Abstract: Submission #110

Abstract All human beings in South Africa are having human rights and this affirmation is in the Constitution. Contrary to the abovementioned fact, human beings and especially vulnerable groups such as young women and girls find themselves in a sexual exploitation bondage called trafficking. The Quarterly Labour Force Survey, 2nd quarter (2024) confirmed that unemployment for women is at 35.8%. This situation, authenticate the fact that girls and young women are the targets in the trafficking industry. This study seeks to report on the qualitative desktop research conducted to determine the strategy to end human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Human capital theory underpinned the study. Purposive sampling was used to sample the relevant documents to gather data. Document analysis was employed to interpret the data. The findings confirmed that majority of the victims of trafficking are without certain forms of economic skills, hence they were easily deceived for better employment opportunities despite the lack of the necessary competencies. The climate change and the outburst of COVID-19 accelerated the issue of unemployment, poverty and hunger and therefore challenges the sustainable development goal 1 (poverty mitigation), 2 (hunger eradication) and 8 (employment and economic growth). Basically, social and economic issues cannot be dealt with separately from environmental, health, political, educational and others. The provision of educational campaigns on the causes and impacts of climate change as well as accredited skills development at the community level addressing sustainable development goal 4 (quality education) should be considered. Communities should be capacitated on the climate change, human trafficking and their implications as well as how to deal with them. On the other hand, different Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) should provide skills at community level where young women will be trained to acquire skills to make them competent in the market.