Human trafficking cases down 40 per cent, govt says

The number of human trafficking cases has fallen by 40 per cent compared with a similar period in the last two years.

The secretary of Anti-trafficking Secretariat in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mr Seperatus Fella, told journalists here yesterday: ““Although we have not conducted research on what led to the reduction, foreign and local reports indicated the number of human trafficking cases decreased.”

He was speaking ahead of the World Trafficking Day today.

According to him, only six human trafficking cases have been received and 10 victims rescued, down from 15 cases received and 20 victims subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking who were rescued during a similar period last year.

Mr Fella noted that the US government’s Watch List report has placed Tanzania in Tier 2 category for a third consecutive time, meaning the situation is improving or otherwise the country could have been downgraded to Tier 3.

According to him, the government is conducting a pilot research to establish what led to the reduction of human trafficking cases.

However, he thinks education and enforcement of the anti-trafficking law could be the main factors.

“Previously most foreign institutions reports indicated that Tanzania was a source, transit, and destination country for men, women and children trafficked for forced labour and sexual exploitation.”

The 2016 US Department of State’s trafficking in persons report noted that Tanzanian nationals were sometimes subjected to forced labour such as domestic servitude, and sex trafficking in other African countries, Middle East, Europe and Americas.