By ‘Majirata Latela
Lesotho has been upgraded to Tier 2 watch list in the 2021 Trafficking In Persons Report (Lesotho) released on Friday after the government sent its achievement report in March this year.
The report shows that the government made key achievements during the reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its anti-trafficking capacity and even though the country does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so.
“These achievements included convicting the first trafficker in four years and sentencing him to imprisonment; enacting a new anti-trafficking law that closed key legislative gaps, including criminalizing all forms of sex trafficking and prescribing penalties commensurate with the penalties for other serious crimes; commencing criminal investigations into multiple government officials allegedly complicit in human trafficking offenses; devoting, for the first time, modest funding for victim protection; and passing a 2021-2026 anti-trafficking national action plan.
“Despite these achievements, the government did not meet several key minimum standards. Law enforcement efforts remained insufficient compared to the problem, in part due to the lack of training and experience necessary to conduct complex multi-jurisdictional investigations.
“The government did not investigate several credible allegations of trafficking of its citizens in South Africa, nor did it investigate credible allegations of abuse of trafficking victims by South African and Lesotho police officers. Victim identification efforts were weak, and the government continued to rely on one NGO to provide all victim shelter and care with nascent government funding. For the fifth consecutive year, the government did not finalize standard operating procedures on victim identification or the national referral mechanism, and for the 10th consecutive year, did not allocate funding for the Victims of Trafficking Trust Fund. Law enforcement and front-line responders continued to lack regular anti-trafficking training, which at times resulted in law enforcement re-traumatizing potential victims,” reads the report.
The government of Lesotho was last year downgraded to Tier 3 on countries that are unable to fight trafficking in person because it did not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so.
Tier 3 was threatening Lesotho’s chances of Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact Development Grant Agreement worth $5.78 million.
