Mozambique: PGR repatriates eight trafficked minors

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Mozambique: PGR repatriates eight trafficked minors

5:47 CAT | 25 Jul 2024

File photo: AIM

The Mozambican Attorney General’s Office (PGR), through the National Reference Group for Child Protection, and for Combating Trafficking and Illegal Immigration, has repatriated eight Mozambican minors out of a total of 14 who had been trafficked by a Chinese factory for forced labour into the South African province of Gauteng.

The minors, rescued in May by the South African Police, were all from the southern Mozambican province of Gaza. They had been trafficked into South Africa, in January this year, by a Chinese factory in Gauteng.

The boys, who are now repatriated after the Mozambican and South African authorities finalized legal details, were found at a Chinese factory in Nigel, Ekurhuleni, during a police raid.

The authorities believe that the number of victims of human trafficking is very high and that the 14 children identified are just the tip of the iceberg “which means there may have been more cases, but they haven’t reached the hands of justice. Trafficking is a reality in the country,” according to Márcia Pinto, coordinator of the National Reference Group.

She was speaking, on Wednesday, in Maputo, at a round table meeting to discuss the implementation of the first National Plan to Prevent and Combat People Trafficking in Mozambique.

“We have data to share, but it’s important to say that the data is merely indicative, it doesn’t reflect the reality on the ground. At the moment, we are talking about a case that has already been practically identified as trafficking and others are still being investigated”, she said.

She explained that the group that has been investigating these cases is a multi-sector organization, which includes the Attorney General’s Office, the Justice Ministry and Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare.

Mozambique has been a transit country, with the final destination of the people trafficked being South Africa and Eswatini.

In addition to collecting experiences and discussing measures to protect minors from kidnapping, the round table discussion was also part of the World Day to Combat People Trafficking, which takes place on 30 July.

The date was established by a resolution in 2013 and approved by the United Nations General Assembly.

“It is in this context that various awareness-raising activities are being held to combat human trafficking and to gather experiences from other countries, taking into account that children make up around 60 per cent of trafficking victims worldwide and are more vulnerable than adults”, said Pinto.

Source: AIM