One of the ways we fight human trafficking is through our transit monitoring efforts as a sub-grant recipient of Love Justice International.
With transit monitoring, we look for potential victims of human trafficking leaving Lesotho for South Africa. Lesotho is a third-world country, so females are lured by false promises of a job in South Africa., often domestic work—a maid—or shop work. Generally, the potential victims are underage orphans, often very naive and vulnerable. They don’t have food to eat or support from anyone, so they view the “opportunity” as a miracle.
There are several different red flags that we look for. Maybe they promise to pay double or triple what that job would actually earn. Or perhaps they’ve never met the person offering them the job. Or maybe they’ve never even spoken to the person offering them the job but have been told by someone else that there’s someone who will give them a job.
Our monitors go down a questionnaire and check off the number of red flags that there are. If there are enough red flags, the person they’re questioning is referred to as a potential victim.
At that point, our monitors educate them about human trafficking. We actually offer to call their employer right then from our phone. We dial the number, and sometimes it’s not a working number. Other times, someone will answer, but as soon as we identify ourselves, they hang up.
Then we have the opportunity to tell the potential victim what happened. That could sound like:
- “The person didn’t even answer.”
- “They said they don’t know who you are.”
- “They don’t know who the person is you said you’re supposed to call.”
Regardless, it seems like a bad situation, and we let them know they should be concerned they might become a victim of human trafficking. Then we ask them if they can return safely to their home or not. If not, we will place them in our Shelter for Anti-Trafficking until we can get them to a safe place.
If the perpetrator is right there, we’ll inform law enforcement, and sometimes they’ll arrest them immediately. Even if law enforcement is not present, we take down their name and number before they even know we suspect they’re a perpetrator, and then we always report it.
If you would like to help support our programs that stop human trafficking, please consider making a donation. We would love your support! You can also donate to Love Justice International.