Africa-Press – Angola. The Human Rights Committee in the province of Cunene registered, this year, two cases of human trafficking, in which four minors aged between 13 and 17 were victims.
The information was provided this Thursday by the deputy coordinator of the aforementioned committee, Sara Tulikeni, noting that the cases, identified in the municipality of Cuanhama, referred to the trafficking of minors for work in the Republic of Namibia.
Sara Tulikeni clarified that one of the cases involved a Namibian citizen, currently sentenced to nine years in prison, for trafficking two children aged 13 and 15, while the other was a national who also tried to traffic two teenagers (15 and 17 years), the process of which is in the investigation phase.
He said that these figures do not reflect reality, given the high number of children and adolescents who cross the border in search of work on agricultural farms, who are often subjected to mistreatment.
He considered the situation “worrying”, because children are more exposed to forced labor, which constitutes an act of child exploitation, as well as a threat to the phenomenon of human trafficking.
He mentioned that cultural ties mean that the populations of both countries can move freely across the common border, a situation that can be taken advantage of by criminals to commit trafficking.
In the context of human rights violations, the person responsible said that, in the period in question, the body registered only six complaints related to evasion of paternity and maternity, practices that undermine the dignity of the human person and non-compliance with compensation.
“Many of the cases do not reach us and when we realize it is already a little late, but those that do arrive we have been working with related bodies to be able to hold the perpetrators accountable”, he said.
The head of the Human Rights, Administration of Justice and Dispute Resolution department also advocated the need for greater involvement of communities in reporting cases, as this is the best way to end impunity.
He pointed out a lack of information about the role of this body in communities, as well as the poor legal culture of citizens, remembering that the Committee aims to guarantee the implementation of the national human rights strategy and ensures their promotion, defense and protection.
To reverse the situation, he said that the body is engaged in promoting clarification actions about the existence of this service, which currently has coverage at the level of the six municipalities.
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