Permanent Secretary Manasa Lesuma.

The Ministry of Defence will now provide support to human trafficking victims as in the past, their work mainly centred on prosecution and conviction of perpetrators.

A case management coordinator has also been established to monitor the progress of each case from when it’s reported, right through to prosecution.

Permanent Secretary Manasa Lesuma says the new national Anti-Human Trafficking Strategy and Action Plan places emphasis on providing support to victims.

“Most importantly one that we’ve always been lacking in terms of the victim support. I think with that mechanism now in place, we should be in a good position basically to provide the necessary data whenever requested.”

Lesuma hopes the new strategy will help address some of the challenges faced over the years.

“We haven’t also be in a position to be even stock take on all the cases. Now the strategy calls for more collaboration with all the stakeholders, government ministries and all the CSO, NGOs and faith-based organization.”

The Ministry has identified human trafficking as a significant transnational crime that does not respect borders and one of the worst forms of violence infringing people’s fundamental human rights.