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12 August 2007

Programme Director
Chairperson of the National Youth Commission (NYC)
Colleagues
Friends

I must thank you on behalf of Cabinet to have invited us to be part of this event to mark International Youth Day. I must also extend the sincerest apologies for the honourable Minister of Home Affairs, who unfortunately is unable to join us and in whose place I am addressing you today. It is indeed a special occasion that we meet as we do today to celebrate International Youth Day coinciding with the programme of our country's national Women's Month.

This is particularly more significant given the recognition by our government that women and the youth have largely being excluded and marginalised from the mainstream activities of the Apartheid economy, and that today they are part of the primary focus of the programme of government. The link between youth development and women's empowerment has also existed historically given the role played by the two sectors in our people's struggle for freedom. We welcome the foresight of the National Youth Commission to have identified the trafficking of young women and young women refugees as the theme for this year's celebrations.

The inhuman practice of trading in other human beings to perpetuate exploitation has been a problem of our societies dating back millions of years. Africa's own experiences of this form of exploitation reached its worst peak during the period of slave trade that whose legacy has continued to affect the continent's people's to this day. Both the trafficking and displacement of human beings all over the world have always had their roots in socio-economic interests and have served to exploit victims, who are mainly poor, for purposes of labour or sexual abuse.

When the South African Government initiated the development of a policy regime to outlaw human trafficking, we started to move in strides to ensure the safety and protection of victims of this vile act against humanity. We wanted to ensure that trafficking is addressed specifically as a crime, to have specific remedies and capacity to deal with it and not just rely on legislation dealing with abductions and kidnapping.

An important part of our strategy to deal with trafficking will include the building of awareness amongst all our people with the specific aim to give them better protection. We share the view of the National Youth Commission that the trafficking in human beings has always affected the youth in the main. During slavery, young healthy men were specifically targeted as prime commodities to bolster the labour that built the economy of rich countries of the west. Today, poor young women all over the world are lured with promises of a better life into sex trafficking and general abuse and exploitation.

Just as it is the case with refugees, there is also a direct relationship between trafficking of young women and the problems facing international migration. Government has been closely monitoring the impact of both the refugee and human trafficking problems on South Africa and we are of the view that these two problems manifest themselves differently in our country. With regard to the trafficking of young women, South Africa is not largely a direct recipient country, but is used mainly as a transit for young women who are trafficked from the continent, Eastern Europe and parts of Asia.

Our law enforcement agencies have established various task teams to deal with this problem as it arises due to the risk it poses on our country. From an immigration point of view, we have been concerned that most of the perpetrators of this cruel crime have sought to obtain South African documents such as passports and IDs to make it easy for their victims to transit to destinations in Europe as South African citizens. The situation all over the world has again demonstrated another form of triple exploitation of women who are displaced as refugees and are victims of cross border human trafficking. First they suffer the economic hardship in their poor countries, then they are displaced and removed from the familiarity of their homelands and then they fall prey to sexual abuse, sometimes at the hands of the very people who are supposed to protect them.

We have seen a lot of evidence all over the world where women refugees have been brutalised and abused by police, border officials, the army and other officials who solicit sexual favours in order to help to gains refugee status in their countries of destination. Part of problem with regard to law enforcement is that when we find groups of these women who are victims of trafficking, the emphasis is normally on deporting them, instead of providing protection and allows them to help us bring the perpetrators to book. This something that we need to deal with as Ministers in the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster (JCPS) to ensure better coordination in the work of our agencies to achieve more sustainable approaches o the fight against women trafficking and abuse.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that almost half of all refugee and displacement cases all over the world are poor women. Given this reality, therefore, it imperative for world leaders to seriously engage in strengthen the developmental role of international migration. We need to recognise that lack of development in many countries has become the "push factor" that makes people into forced migration and displacement and that this in the main has affected women and their children. Underdevelopment has also created lack of access to education for many young people in poor societies making young women vulnerable to deceit due to lack of information and awareness.

Programme Director

In the recent past, South Africa has been under pressure to respond to the economic and humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe by setting up refugee camps at the border. I want to take this opportunity to clarify our position as a country in this regard. As I have said in the beginning that this Government was the one, in the first place to recognise the obligation of our country to offer protection to refugees. This is an obligation that we take seriously and unlike others we cannot afford to use for political expediency and point scoring. We understand that it is an obligation that affects people's lives, particularly Africans in the case of Zimbabwe.

It is for this reason that the South African Government has been observing the developments in the situation in Zimbabwe very closely since the beginning of the economic crisis in that country. We are of the view that in the main, migration between Zimbabwe and South Africa is due to economic reasons with many people crossing the border either for shopping in Musina, Makhado, Polokwane and the big cities in Gauteng or to seek work in the same towns and cities.

Statistics at the border in Beit Bridge show that there is almost a balance between the numbers of people who come into the country and those who depart back everyday. We have also observed that there also many Zimbabweans who cross the border illegally everyday as they do not have access to passports or money to pay the visa repatriation deposits to come into the country legally. We however know that even those who cross illegally are either coming to shop or to look for work. Many end up in the farms around the Limpopo northern regions and others come al the way to Gauteng. Having engaged with the UNHCR and the International Organisation on Migration working in Zimbabwe we all agree that these are not refugees.

Because of the apparent economic meltdown in their country majority of Zimbabweans are coming into our country to shop, trade and look for work. They will therefore not be willing to be confined to some camp. We are aware that once they are already here in the country many Zimbabwean nationals try to regularize their status by trying to obtain citizenship, acquire documents illegally or claim refugee status. We continue to observe that situation very closely with a view to respond to it appropriately at all times.
We are however very worried about criminal elements that are preying on the vulnerability of migrants in our country, including Zimbabweans. The growing levels of criminality in the border towns have also, in the main affected young women, who are raped and abused on both sides of the border. Many unscrupulous officials, including police and immigration officers have also swindled these young women by taking their money and demanded sexual favours. Both our Ministry and the Ministry of Home Affairs agree that this is unacceptable and should be addressed.

The Minister of Home Affairs has also given directives that illegal women immigrant, even if they not refugees should not be kept at Lindela Repatriation camp for too long and that those with children and those who are pregnant should have specialised care and be sent home immediately. In the same vein, we have also been looking at assisting unaccompanied minors that come into our country.

We are amending the Refugee Act to make it easier for young children who arrive at the border unaccompanied to have access to the asylum system if they qualify.
By law, refugees, including women, should have access to education, ability to seek employment and to live in our communities under safe and healthy environments. The most important thing is that they should be granted status before they can have access to these benefits. In this regard, as part of the Turn around Programme at Home Affairs, the Refugee system is being overhauled to ensure efficiency and quick turn around times.

We shall continue to look at the interests of women in particular as we address the many problems of migration in our country. Government has recently been taken to court because we refused to issue hundreds of work permits to women from Thailand who is being recruited into one adult entertainment establishments to work as belly dancers. We believe that this is part of the trafficking that come veiled as employment. In any event, we are of the view that there should be enough belly dancers right here in the country.

Programme Director

Before I sit down, let me re-emphasise that the displacement and exploitation of women is something that we take seriously. We should however also remember that this displacement is not only though the borders, but can be internal in a country as well. We need to protect our young women from abuse and abduction here at home as well and it is for this reason that we are calling on parents to take seriously the issue of registering all their children at birth and to obtain IDs for them when they turn 16. In this way we are able to have a record of all our children and it makes it easy for the police to trace them when they are missing. The duty to protect young people and guarantee our country's future is for us all. Let's not fail.

I thank you

Issued by: Secretariat of Safety and Security
12 August 2007