Mozambican organisations working with abused and trafficked women and children have welcomed the country’s recent creation of laws to protect victims, but say it is too early to measure their effectiveness.
Nelly Simbine-Chimedza, head of the International Organisation on Migration’s (IOM) Mozambique office, said in an interview that in recent months there had been an increase in children rescued from trafficking or abuse.
”It is still too early to measure the effectiveness of the laws approved by the government. But in recent months we have seen an increase in numbers of rescued victims, with at least 200 children rescued this year while they were being trafficked to South Africa,” she said.
This week, President Armando Guebuza signed into law three Acts dealing with the trafficking of persons and the protection of children and women from abuse.
Ilundi Cabral, an anti-trafficking officer at Save the Children in Mozambique, said that police were doing an impressive job of helping and rescuing victims.
”The police have been more active this year as far as rescuing of abused victims is concerned, but the justice system needs to be better prepared to prosecute perpetrators as it seems they have not yet understood the new laws,” she said.
Her comments came after the trial of two Turkish nationals, accused of abusing 17 boys in a posh Maputo suburb, was postponed because a translator could not be found.
Mozambique has for a long time been battling with human trafficking and had no laws to protect victims or prosecute perpetrators.
According to the IOM, Mozambican women and children were trafficked to South Africa where they ended up in prostitution rings or as cheap labour. The country was also used as a trafficking route for victims from other African countries.
On Friday, a South African-based organisation, Community Media for Development (CMFD), in association with the IOM’s Southern African anti-trafficking programme, launched a 13-series radio drama tackling human trafficking issues to be played on local radio stations in Mozambique. — Sapa