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29 June 2020
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Story Xolisa Mnuwka
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Photo Supplied
Vote for Kovsie alumna, Thato Mosehle, as she competes as one of the Miss SA 2020 top 15 semi-finalists.
UFS alumni are known for thriving and standing out among their peers. Twenty-five-year-old Dr Thato Mosehle is no exception, as she competes for the crown as one of this year’s top 15 contenders for the 2020 Miss South Africa title.
“I’m so grateful to be part of the top 15 semi-finalists for Miss SA 2020! Words cannot describe looking forward to the journey ahead, to grow, to learn, to help, and to inspire,” shared Thato after the announcement was made on the official Miss SA social-media channels.
UFS law researcher part of international project to produce human trafficking reference book
2017-03-17
Trafficking in Persons has been in the spotlight as an ever-growing crime around the world. Research being done in South Africa by various universities over the years has yielded results that are internationally recognised.
Part of this work has been done by Prof Beatri Kruger, Research Associate at the Centre for Human Rights at the University of the Free State (UFS), who has been involved in research that has created awareness around the world on various methods of human trafficking in Africa. She is currently working on co-authoring a chapter in the International Handbook on Human Trafficking to be published by Palgrave, the first of its kind and a major reference work in this field, with Marcel van der Watt, a lecturer at the University of South Africa (Unisa) Department of Police Practice. The reference book is a massive international project that will have more than 60 international contributors and will be published in 2018.
Contribution to international research
The chapter is titled: Breaking bondages: Methods to control victims, ‘Juju’ and human trafficking. It explores the methods used by Nigerian and other West African traffickers, namely “juju” rituals, to subdue their victims for sexual exploitation in various parts of the world. The chapter further charts various physical, financial and the psychological control mechanisms, essential in establishing an informed counter-trafficking global response.
The book and other research being done is a step in the right direction in further understanding specific practices, and can be used to augment international research, support the work of NGOs, law enforcement agencies and individuals who work with victims worldwide, to be able to understand the tools used by perpetrators, and to stop the crime from growing.
Prof Kruger said there were new opportunities at the research division of the UFS Centre for Human Rights to explore human rights violations that occur in human-trafficking scenarios, thus contributing towards more efficient strategies to combat this crime.