- Title
- A Critical Assessment of the Legal and Policy Frameworks for Combating Child Trafficking in the Southern African Development Community
- Creator
- Muvhevhi, Roseline Rumbidzai https://orcid.org/0009-0006-1024-5548
- Subject
- Child trafficking -- Law and legislation -- Africa, Southern
- Subject
- Child welfare -- Africa, Southern
- Date
- 2022-09
- Type
- Doctoral theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/26728
- Identifier
- vital:65969
- Description
- Child trafficking is a longstanding problem which affects victims and communities in various ways and therefore requires stern action both at the global and regional level. In the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, the crime is closely connected to the existing socio-economic challenges such as poverty; underdevelopment; lack of equal economic opportunities; HIV/AIDS; and human rights violations. As a result, SADC States are fertile sources, transit zones and destinations for child trafficking. It is internationally recognised that it is States such as those in the SADC region that require a comprehensive approach to prevent and prosecute the crime while simultaneously ensuring victim protection. To this effect, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children is the primary instrument that seeks to provide such a comprehensive approach to child trafficking. Therefore, the current regional and national responses to child trafficking in most SADC States, are influenced by this Protocol. Despite these legislative and policy efforts to combat the crime, statistics show that in recent years child trafficking has been rapidly increasing in SADC. Thus, this research seeks to investigate why child trafficking remains prevalent in the region despite a plethora of measures against the crime. The research, therefore, assesses the effectiveness of the legal and policy measures taken by the SADC States to combat child trafficking using a qualitative approach involving analysis and interpretation of relevant legislation and policies. The primary focus is on the Trafficking Protocol as the main child trafficking instrument at the international level. The role of non-child trafficking instruments in the absence of a community instrument against the crime in SADC is also analysed. This research observes that the increasing child trafficking problem in the region is not mainly because of a lack of adequate legislation or policies but the lack of effective implementation of measures. Without a regional comprehensive and coordinated implementation approach, these measures remain weak and inadequate to fully combat child trafficking in the region. To this end, numerous legislative, policy, institutional and operational reform mechanisms to strengthen the subsisting measures against child trafficking in the region and areas for further research are recommended.
- Description
- Thesis (LLD) -- Faculty of Law, 2022
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (xviii, 239 pages)
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Law
- Language
- English
- Rights
- rights holder
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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