Poverty, unemployment among reasons people become vulnerable to human trafficking syndicates: Gauteng Legislature

The Gauteng Legislature said poverty and unemployment are just some of the reasons people become vulnerable to human trafficking syndicates.

The Gauteng Legislature’s chair of committees, Dulton Adams, led the launch of an anti-human trafficking campaign at OR Tambo International Airport on Wednesday.

ALSO READ: 'End Exploitation': Gauteng Legislature launches anti-human trafficking campaign

He said research shows, in most cases, women and children are targets and added that more needs to be done to address the problem.

"I just feel like government is not doing enough, and because of that, it is not being addressed effectively. We find that people are induced and secluded, magnetised with money because they are in trouble, and they look for quick fixes."

Hilary Leon, the co-founder at Awareness Child Trafficking Africa, shared what to look out for to prevent being duped: "Sometimes you will find that they are being controlled, they don’t know their own documents, speeches are rehearsed, they are not dressed appropriately, they don’t know where they are going to and they won’t give you eye contact, there’s no confidence in the way that they walk."

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