Prostitution in Swaziland

Prostitution in Swaziland is illegal, and police continue to enforce the law,^[1] although they sometimes turn a blind eye to prostitution in clubs.^[2]

According to the U.S. Department of State, Swaziland is a source, destination, and transit country for women and children trafficked internally and transnationally for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, and forced labor in agriculture. Swazi girls, particularly orphans, are trafficked internally for commercial sexual exploitation and domestic servitude in the cities of Mbabane and Manzini, as well as to South Africa and Mozambique. Some Swazi women are forced into prostitution in South Africa and Mozambique after voluntarily migrating to these countries in search of work. Chinese organized crime units acquire victims in Swaziland and traffic them to hubs in Johannesburg, where they “distribute” victims locally or send them on to be exploited overseas. Traffickers force Mozambican women into prostitution in Swaziland, or else transit Swaziland with their victims en route to South Africa.^[3]

The Swaziland AIDS Support Organisation has recommended that prostitution be legalized in Swaziland, in order to allow it to be regulated.^[4]

References