Chronicle Editor
THE jailing of a Gokwe woman for selling her child to a trafficker should send a clear signal that child trafficking will not be tolerated in the country and offenders will be arrested and prosecuted.
Our sister paper, The Herald, yesterday reported that Pauline Maganga (23), who sold her baby to a human trafficker in South Africa two days after giving birth, was on Monday jailed for 10 years.
Harare regional magistrate, Mr Lazini Ncube found Maganga guilty of human trafficking and said there were no special circumstances to consider.
“The victim is a child in this case and the offender is a parent.
“The offence was committed in aggravating circumstances and there were no special circumstances to consider,” said Mr Ncube noting that aggravating factors outweighed mitigatory factors.“She had the duty to keep and protect this child but she chose to commodify the child for the purpose of trafficking.
“In this modern world, no person should be sold. We have passed the slave trade era. She should have given up the child for adoption in a legal manner if she was really poor,” he said.The issue of human trafficking is a global phenomenon and governments have set strict laws to end the ill.
According to the United Nations Global Report on Trafficking in Persons in 2016, children represent 28 percent of the total victims of trafficking identified (20 percent girls and eight percent boys).
Globally, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has reported that 4,3 million children are estimated to be in forced labour, many of whom are likely to have been trafficked.
The Unicef, in a 2016 report titled “Uprooted,” said migrants, refugees and internally displaced children are particularly at risk of being trafficked. As of 2016, 28 million children were living in forced displacement, and a further 20 million migrant children were living outside their country of birth.
In another report in 2017, titled, “All Children in School,” Unicef said trafficked children may be forced to work or provide services, often in hazardous, exploitative or extremely abusive conditions. They may be exploited in begging or forced to commit crimes. They may have their organs removed.
Children, particularly girls, who are out of school are more likely to be working under exploitative conditions and less likely to have access to safety nets, which can make them more vulnerable to trafficking.
Girls face a higher risk of being trafficked into sexual exploitation or child marriage, whereas boys are at a greater risk of being trafficked for use in armed forces or groups, said Unicef in a report titled, “A child is a child,” also in 2017.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter