zimdiaspora.com
By Mkhululi Mpofu
The Zimbabwean government has demonstrated minimal effort in prevention of human trafficking according to a report produced by the United States: Trafficking in Persons report 2011.
Desptie Zimbabwe being recognised as a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking, some high-level officials denied the existence of a trafficking problem in Zimbabwe, the report said.
The government is failing to comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so, leaving a lot of women and girls, men and boys in a lot of danger from the trafficking criminals.
Women and girls from Zimbabwean towns bordering South Africa and Zambia are subjected to sex trafficking in brothels that cater to long-distance truck drivers, while young women from rural areas are recruited into forced prostitution through the guise of beauty pageants held in cities.
The report identifies Zimbabwean men, women, and children that are subjected to forced labor in agriculture and domestic service in rural areas, as well as domestic servitude and sex trafficking in cities and towns. Children are also utilized in the commission of illegal activities, including gambling and drug smuggling.
The security forces are however commended for maintaining control of Marange District and effectively ending the forcing of young men and boys to mine for diamonds.
The illegal out migration to South Africa by young men and boys is well noted in the report. There they are forced to labour for months on farms, in mines, or in construction without pay before their employers report them to authorities for deportation.
"Many Zimbabwean women and some children willingly migrate to South Africa, often with the assistance of taxi drivers who transport them to the border at Beitbridge or nearby; some of the migrants are given to thugs, who subject them to violent attacks, rape, deception, and, in some cases, sex trafficking in Musina, Pretoria, Johannesburg, or Durban", stated the report.
Other counteries such as Angola, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Nigeria are identified as places where Zimbabwean women and men are lured into exploitative labour situations.
As required to update and report on these matters, the Zimbabwean government did not report investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of trafficking cases. The government does not seem to have a domestic bordy that monitors the exploitation of Zimbabweans and the government seems to rely on on an international organization to provide law enforcement training, coordinate victim care and repatriation, and lead prevention efforts.
There is still no comprehensive anti-trafficking law in the country and it is difficult to monitor the prosecution of criminals as the government did not record or release information on the number of trafficking investigations, prosecutions, or convictions it pursued over the year.
The reprt criticises the law for not prohibiting all forms of trafficking in persons. The Labor Relations Amendment Act prohibits forced labor and prescribes punishments of up to two years’ imprisonment, a fine of between $5 and $400, or both; these penalties are not sufficiently stringent. The Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act also prohibits procuring a person for unlawful sexual conduct, inside or outside of Zimbabwe, prescribing insufficiently stringent penalties of up to two years’ imprisonment, a fine up to $5,000, or both; if the victim is under 16, the sentence is increased to up to 10 years’ imprisonment. The Act also prohibits coercing or inducing another person to engage in unlawful sexual conduct with another person by threat or intimidation, prescribing sufficiently stringent penalties of one to five years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both. Pledging a female for forced marriage or to compensate for the death of a relative or any debt or obligations, is punishable under the Act, prescribing penalties of up to two years’ imprisonment, a fine up to $5,000, or both.
There is a need for more robust legislation in the country to help the problem. Incidentally, there is a draft anti-trafficking legislation that was finalised by the attorney general and the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2010. The draft legislation has not yet reached Parliament for consideration.
The recommendations for the Government of Zimbabwe are "Prosecute, convict, and punish trafficking offenders".
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