THE Open Door Crisis Care Centre, a local organisation, was called in to provide shelter for 13 of the 72 human trafficking victims after a raid in Newcastle.
According to reports, a foreign national brought the 72 girls into the country for domestic servitude and were subjected to poor working conditions, worked long hours, were not given sufficient food and were forced to sleep on the floor next to their machines.
“Human trafficking, today, is called modern day slavery. The number of human trafficking cases that are coming through our courts are on the increase,” said the Open Door Crisis Care Centre’s director and CEO, Thora Mansfield.
The Open Door has a registered shelter in the Highway area at an undisclosed address. This was the first shelter in KwaZulu-Natal to be registered to accommodate victims of trafficking. The non-profit organisation now accommodates 13 victims from this domestic trafficking incident. “In many cases wages that were promised to them did not happen. According to the Trafficking in Persons Act, the three main components are recruitment transportation and exploitation for gain,” said Mansfield.
Human trafficking covers several areas and the main one in which the Open Door works is sexual exploitation for gain where women are trafficked both internally, nationally and internationally. “The victims are expected to have sex up to 15 to 20 times a day and have no choice in who their partners are,” said Mansfield, who explained other forms of human trafficking. “Their passports are taken away resulting in them being held captive. The main reasons for human trafficking are poverty, low socio economic status and promises of a better education and the opportunity to travel.”
Mansfield said many victims of human trafficking are traumatised and feel helpless. “They have no access to medical or health care and women are traumatised and also fearful of their future. Other forms of trafficking in persons also include illegal baby adoptions and child soldiers,” she said. To doante non-perishable food to The Open Door Crisis Care Centre, contact Thelma on 031 709 2679 or visit its website, www.opendoor.za
