Human Trafficking

Human trafficking has evolved into one of the challenges of contemporary global migration management and the trade is now considered the third largest source of profits generating between USD$ 6billion and USD$ 9billion annually for transnational criminal organizations, with only drug trafficking and weapons smuggling being more lucrative. Each year an estimated 800,000 to 4,000,000 women, children and men are trafficked across international borders. Human trafficking is by definition a violation of human rights, as it entails coercion, exploitation and abuse. Trafficking is defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. Human trafficking is a process that consists of 3 stages: 1) the recruitment of a person 2) the transportation of this person and 3) harbour and exploitation of this person.

Three Stages of Human Trafficking

  1. The recruitment of a person

    The recruitment of a person for the purpose of trafficking can take various forms:

    • Fully deceptive: victims are lured by false promises of jobs, marriage, education, etc.
    • Partially deceptive: victims may be aware of the work they will be doing but not under what conditions
    • Recruitment through threat or use of force
    • Recruitment through the abuse of power
    • Giving payments to a person in control over another person
    • Abduction

  2. The transportation of this person

    The transportation of a person for the purpose of trafficking can have the following characteristics:

    • Transportation can happen across borders or inside one country
    • The border crossings can be legal or illegal
    • Transportation can involve illegal activities (illegal border cross, bribery of authorities, etc)
    • The victim can be abused during the journey
    • Transportation can occur by car, bus, taxi, boat, plane or on foot

  3. The exploitation of this person

    Traffickers transport their victims for the sole purpose of personal gain, often either to make large amounts of money from their exploitation or to obtain free service or labour. The exploitation of a person can take various forms, for example:

    • Sexual exploitation
    • Forced labour
    • Slavery or practices similar to slavery
    • Removal of human organs or body parts
    • Debt bondage
    • Forced marriage
    • False or illegal adoptions

    STOP HUMAN TRAFFICKING! If you are offered a job abroad or in anoother part of the country verify first to see if it is a legitimate company/employer before you accept the offer! Call (FOR ZIMBABWE) toll free: 0-800-32-2222 or 04-336899 for advice.

Child Trafficking

Child Trafficking is the trafficking of a person under the age of 18. It is agreed that when applied to children, the means employed to traffic them are irrelevant to assessing whether trafficking took place, as children do not have the capacity to make informed decisions. In any circumstance where a child has been recruited, transported and harboured for the purposes of exploitation, these acts constitute child trafficking. An estimated 1.2 million children are being trafficked globally and sold as mere commodities, generating huge profits for traffickers. Furthermore, IOM estimates that one third of the victims of trafficking are minors.

What Crimes Do Traffickers Commit?

  • Violation of immigration laws
  • Document forgery
  • Kidnapping / abduction
  • Fraud
  • Assault and sexual abuse
  • Money laundering
  • Corruption of officials
  • Withholding of documents or document theft
  • Sexual crimes
  • Violence, torture and murder
  • Extortion
  • False imprisonment
  • Tax evasion

What Is The Role Of IOM In Addressing Human Trafficking?

  1. Protection

    Victim Assistance: providing victims with psycho-social support, counselling, medical assistance, legal advice, temporary shelter, reintegration support, family tracing and reunification

  2. Prevention

    Reducing the incidence of Human Trafficking by disseminating information and prevention messages through:

    a)Capacity building (carrying out training workshops on human trafficking) with:
    • Zimbabwe Republic Police
    • Immigration Officials
    • Magistrates/Prosecutors
    • Social workers
    • Non-Governmental Organizations
    • Teachers
    • Schools
    • Communities
    • Embassies and consulates

    b) Information awareness (disseminating information and prevention message) through;

    • Radio, TV, website, newspapers
    • Posters, brochures, flyers, stickers with information on human trafficking
    • Road shows in urban and rural areas
    • Research on human trafficking to understand what is the situation on human trafficking so that we can come up with programmes and activities addressing the programmes.
    • Establishment of an effective referral system involving both Government and NGOs

  3. Prosecution

    Policies and Legislation: supporting the developpement and implementation of anti-trafficking national policies, legislations and prevention programs to protect the rights of the victims and prosecute traffickers.

Useful Links

For more information or services you can visit other NGOs and UN Agecies

IOM| United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime|The UN Refugee Agency| UNICEF|UN HABITAT| The Shelter Centre|Save the Children Int|UNIFEM


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Useful Documents

Palermo Protocol
United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children.
 Protocol Against the Smuggling on Migrants by Land Sea and Air
Prevent and combat the smuggling of migrants , as well as to promote cooperation among States Parties to that end, while protecting the rights of smuggled persons.
 Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others
Seeks to punish any person who procures, entices or leads away for the purpose of prostitution, another person even with the consent of that person and or exploits the prostitution of another person even with the consent of that person.
 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of their Families
Ensures the effective exercise of the right of migrant workers and their families to protection and assistance in the territory of any other contracting party.
 Immigration Act (ZIMBABWE)
AN ACT to regulate the entry of persons into and the departure of persons from Zimbabwe; to prohibit the entry into and to provide for the removal from Zimbabwe of certain persons; to provide for the control of aliens; and to provide for matters incidental to or connected with the foregoing
Tourism Act (SADC)
AN ACT to establish a Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and to provide for its functions
 SADC Protocol on the Facilitation of the Movement of People (DRAFT)
To provide policies aimed at the progressive elimination of obstacles to the movement of persons of the Region generally into and within the territories of SADC.
 Convention on the Rights of the Child
Provides that in all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interest of the child shall be a primary consideration.