Zambia

STOP THE TRAFFIK’s Centre for Intelligence-Led Prevention (CfILP) has identified Livingstone, Zambia a potential transit hotspot for human trafficking, with Uganda, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan all highlighted as source countries.

The intelligence suggests that people are enticed from this region with false promises of employment, with the reality being that they are held in forced labour and child labour, through deception.

Mutukula, Namanga, Isibania and Taveta have been identified as potential crossing points to the borders of Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Malawi, with traffickers transporting their victims in trucks.

They are then thought to cross the border of Zambia at specific points, including Nakonde, Kasumbalesa and Chitipa, until they reach Livingstone. Here, victims are kept in guest houses on the outskirts of the town, while they wait to cross the border.

From this point, traffickers potentially transport their victims in trucks across the border at Victoria Falls, Namafulo and Kazungula into Zimbabwe and Botswana.

Ultimately, it is inferred from the intelligence that people are trafficked into several cities throughout South Africa, including Limpopo, Pretoria, Johannesburg, Kwazulu-Natal and Cape Town.

The intelligence indicates that, throughout these routes, traffickers use a number of methods to maintain control over their victims, such as physical abuse, starvation, financial dependence, threats to family and the confiscation of documents.

If you are concerned you’ve witnessed trafficking activity it is important you report it to the appropriate organisation, so long as you feel that it is safe to do so.