It's the third largest black market industry in the world, garnering over 66 Billion Rand annually.  What  makes this much money? The buying and selling of human beings.  Today, 27 Million people are enslaved -- more than any other time in history.  Innocent people enticed by the promise of a better life, are captured by coercion or force and enslaved for the purposes of labor, sexual exploitation or to serve as child soldiers.

Modern-day slaves face brutal conditions in rock quarries, brothels, brick kilns, fisheries, garment factories and many other industries around the world.  Victims of slavery are often deprived freedom of movement, unable to leave the facility where they are forced to work. Slaves are also frequently the victims of violent physical and sexual abuse.

Sex trafficking, a subset of slavery, is a growing global enterprise driven by deception, coercion and force. Traffickers transport or detain their victims for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation.  This trade in rape for profit thrives in the absence of robust law enforcement working to protect vulnerable women and children. 

South Africans are not immune to this horrific reality.  Our people are trafficked from one city to the next, and across the sea to serve as slaves in Europe, North America and the Middle East.   All over our country, people are forced into slavery but it is our youth who are most vulnerable.  Men and boys are recruited to work on farms under false promises of pay and suitable accommodation.  Adolescent girls and young women who leave exploitative situations as domestic servants are vulnerable to recruitment into the sex industry.

Youth living in child-headed households due to HIV and AIDS, and children living in impoverished rural areas are most vulnerable to being trafficked.  Children who are not in school or who are on school holiday are more frequently targeted. 

In June 2010, the world's eyes will be on South Africa for the World Cup.  

Who will be watching our children?