Mozambique: Law On Human Trafficking Still Not Implemented

allAfrica.com: Mozambique: Law On Human Trafficking Still Not Implemented

28 May 2009

Maputo — The law on human trafficking in Mozambique, particularly concerning women and children, approved by the country's parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, in April 2008, remains a dead letter, because of the lack of regulations for its implementation.

Mozambique was the first member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to approve such a law, and was commended as an example to be followed by others, but it still lacks the detailed regulations required to put the principles of the law into practice.

The same fate has overtaken many other laws passed by the Assembly, which wait months or years for a set of regulations to make them effective.

The Minister for Women's Affairs and Social Welfare, Virgília Matabele, told AIM that the government has been working on regulations to implement this law, and an inter-sector commission has been set up to that end. She said that the delay is due to the complexity of the issue.

"I think that we are not very far behind", said Matabele. "We are working. These are very complex issues, and we must all discuss how to implement them".

Before the adoption of this law, human trafficking could only be dealt with by using the articles in the penal code on crimes such as kidnapping. But now there is a specific crime on trafficking in human beings which covers the recruitment, transport, or accommodation of a person by any means, including under the pretext of employment, but where the end purpose is prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery or debt servitude.

One of the innovations of the law is the fact that it declares human trafficking as a "public crime", which means that prosecuting cases does not depend on any complaint or denunciation on the part of persons trafficked.

The law states that goods or property used in the crime of human trafficking or resulting from it are to revert to the state and are to be used in programmes to prevent trafficking and to support the victims. People found guilty of this crime should be sentenced to between eight and 12 years imprisonment.

The Southern African Network Against the Trafficking and Abuse of Children (SANTAC) argues that regulating this law must take place immediately, because the practice is tending to take root in Mozambique, a situation that may worsen with the forthcoming World Cup in South Africa in 2010. There are fears that the massive influx of tourists expected for the World Cup, will provide fresh opportunities for the sexual exploitation of women and children.

SANTAC executive secretary Margarida Guitunga thinks that Mozambique must have the capacity to implement the Law on Human Trafficking, which implies making available human and financial resources, and producing the necessary regulations.