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The governments of Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau have not done enough to combat human trafficking in their territory, which are points of origin and destination for the victims of trafficking.
Such is the conclusion of the report on global human trafficking released by the US Government State Department on Thursday 30 June in Washington.
Angola: Sex trafficking and forced labour
Angola is a country of origin and destination of victims of sex trafficking and forced labour, the report says, remarking on “the presence of minors in the production of bricks, domestic service, construction, agriculture and diamond mining”.
The document also reveals “the presence of children under 13 years of age in sex trafficking, particularly in the provinces of Luanda, Benguela, Cunene, Namibe, Zaire and Uige”.
The chapter on sex trafficking also mentions women from Vietnam and Brazil who work as prostitutes in Angola, and are targeted by traffickers, “while Chinese women recruited by construction companies and gangs in their country of origin with promises of work in Angola are also forced into prostitution”.
As for forced labour, there are reports of Chinese, Brazilian, Namibian, Kenyan and Congolese workers in Angola.
Despite the work of the Inter-Ministerial Commission to Combat Trafficking in Persons in standardizing data collection and training 350 officials to combat money laundering, the US State Department believes that “the Government has not done everything it could and should”, and concludes that the situation is worrying.
Mozambique: A transit country
The Mozambique government also has not done enough to combat human trafficking, and has not met the minimum standards for eliminating the scourge.
Despite the creation of a national reference group to coordinate the fight against human trafficking, the US government says Maputo has “failed to identify or protect victims during the last year, and funds for the fight were not used in the best manner”.
The report on human trafficking says that Mozambique is “a source of traffic, and, to a lesser extent, a country of destination for men, women and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking”.
Forced child labour was noted in agriculture, mining and retail, particularly in rural areas, and largely “with the family’s complicity”.
Women and girls from rural areas, attracted to the cities in Mozambique and South Africa with promises of jobs or education, “are exploited in domestic servitude and sex trafficking”, while “Mozambican men and boys are subjected to forced labour on farms and mines in South Africa” or as car washers in Swaziland.
The US State Department pays special attention to the persecution of albinos who are killed for organs and calls for more commitment of the part of the Mozambican authorities.
Cape Verdean children victims of forced labour and sex tourism
Cape Verde is also a “country of origin and destination for children subjected to forced labour and sex tourism”, with the tourist areas of Sal and Boavista in the spotlight.
The report denounces the “presence of children in domestic service, often for many hours”, which, according to the US government, comprises forced labour, “including agriculture, peddling and car washing”.
The document also considers the situation of migrants from West Africa in the archipelago, who, “without a clear status”, receive “low wages, have no contract and are targets for labour and sex trafficking, often en route to Europe”.
For the State Department, the Cape Verdean government did “not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking” and, despite some measures, “has not shown as much commitment as in the past to combat human trafficking,” particularly in the police and judiciary.
Quranic schools in Guinea-Bissau
The Guinea-Bissau is also “a source country for children undergoing forced labour and sex trafficking”.
The report alleges that many children attend “Quranic schools led by marabouts who force them into forced labour”, namely “peddling in the country and in Senegal”.
There are also “unconfirmed reports of Europeans who engage in child sex tourism in the islands of the Bijagos archipelago”.
For the State Department, the Guinea-Bissau authorities “do not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking”.
While recognising the enactment of an anti-trafficking law and the adoption of an action plan in 2011, the document states that “the Government has not taken substantive steps to eliminate this phenomenon”.
The report on human trafficking in the US government did not cover Sao Tome and Principe, and was released last week by Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington.
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