Zim Government Officials Complicit In Human Trafficking - Report

Zimbabwean government officials have been implicated in human trafficking, with some officials allegedly protecting the culprits.

According to the United States State Department Trafficking in Persons report on Zimbabwe, some officials are facilitating the trafficking of Zimbabweans to countries like Oman and Kuwait where they are subjected to slavery. Part of the report reads:

For the fourth consecutive year, the government did not investigate serious, credible claims that complicit magistrates, judges, and senior government officials undermined judicial independence, including by bribing judges with farms and homes.

Military officers patrolling the Beitbridge border post received bribes to facilitate unauthorised crossings, including in past years from organised criminal groups likely transporting victims of human trafficking.

During the previous reporting period, an NGO assisted four potential labour trafficking victims allegedly exploited on a Member of Parliament’s farm; the government did not report any action to investigate the allegations by the end of the reporting period.

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According to the report, there is no political will to fight human trafficking and victims who dare report abuse are intimidated by law enforcement agents. Reads the report:

The government arrested a Zimbabwean labour recruiter for recruiting Zimbabwean women to work in Oman, where they were allegedly exploited in domestic servitude; the case remained pending at the end of the reporting period.

The government reported collaborating with the governments of South Africa, Botswana and Oman on investigations involving the trafficking of Zimbabwean victims.

… Trafficking victims reported law enforcement threatened and intimidated them when they tried to report their cases.

More: The NewsHawks