Curb sex trafficking across borders: WAD

WOMEN’s Action for Development (WAD) has called on the Home Affairs and Immigration Ministry to take ‘immediate action’ to curb an increase in ‘cross-border sex trafficking’.

‘There is no doubt that cross-border trafficking of young women is on the increase,’ WAD Director Veronica de Klerk said at Keetmanshoop yesterday.
‘This simply means that the control mechanisms of custom officials at our border crossings should urgently be stepped up.’
De Klerk was speaking at a WAD graduation ceremony at the Karas Region town.
She blamed ‘lack of vigilance and sloppy execution of duty by customs officials’ for an increase in cross-border sex trafficking.
‘WAD therefore respectfully appeals to the Honourable Minister of Home Affairs and Immigration to urgently look into the duties of border control authorities, in a bid to ensure that they seriously step up their scrutiny of trucks to assist in combating the trafficking of Namibian young girls to neigbouring countries, to become sex slaves,’ De Klerk said.
She suggested strict controls and heavy fines for truck drivers, who have allegedly become perpetrators of this crime, to end the practice she termed ‘evil’.
‘The integrity of border post officials should be unquestionable and incorruptible by bribes, and the effective execution of their duties should be their national pride,’ she added.
Yesterday’s graduation ceremony saw 150 people graduate in fields such as basic computer literacy, office administration and typing, needlework, basic cooking, nutrition and hygiene, anti-violence training and civic education.
In his message, Deputy Mayor of Keetmanshoop, Simon Petrus Tiboth, said many institutions fail when it came to the implementation of post-training systems.
‘We fail to consult trainees after training at their respective workplaces and thus we fail to learn from their experiences,’ Tiboth said.
luqman@namibian.com.na