Of the 142 cases identified, 53 percent are related to adults and the rest to minors, with the province of Cunene (southern Angola) reporting the most occurrences (60), while Cuando Cubango, Lunda Sul and Cuanza Sul have no cases diagnosed in this period, he indicated.
With regard to Cunene, with an extensive border of more than 400 kilometers with Namibia, he essentially pointed to climate change, with the worsening of drought, as a factor in the intensification of the normal migratory flow between the two countries.
"These are people who are in a very vulnerable situation" and are easily recruited for begging, sexual exploitation or other purposes, said the official, who was speaking in Luanda at a workshop on human trafficking for journalists.
Yannick Bernardo justified that the data also means that Cunene has "some frontier organization and control over this phenomenon" and "has been able to identify and handle cases", resulting in a higher number of convictions (eight).
As for the fact that only 22 percent made it to the trial stage, he admitted that it is "a challenge to conclude a human trafficking case".
The Director of Human Rights underlined that there have been recent amendments to the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code, of 2020, with some crimes having a "new guise" that also allowed for an improvement in the processing of cases.
On the other hand, "some procedural inaccuracies" led to the annulment of acts by "more expeditious" lawyers
A third factor has to do with the small number of magistrates and justice operators: "therefore, these crimes do not have the response that we would like to have".
Of the 47 percent identified minors, the majority of children were destined to be used in forced labor or domestic servitude.
About 75 percent were nationals and the remaining 25 percent were from Vietnam, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Namibia.
Their destination was Portugal, France, South Africa, Mozambique, Panama (with the aim of reaching the United States of America), Laos and Vietnam.
The workshop is organized by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, the United Nations Organization on Drugs and Crime (ONUDC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
