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RIGHTS-ANGOLA: Free Rein for Human Traffickers

Mario de Queiroz

LISBON, Mar 20 2008 (IPS) - There is little awareness on the problem of trafficking in persons, mainly women and children, in Angola, and no laws for cracking down on the growing phenomenon.

Paulino Cunha da Silva, head of cooperation and exchange in the Angolan Interior Ministry, admitted at a workshop held in Luanda Tuesday and Wednesday that the country lacks laws to fight trafficking in human beings.

The workshop was sponsored by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

Cunha da Silva recognised that Angola needs to update its legislation and improve its operational actions to get results in the struggle against trafficking of persons, which affects nearly all African states.

“This workshop has also shown that there is still much to be done in Angola, in comparison with the experience of other countries, some of which are the main sources of the victims of these criminal networks,” he said.

According to the Angolan official, combating the traffic in human beings requires the full support of the public, as traffickers resort not only to air, sea and land transport routes, but also to the Internet.


To combat trafficking and reduce the vulnerability of victims, Cunha da Silva said it is essential for states to fulfil the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, because they are focused on reducing poverty and achieving gender equality, as well as improving access to education, health care and employment.

If the MDGs are met, there would be less of an incentive for many young people who seek a better life in other countries, but whose dreams end up being taken advantage of by the traffickers, he stressed.

According to studies by the U.N. and Interpol (international police), trafficking in persons is the third largest source of income for international organised crime, surpassed only by trafficking in drugs and weapons.

Angola, which was ravaged by 13 years of war for independence against Portugal (1961-1974) and 37 years of civil war (1975-2002), has high proportions of young and extremely poor people in the population, is polarised by social inequality and has vast borders, all of which are contributing factors to the trafficking of persons.

At the workshop it was concluded that, in many cases, women and children trafficked from Angola are taken to neighbouring Namibia, but that in the African continent overall, South Africa is the largest recipient country.

The main strategy agreed at the workshop was the creation of new laws and other legal mechanisms, in the absence of which, as in Angola, human trafficking becomes an easy money-making business.

But Ana Filgueiras, the Portuguese-Brazilian head of the non-governmental organisation “Cidadaos do Mundo” (Citizens of the World) and coordinator of the Network to Combat AIDS in Portuguese-speaking countries (REDE-sida), has a slightly different take.

“Although a state of law is essential, strong-arm measures in themselves cannot guarantee a reduction in crime rates,” Filgueiras told IPS.

Her views are based on 18 years of experience in Brazil and 14 in Africa. “Just like the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, what is needed, more than tougher laws, is to listen to the people who are most vulnerable, and together create instruments and information services that arise from and operate within the communities themselves,” she said.

“Poverty and the lack of empowerment of women and young people are factors that not only expose them to exploitation, but also to HIV infection, a burden that they will carry even if they manage to escape from their tormentors,” she said.

Katharina Schnoring, the IOM representative in Angola, told Portuguese correspondents of Lisbon newspapers in the southwestern African nation that the IOM and the Angolan Interior Ministry are working together on a study on trafficking of persons, the conclusions of which are to be released in six months’ time.

There are no precise data about the practice in Angola, but “there is evidence,” and if effective mechanisms are created to combat the crime, there will soon be a clearer idea of its magnitude. “Today it is difficult to speak in terms of numbers of victims, because of the very nature of the crime,” Schnoring said.

The IOM official emphasised the need to “distinguish between victims of human trafficking and illegal immigrants, because a victim of trafficking has no protection at all.”

Filgueiras, however, said that “illegal immigrants, whom we call undocumented, also need protection.”

“Undocumented immigrants are also victims of poverty and the lack of proper information. They, too, are exposed to networks that exploit slave labour and force people into prostitution, which usually leads to sexually transmitted diseases, like AIDS,” she said.

According to the United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF, there is evidence that many Angolan children have been taken to Namibia, where boys and sometimes girls become forced labourers. Many girls are enticed to emigrate with false promises of job opportunities, education or even marriage.

In 2006, the IOM launched a campaign in Angola and neighbouring countries to raise awareness among governments and the population in the region of southwest Africa, linked to an aid programme to combat human trafficking in South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

In an interview with the Portuguese news agency Lusa, Schnoring said she had information about trafficking of persons from Angola to neighbouring DRC and Namibia.

“This is organised crime, and the IOM intends to collect detailed case descriptions,” she said.

Promises of marriage or a good job are the main inducements offered by the traffickers. But in the country of destination, the dream is abruptly shattered. Most of the female victims are sold off to brothels, and the boys and young men are sold into unpaid forced labour.

 
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