United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Southern Africa (UNODC)

Swaziland launches Victim Identification Guidelines and Referral Mechanism for assisting Victims of Human Trafficking

Swaziland, like other Member States of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), is a source, transit and destination country for human trafficking. Women and children from Mozambique, South Africa, Nigeria and Asia have been trafficked to and across Swaziland for sexual exploitation, domestic servitude and, labour exploitation on the farms, as street vendors, in car-wash businesses and on construction sites.

It is against this background that on 2 November 2015, the Government of the Kingdom of Swaziland launched the Victim Identification Guidelines and Referral Mechanism for Assisting Victims of Human Trafficking.

The guidelines and the referral mechanism are expected to assist the national authorities in:
•    Identification of presumed victims of human trafficking;
•    Protection and provision of psycho-social support
•    Documentation of victims
•    Investigation and prosecution of crime
•    Integration and family re-unification
•    Repatriation

During the official launch of the Guidelines, Dr B. Sibusiso Dlamini, Honourable Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Swaziland, highlighted:

H. E. Dr. Sibusiso Dlamini, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Swaziland

"What we are seeing today is the launch of the key operational tools that deal with two issues - how do you identify a victim and, having done that, how do you go about looking after the victim - in a standardised manner, consistent with the approach of our international partners […] And we should be aware that, at the same time as fighting trafficking we are also covering people smuggling, which similarly involves exploitation and frequently considerable danger - even death, as we have recently seen happening in Europe".

Having acknowledged the commitment of the Government of Swaziland in addressing human trafficking, Mrs Zhuldyz Akisheva, UNODC Regional Representative for Southern Africa, underlined that Swaziland was the first and only country in the SADC Region to establish a full-time Secretariat dedicated entirely to the fight against human trafficking and an Emergency Response Team to attend to individual human trafficking cases. This practice is recognised by other SADC member states as a model to follow. 

(from right to left) Princess Tzandzille, Senator/Minister of Home Affairs,  Mr Jorge Cardoso, Director, SADC Organ on Politics, Security and Defence,  Ms Zhuldyz Akisheva, UNODC Regional Representative, H.E. Dr B. Sibusiso Dlamini, Prime Minister,  Mr Israel Dessalgne , UNRC, (Picture UNODC)