The Courier

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): back to Bunia (Ituri)

© EC/ECHO/François Goemans

This initiative comes in response to general public concern and in particular those raised by the Southern Africa Network Against Trafficking and Abuse of Children (SANTAC). Patrons of SANTAC include Graça Machel, widow of the former President of Mozambique, Samora Machel, and the Nobel Peace Laureate and Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu.

During a SANTAC-organised conference in Johannesburg in March 2007, the European Commission’s Director-General of Development, Stefano Manservisi, pledged his political support for the war against child trafficking, to which the European Commissioners for Development and Communications Strategy, Louis Michel and Margot Wallström, have voiced their support.

The challenge is a considerable one. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and UNICEF, the trafficking of children is a phenomenon that involves several thousand people in the region. Furthermore, it is difficult to put precise figures on the scale of the problem, primarily due to the absence of a civil register (of births, marriages and deaths) in countries such as Malawi. Indeed, Malawi, along with Mozambique and Zambia, is seen as a child ‘supply’ and also a transit country for both South Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

The causes of the trade in children (a possible estimated global turnover of as much as US$7 billion) are numerous, although SANTAC points to poverty and the HIV-Aids epidemic as major reasons. These twin scourges alone have seen a significant increase in the numbers of orphans farmed out to foster parents. These families, often themselves in dire need, are easily duped into handing over the children by criminal organisations that offer work or educational opportunities. Many, particularly young girls, are taken into prostitution networks or slavery.

One of the major difficulties that these countries face in controlling this phenomenon is that they do not have the means to successfully police their own national borders. Neither have they signed all the international legal protocols and treaties to make that happen. Worse still, in Southern Africa there is no regional mechanism or plan in place to prevent or eliminate the traffic in humans and this is why a regional response is needed. The June conference in Maputo is seen as the first stage of the process and should produce a declaration, a strategy and a 10-year action plan. It is expected to be followed by a conference of sponsors organised by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), during which an action plan will be presented and the European Commission and the EU Member States will lend their financial support. The proposed measures will then be taken forward by drawing up programmes for judicial and law-enforcement cooperation and the sharing of expertise.