UNESCO TO HOST HUMAN TRAFFICKING PRESENTATION
	A report on human trafficking in Lesotho will be presented to stakeholders at a meeting to be held at the Lesotho National Commission for UNESCO hall in Maseru on August 14. This comes after UNESCO contracted two researchers Dr Victor Nkiwane of the National University of Lesotho and Miss Lydia 'Muso, Director of Lesotho Child Counseling Unit, to carry out research on the status of human trafficking in Lesotho, in 2005. The secretary-general of the Commission, Mrs Kekeletso Tsekoa, says the research was prompted by among others, rising levels of human trafficking in the Southern African nations, with victims being women and children who are taken from their countries to work as prostitutes, sex slaves and outright slaves. Mrs Tsekoa said the report covers wide-ranging issues and is expected to reveal the magnitude of women and child trafficking in Lesotho, as well as their destinations. The meeting will bring together a wide spectrum of stakeholders, including those who deal with issues relating to vulnerable children, gender and women, such as the Children and Gender Protection Unit of the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS). These stakeholders, are expected to strengthen the report if necessary, as well as form a National Steering Committee to look into the problem of human trafficking. It is also expected that they will come up with measures to be taken to sensitize the public on this scourge, in addition to interventions or response mechanisms to tackle it, depending on the scale at which it is conducted.
	Source: LENA