11th hour rescue for Zambian children
Six teenage girls and a boy from Zambia have been rescued after being trafficked to Namibia, according to a Zambian newspaper.
Neither the Namibian police nor the local head of Interpol could verify the report.
The seven teenagers from the Senage district in the Western Province of Zambia are aged between 13 and 19.
According to the Zambia Daily Mail the teenagers were trafficked to Namibia to work as prostitutes and domestic workers. The online newspaper said they were saved from a prostitution ring in Namibia.
The teenagers were apparently rescued after the Zambian police tipped off their counterparts in Namibia and have been returned to Senanaga.
Senanga district commissioner Vivian Mubukwanu told the Zambia Daily Mail that the teenagers were brought into Namibia by an unidentified man earlier this year on the pretext of offering them decent jobs.
The trafficker's whereabouts are unknown. The Namibian police could not confirm the incident yesterday and said they would follow-up the report.
Police spokesperson Edwin Kanguatjivi said it was possible that the Zambian authorities directly contacted the regional police in Namibia. The head of Interpol in Namibia, Detective Chief Inspector Immanuel Sam, said he was not aware of the incident either.
“I will have to enquire from the Zambian authorities how true these reports are and what exactly transpired. That is all I can do for now,” he said
In May this year it was reported that a Zambian man from Senanga had trafficked eight teenage girls into Namibia before being arrested at the border. Andrew Sitali (38) was suspected to have operated with other unknown persons to bait the girls, all of them aged 16.
He is now facing eight counts of human trafficking before the Senanga magistrate's court. He is accused of having lured the girls with promises of higher standards of living in Namibia.
The US State Department's Office for Monitoring and Combating Trafficking in Persons again placed Namibia on its Tier 2 Watchlist in its latest tariffing report.
This means that although Namibia has made efforts to combat human trafficking it lacks in key areas such as convicting traffickers, referring all identified victims for care and the lack of formal procedures for victim identification and referral.
According to the trafficking report, 21 trafficking victims were identified in Namibia last year. They were 11 men, one woman and nine girls. According to the report some victims are initially offered legitimate work for adequate wages, but are then subjected to forced labour in urban centres and on commercial farms.
Namibian children are subjected to forced labour in agriculture, cattle herding, and domestic service, and to sex trafficking in Windhoek and Walvis Bay.
ELLANIE SMIT
Neither the Namibian police nor the local head of Interpol could verify the report.
The seven teenagers from the Senage district in the Western Province of Zambia are aged between 13 and 19.
According to the Zambia Daily Mail the teenagers were trafficked to Namibia to work as prostitutes and domestic workers. The online newspaper said they were saved from a prostitution ring in Namibia.
The teenagers were apparently rescued after the Zambian police tipped off their counterparts in Namibia and have been returned to Senanaga.
Senanga district commissioner Vivian Mubukwanu told the Zambia Daily Mail that the teenagers were brought into Namibia by an unidentified man earlier this year on the pretext of offering them decent jobs.
The trafficker's whereabouts are unknown. The Namibian police could not confirm the incident yesterday and said they would follow-up the report.
Police spokesperson Edwin Kanguatjivi said it was possible that the Zambian authorities directly contacted the regional police in Namibia. The head of Interpol in Namibia, Detective Chief Inspector Immanuel Sam, said he was not aware of the incident either.
“I will have to enquire from the Zambian authorities how true these reports are and what exactly transpired. That is all I can do for now,” he said
In May this year it was reported that a Zambian man from Senanga had trafficked eight teenage girls into Namibia before being arrested at the border. Andrew Sitali (38) was suspected to have operated with other unknown persons to bait the girls, all of them aged 16.
He is now facing eight counts of human trafficking before the Senanga magistrate's court. He is accused of having lured the girls with promises of higher standards of living in Namibia.
The US State Department's Office for Monitoring and Combating Trafficking in Persons again placed Namibia on its Tier 2 Watchlist in its latest tariffing report.
This means that although Namibia has made efforts to combat human trafficking it lacks in key areas such as convicting traffickers, referring all identified victims for care and the lack of formal procedures for victim identification and referral.
According to the trafficking report, 21 trafficking victims were identified in Namibia last year. They were 11 men, one woman and nine girls. According to the report some victims are initially offered legitimate work for adequate wages, but are then subjected to forced labour in urban centres and on commercial farms.
Namibian children are subjected to forced labour in agriculture, cattle herding, and domestic service, and to sex trafficking in Windhoek and Walvis Bay.
ELLANIE SMIT
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article