TIP INTERIM ASSESSMENT: SAG GAINING MOMENTUM

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRETORIA 002454 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV KTIP PHUM SF SUBJECT: TIP INTERIM ASSESSMENT: SAG GAINING MOMENTUM REF: A. STATE 110849 ¶B. PRETORIA 1926 ¶C. PRETORIA 2249 -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. To combat trafficking in persons (TIP),South Africa is active across multiple fronts -- from legislation and prosecution, to training and development of response procedures, to victims' support and public awareness campaigns. While passage of a draft anti-TIP law remains the key hurdle to mobilizing a comprehensive effort, in the meantime other interim legislation is used to bring offenders to trial. In anticipation of TIP legislation, the IOM and SAG are conducting workshops nationwide for already over 1,500 social workers, government officials, law enforcement officers, and members of the public to improve victim identification and increase assistance referrals. Training is intended to be rolled out to all SAG branches within 18 months. Publicity campaigns are already yielding dramatic increases in volumes of cases referred to IOM helplines. End Summary. -------------- TIP Bill Pending; Other Laws in Use -------------- ¶2. Comprehensive anti-TIP legislation remains in draft, but there are encouraging developments on the legal front. The Law Reform Commission completed its text of the TIP Bill, with consultations within government conducted and incorporated into the text. The draft was submitted to the newly appointed Minister of Justice, M.E. Surty, who has named TIP as his personal priority. Parliament's agenda is full for 2008, and its work in 2009 will be disrupted by elections and ensuing midyear changeovers, but with the MoJ's strong backing we are hopeful the TIP bill will be voted on next year. The Sexual Offences Act, with its interim provisions against TIP for sexual exploitation, came into force in December 2007, with a first TIP-related prosecution opened in May 2008. It joins the Prevention of Organized Crime Act (POCA) used against trafficking syndicates. Draft regulations for the Children's Act of 2005 were opened to public comment in June. While these laws can be applied to various aspects of TIP offenses, official crime statistics will not record prosecutions as TIP cases until the formal TIP law provides the framework to do so. -------------- Workshops Aid Recognition and Referrals -------------- ¶3. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is spearheading SAG efforts on TIP, with support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and funding from the European Union. Even while awaiting a TIP law, the NPA and IOM tell us there is a new energy and momentum in anti-TIP activity this year. From July 2007 to August 2008 the IOM conducted 15 workshops to train 398 social workers mainly from the Department of Social Development, which aims to develop case management guidelines by March 2009. Foreign Affairs has asked for similar training for its consular officers abroad. Since July 2008 IOM has trained 679 SAG officials, from Social Development (155),law enforcement (186 - mainly police and prosecutors),border officers (283), and Health (55),as well as 32 media professionals. SAG workshops will continue through 2009, emphasizing coordinated responses across government agencies, NGOs, and the public. After an intensive five-day IOM course, 58 representatives of NGOs and church charities were certified as TIP trainers by QNGOs and church charities were certified as TIP trainers by conducting onward two-day workshops in their provinces. A total of 30 awareness-raising workshops across all nine provinces drew 573 community participants. IOM's curriculum is being reviewed for SAG accreditation and institutionalized roll-out across the SAG within 18 months. ¶4. TIP awareness training has improved recognition of trafficking victims, boosted referrals of cases to authorities, and improved care and attention to victims. Before this year, according to IOM, hotline calls came almost exclusively from alert NGOs, while police tended to arrest TIP victims, charge them with crimes (like prostitution),and send them home. Now as social workers, police, and border officials are trained to recognize signs of trafficking, referrals are coming from a wide array of sources. The PRETORIA 00002454 002 OF 002 Children's Act explicitly requires referral of suspected child trafficking cases to designated social workers, who must investigate and report the cases to children's courts. Since January 2004 the IOM has directly assisted 252 TIP victims, of which the largest groups were Thai (140), Congolese (35),South African (22),Indian (12),and Chinese (11). Assistance to victims of sexual exploitation is coordinated with the NPA's Sexual Offences and Community Affairs (SOCA) unit, whose shelters provide health and justice services to women victims of rape and sexual assault. -------------- Awareness Campaigns Expanding -------------- ¶5. The SAG, IOM, and NGOs continue to expand awareness-raising activities. More than 85,000 countertrafficking posters and brochures in six languages were distributed in local towns during IOM's training workshops, publicizing the IOM's toll-free helpline. A TV ad aired in September drew 576 referral calls, five times the usual volume. A Catholic nuns' group has drafted a school curriculum. In inner city areas of Johannesburg, local NGO Khulisa has educated communities to detect trafficking, and it is creating "referral map" posters for citizens to contact authorities. The new Justice Minister has proposed making TIP a central issue in the next annual "16 Days of Activism" campaign, with the busy transport route between Maputo and Koomatiport a candidate for an anti-TIP roadshow. A newly released IOM survey on domestic TIP, and a regional one soon to be launched, will further raise public awareness of the issue and provide authorities with useful information on TIP flows, patterns, and modus operandi. While there is no anti-TIP plan specific to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the event is very much on the minds of border officials and other front-line government workers, who raise the issue for discussion in IOM workshops. Legalization of prostitution for 2010 is not a popular idea among the public, as far as we can assess. BOST