Many southern African economies are dependent on the extractive industries. These industries rely on low-cost labor, often supplied by migrants, typically acquired through labor brokers. Very little attention has so far been paid to trafficking of men into extractive industries or its connection with trafficked women in the region's mining hubs. Recent reports suggest that labor-brokering practices foster human trafficking, both by exposing migrant men to lack of pay and exploitative conditions and by creating male migratory patterns that generate demand for sex workers and associated trafficking of women and girls. While trafficking in persons violates human rights, and thus remains a priority issue globally, there is little or no evidence of an effective political response to mine-related trafficking in southern Africa. This article concludes with recommendations for legal and policy interventions, as well as an enhanced public health response, which if implemented would help reduce human trafficking toward mining sites. © 2013, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.

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policy approach HIV Infections policy implementation Human immunodeficiency virus infection economics occupational disease human Southern Africa statistics Social Problems Occupational Diseases family health political change mining Mental Disorders sexually transmitted disease human rights mental disease Sexually Transmitted Diseases Humans mining industry occupational accident Occupational Injuries male labor migration female occupational exposure tuberculosis social problem Africa Social Stigma prostitution human trafficking manpower disease transmission Article labor supply trafficking migration standard Africa, Southern Sex Workers Transients and Migrants public health