Category: Legal-Judicial

— As human trafficking incidents between Lesotho and South Africa increase, Lesotho’s Home Affairs Minister Motlalentoa Letsosa said collaboration between the two countries could be crucial in combating the scourge.

“People working at the border as the police and transport people, those are critical partners. If we work together, I strongly believe that we can combat trafficking in persons,” he said to the South African Broadcasting Corporation at the Maseru Bridge Border Post on Thursday.

Speaking with Xinhua, Kutloano Lerotha, Lesotho consulate officer in Welkom in the Free State, South Africa, said they had observed a spike in the number of young Lesotho women and boys becoming victims of trafficking, with around 10 human trafficking cases reported to their office every week.

“Most vulnerable are the young ladies and young men due to illegal mining,” he said, “Lesotho nationals get promised jobs and are brought to South Africa but to be involved in sex trafficking and some get exploited in homes.”

“They are recruited to work in illegal mining and there’s a syndicate behind this,” he said, adding that it was important to raise awareness about the issue so more young people who fell victim to this could be saved.

Lesotho was working with security agencies in South Africa such as the Hawks, South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, and the police to tackle the issue

Source: Nam News Network

A. Situation analysis

Description of the disaster

From 27 to 31 August 2021, Lesotho experienced windstorms which affected several districts across the country. Out of the ten districts, two (Qacha’s Nek and Thaba Tseka) were severely affected while the remaining eight districts experienced minor effects of the wind.

Soon after the disaster, Lesotho Red Cross Society (LRCS) and the Disaster Management Authority (including stakeholders from the District Disaster Management Team (DDMT) and the National Society) conducted a rapid assessment between the 29 and 31 of August 2021 revealed that in Qacha’s Nek and Thaba Tseka, cumulatively, 510 houses were affected by the storm. Out of the affected households, 162 were destroyed and families have been displaced, currently hosted by neighbours or relatives. The remaining 348 families whose houses were damaged are using undamaged part of the houses, although they have lost their basic household items. In Qacha’s Nek (Sehaba Theebe) 81 family latrines were blown away. The table below shows the number of affected families per district.

Based on the above, this DREF request will initially focus on supporting the urgent needs of the affected communities which include, immediate food support, temporary shelter materials, WASH and psychosocial support. Continuous assessments by volunteers will allow monitoring and any new development on the ground impacting the operation will be used to update the response as necessary. The DREF operation will focus in Qacha’s Nek and Thaba Tseka areas, where the impact of storms was greatest.

Source: International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies