Chinese nationals to appear in SA court for human trafficking
Seven Chinese nationals will be back in South African court today on human trafficking charges.
The nationals were arrested in 2019 for alleged human trafficking and child labor violations at their factory in Johannesburg, where they purportedly forced kidnapped people to process recycled clothes in order to make cotton for blankets.
Human trafficking is growing in South Africa, with the number of people trafficked in 2021 more than double the number in 2020. Although South Africa is making significant efforts to improve, a 2022 US State Department report found that South Africa has not fully met the minimum standards to eliminate trafficking for seven years in a row. In response, the South African government hosted the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour in May, where they committed to ending child trafficking, modern slavery and forced labor.
The trial will likely intensify calls for more arrests and prosecutions of human trafficking by local citizens and human rights groups. Nevertheless, low trust in law enforcement and an overworked court system will likely prevent meaningful crackdowns on human trafficking in the medium term. Human trafficking in South Africa will likely grow in the coming years as more Chinese and other foreign-owned businesses take advantage of the country’s rampant poverty to more easily entrap workers.
