court and can be executed in the same way as a civil judgment. This does not preclude the institution of a civil action if the actual amount of damages suffered by the victim is greater than the jurisdiction of the criminal court hearing the matter. This is a significant advantage for trafficked victims.
Another vital provision is that of making it a criminal offence to lease premises if the lessor knows or ought reasonably to know that the premises are being used for the facilitation or promotion of trafficking.
Another crucial provision is the one that compels an electronic communications service provider to report any electronic communications that advertise or broadcast information facilitating or promoting trafficking. If these service providers become aware of their service being used for these purposes, they are obliged to take immediate steps to preserve the evidence and prevent continued access to this material. They are exonerated from liability to their customers if they do this in good faith. We have also ensured that no electronic service provider is obliged to monitor the data or actively seek facts that indicate unlawful activity, thus preserving the right to privacy.
Last, but not least, we have, in fact, included penalty provisions that the Court of Appeal will be happy to hear. These penalty provisions are a very good indication of the seriousness with which we regard this crime, with fines of up to R100 million or life imprisonment.
We are satisfied that in passing this Bill, South Africa will show that we are serious about human trafficking. We trust that with the co-operation of all the agencies involved, we will ensure that our country becomes one of those least attractive to perpetrators of this heinous crime against the most vulnerable in society. The DA will support this Bill. [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, Cope supports the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Bill. There is no doubt that the growth and development of any society is determined by the manner in which the law in that particular society interacts with its most vulnerable groups. In South Africa, the most vulnerable persons are women and children, specifically those from poor backgrounds. This Bill will allow us the means to respond in a more organised manner to the status of our women and children by providing the opportunity to set out the social services that victims will be entitled to and prescribe punishments for those guilty of trafficking offences.
The decision by this House to pass this Bill is thus a direct attack in the continued war against the abuse of women and children. To quote Lloyd deMause:
The evolution of culture is ultimately determined by the amount of love, understanding and freedom experienced by its children ... Every abandonment, every betrayal, every hateful act towards children returns tenfold a few decades later upon the historical stage, while every empathic act that helps a child become what he or she wants to become, every expression of love toward children heals society and moves it in unexpected, wondrous new directions.
It is true that trafficking in persons is regarded as an organised crime. This crime is also not easy to identify and to investigate because of its underground nature. There is a lot of deceit. Victims are reluctant to come forward because of intimidation and threats, due to the involvement of criminal groupings and syndicates. So, we cannot say that we know the extent of the trafficking problem within South Africa. This is due to the fact that we have been unable to record trafficking cases since many of these cases present themselves differently.
However, one aspect we all have to agree on is that over the years there has been a significant increase in child sexual exploitation cases. For this reason, the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Bill needs to be passed by this House more than ever.
Although trafficking most directly affects individual victims, it also has broader consequences. Trafficking directly affects the societies from which victims are removed, resulting in cultural and economic losses and threatening public health. The United Nations Development Programme estimated that trafficking generates at least US$7 billion a year and trafficking of persons has become the third-largest criminal business worldwide, after drugs and weapons.
We further urge this House to be cognisant of the fact that the passing of this Bill is only the beginning of a long journey in our war against the abuse of women and children.
Thank you, hon member. Hon members, please lower your voices.
Mr Chairman, this is a Bill which we are all equally committed to because we are all equally committed to dealing with the scourge of trafficking. However, as is the case with all pieces of legislation, the devil is always in the details. In the process of the approval of this Bill, we had to deal with a number of possible devils in the drafting. We did so with an admirable bipartisan approach and I think we are all equally proud of what has come out, warts and all.
It will be necessary to look at the implementation of this Bill to make sure that it will not be abused because the possibility for abuse exists. We identified these possibilities early in the process, as the hon Landers pointed out. We tried to address them, and we need to see whether the way in which we addressed them is going to be effective or whether this Bill is going to be abused in the same way as the refugee legislation was abused by people who were not entitled to its protection.
This is because this Bill extends vast benefits to victims and this could be taken advantage of by people who are not victims and could lead to the development of some sort of cottage industry of nongovernment organisations ostensibly out there to assist victims but in fact dealing with people who are not entitled to the benefits of this Bill.
The problem is compounded by the question of what constitutes a victim of this crime. Despite circumstances that are often as flagrantly obvious as the cases that the Minister pointed out, there are also other sets of circumstances and they are more subtle. They relate to the psychology of the actions performed and the specific conditions of the persons. These are matters that are often beyond the possibility of the state to ascertain.
We are setting up an extraordinary administrative structure to deal with this crime. As the hon Schfer has pointed out, we do so without a clear understanding of the statistics on how widespread this crime is. We are doing so ahead of many other crimes, such as corruption, murder, rape and the looting of state assets. So, this type of crime is in a position of privilege and, we hope, this privilege will be extended to other crimes of a similar nature as well as others. We will be supporting the Bill.
Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers and hon members of this august House, comrades and friends, I thank the ANC for allowing me to speak in this Parliament. I do so feeling very emotional because I know that many comrades paid a heavy price for us to be able to stand here today. It is necessary that we should not forget where we come from because it will help us to be focused on our work and to ensure that we protect the gains of the struggle of the congress movement.
The ANC supports this Bill. The ANC, as the vanguard of the rights of the people, has pronounced on human rights long before the United Nations did in the Africans' Claims in the late 1920s. As the ANC, we find it necessary to protect our own citizens and, of course, those who find themselves in our country because of the demon and the peril caused by those who like to steal human beings for enslaving them in various kinds of evil practices, including hard, unpaid and forced labour and, sometimes, making them sex slaves.
This often happens to the poorest of the poor and to women and children in poorer townships and rural communities. Our country has an obligation concerning the trafficking in persons in terms of international agreements.
This Bill creates the offence of trafficking in persons and other offences associated with trafficking in persons. It will provide for penalties that may be imposed in respect of such offences. It will also provide for measures to protect and assist victims. It will also provide for the co- ordinated implementation, application and administration of the Act and help prevent these nasty activities within and across the borders of the Republic of South Africa.
The Constitution of our land enshrines the right to human dignity and the right to freedom and security of persons. The ANC, as the caring movement governing this country, cannot stand by and allow its citizens to be treated in a cruel, inhuman and degrading way.
Our children have a right to be protected from malpractice, neglect, abuse and degradation. The ANC, that old, caring organisation, will continue to look for means and laws to protect its citizens. Viva, ANC, viva! [Applause.]
Chairperson, on 1 December 1834, church bells rang out and bonfires lit up on the slopes of Table Mountain and Signal Hill, announcing Emancipation Day. When you come into Parliament at the visitors' section, you can read the story of one of the slaves who was emancipated on that day. She was a young woman named Lydia. On her back, she carried the scars of her master's sjambok. Every year on 1 December, she held a service to commemorate the abolition of slavery.
The tree where slaves were sold is just outside Parliament, as is the Slave Lodge. It was hoped then that slavery would be ended on Emancipation Day. How very disappointed would Lydia, other former slaves and the great antislavery campaigner William Wilberforce be that, some 180 years later, we have more people enslaved than in their time. This is indeed a very sad and disgraceful state of affairs, as was highlighted by the tragic incidents related by the Minister.
While there is very little empirical data about the extent of the problem in South Africa, the ACDP believes that it is in fact far more widespread than we know. One report stated: "Both anecdotal data and limited quantitative data obtained reveal a portrait of trafficking that warrants intervention on all fronts."
While MPs may be sceptical about the extent of the problem, the fact remains that even one person illegally trafficked is one person too many. The end aim of this Bill is therefore to provide stand alone legislation that addresses all forms of trafficking comprehensively and effectively. It needs to ensure that victims of trafficking are cared for in a humane and compassionate manner. We must also ensure that the offence of trafficking is dealt with severely and the Bill provides, in certain cases, for life imprisonment.
In view of the untold misery and suffering traffickers inflict upon innocent women, children and even men, we as parliamentarians demand nothing less than life imprisonment for certain of these offences.
In conclusion, William Wilberforce said:
Never, never will we desist till we have wiped away this scandal ... released ourselves from the load of guilt under which we at present labour and extinguished every trace of this bloody traffic.
We in this Parliament can do no less than emulate those noble sentiments. The battle against human trafficking begins in earnest today with the passing of this Bill. The ACDP supports this Bill enthusiastically. [Applause.]
Chairperson, I rise at the end of this debate in support of the Bill. It has definitely been in this House for a long time - in fact, I think it is the second oldest Bill in the NA at the moment. It was introduced shortly before the World Cup in 2010. There was some pressure on the committee to rush it through, but the committee felt that given the complexity of the whole issue - in terms of the crimes, the issue of support and the fact that a number of departments were involved - it was better to take time.
Another point that needs to be made is that there are existing laws that make trafficking, or certain parts of trafficking, illegal. In this way, the Sexual Offences Act makes trafficking for sexual purposes illegal and criminal; the Children's Act makes trafficking children for whatever reason a crime; and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act restricts the ability to force people to work for nothing. So, there were existing laws. The committee has spent an enormous amount of time on this Bill. So, even though it has been with us for some time, we have spent many hours and gone through numerous drafts of the Bill. As some of my colleagues have said, we have looked particularly at widening the scope of crimes relating to trafficking, putting them together in one comprehensive list. In that regard we worked with the National Prosecuting Authority and the South African Police Service.
We have also looked at the issue of tightening the provisions relating to the care and treatment of victims. One of the members on this side, the hon McIntosh, raised the problem of the vast number of refugees in South Africa in a motion. We did not want a situation where people could try and access benefits in terms of this Act by claiming that they had been trafficked without the necessary safeguards. That was one of the areas we looked at.
We also looked at the issue of co-operation between the different departments because, from our experience with the Child Justice Act, that is often quite a difficult point.
One of our problems, which some of the speakers alluded to, is that we do not have any accurate statistics relating to trafficking. You really need to know the extent of the problem before working out how much resources need to be put into it, particularly when trafficking is dealt with by the NPA and the police together with other major crimes, such as sexual offences and children in trouble with the law. That was a major problem. One of the things that the Bill provides for is mechanisms for reporting. Hopefully the problem of statistics and knowing the extent of the problem is something that will be dealt with. It should not continue to occur.
As some of my colleagues have said, one of the crucial issues is the issue of the implementation of the Bill. It will be important for this House, the justice committee and, in fact, for other committees because this Bill involves the departments of Justice and of Police - in fact the Police portfolio committee in the last Parliament went on a study trip to Australia, to go and look at the issue. This Bill involves Departments of Justice, Police, Social Development and Home Affairs, so it will be important for this House to monitor the implementation of the Bill.
What we have done - and this was a new innovation, which we did close to the end - is to ensure that different sections of the Bill can be implemented at different times. The intention would be that the sections relating to criminal law - the crimes of trafficking - can be implemented almost immediately. Sections that may take longer, such as developing regulations for accredited organisations, can take longer but as soon as this Bill is passed by both Houses, the criminal components can come into effect to close the loopholes that are in the law, particularly relating to labour trafficking, people supporting trafficking, renting out property that is used for trafficking and so on. In closing, I think it is very important and it is very good -again, some of my colleagues have alluded to this - that this was a multiparty effort. The justice committee as a whole was able to come together, thrash out these issues and come up with a product that we expect the whole House will support. [Applause.]
UNGQONGQOSHE WEZOBULUNGISWA NOKUTHUTHUKISWA KOMTHETHOSISEKELO: Ngiyabonga Sihlalo, okwami wukuthi elethu, makube njalo! Ngibonga wonke amaqembu ezombusazwe kuleli Phalamende ngokweseka lo Mthethosivivinywa obaluleke kakhulu ukuze zonke lezi zigebengu eziganga ngezwe lethu ziyobhadla ejele. Ngiyabonga. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[The MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Thank you, Chairperson, I agree with you - let it be so! I wish to thank all the political parties in this Parliament for supporting this very important Bill. This will ensure that all these criminals in our country are put behind bars. Thank you.]
Debate concluded.
Bill read a second time.