Dear Colleagues
What an honour it is to stand up in the fight for justice with you all! We are sure you will agree that this is such a crucial time in the landscape of South Africa regarding counter-Human Trafficking efforts. We have the long awaited PACOTIP Act but not every role player is yet able to carry out what they are mandated to do – almost a tension between the “not yet” and the “still to come”.
This is the perfect time for us as Network Partners to be rallying around our key stakeholders (government and civil society) to work together for best practice in our provinces. A far-reaching, well networked Helpline is something we have all been waiting for. One number where any person, no matter your level of involvement in counter-Human Trafficking, can call to give tip offs and get support for cases.
We are very excited to announce that the National Human Trafficking Resource Line will be launching in South Africa on 29 August 2016!
This line is a tool for EVERY SINGLE PERSON in our country, no matter your understanding of, or involvement in, counter-Human Trafficking.
What is the Resource Line?
In essence a helpline, and a support tool. A number to call if you have a question, if you need to refer a case, if you need support on a case, if you need training, if you aren’t sure of the next steps in your protocols and need some advice or guidance.
Who can call it?
-ANYBODY!
-Social Workers or SAPS Officials who may need guidance on a case, or access to services for victims.
-NGOs who may need to make a referral or connect with partner organisations.
-Community members who have questions or want to leave a tip-off.
How does it work?
Data capturing: all calls are logged and assessed via Salesforce, a software tool that allows us to analyse trends in phone calls and retrieve statistics at the click of a button on all information logged into the system.
Referral based: any call or request that comes in will be referred to the appropriate service in the province it comes from.
So where do I fit in?
As this is a referral-based tool, if requests for victim assistance or training come from your province, YOU will be the ones to respond. This tool is there to support you as you work through cases and to also ensure that those needing assistance are connected to your services.
How can I get involved?
- Email us at info@0800222777.org.za to sign up as a Referral Partner for your province.
- Join us in launching the line on social media (we will send out 3 easy steps next week) but until then
- Like @SA_ResourceLine on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and share all posts leading up to the launch.
- Promote the line by putting the number on your awareness resources.
The more you use the number, the more referrals you will see coming to your province, and those needing assistance connected to your services.
We look forward to partnering with you to make this Resource Line work for the entire counter-Human Trafficking community in South Africa!
Warm regards
The Resource Line Team
(An official NFN Partner)
Good day sir/madam
I am a journalist with the Daily Dispatch newspaper in East London. On August 3, Eastern Cape traffic officials discovered 21 Malawian children crammed in the back of a small truck on the N2 highway between Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth. The Hawks in the Eastern Cape are investigating a case of dealing in human trafficking. It is believed that the 20 boys and a girl had been illegally smuggled into the country.
Kindly paint to us how the picture looks like in South Africa particularly in the Eastern Cape as far as practice of human trafficking is concerned. Can you please help us with statistics and a comment?
Kindly also give us a name of a person we should attribute comments to.
Thank you in advance for your speedy response. My deadline for submission of this article is 12 midday today August 10 2018.
Kind regards
Good day Malibongwe. I sincerely apologise for missing this comment and your deadline, as I was away on sabbatical. In future, please rather contact us directly through the Contact Us form on the website, and someone will be sure to respond to you as soon as possible. Kind regards, the NFN team