adminIvan Zhakata
Herald Correspondent
THE Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage’s Immigration Department has launched the first-ever National Migration Policy (NMP), a blueprint that will provide a holistic framework for migration management in Zimbabwe.
The NMP is designed to respond to emerging global migration dynamics and issues of human smuggling, human trafficking, refugee flows, xenophobia, brain drain, irregular migration and mass repatriations of Zimbabwean nationals, among others.
It was developed through the support of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on National Migration Policy and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
Speaking at the launch ceremony in Harare, Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Kazembe Kazembe said the launch of the NMP sets an unprecedented milestone in the history of migration management in Zimbabwe.
“Since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, there has not been a substantive and purposive holistic national migration policy that seeks to optimise on the opportunities inherent in the various global migration dynamics and minimise the threats associated with the same phenomenon,” he said.
“It remains apparent that globalisation has transformed the movement of people across the world thereby affecting business, economics, science, technology, religion, climate, the environment and communities, just to mention a few. Inevitably, the responsibilities of governments have widened and their obligation to facilitate humane, safe and orderly migration is the clarion call.
“The adoption of the Zimbabwe National Tourism Policy, the National Diaspora Policy and the Zimbabwe National Labour Migration Policy reflects the Government’s progressive appreciation of the role of migration in national development.
This National Migration Policy, therefore, gives impetus to the aforementioned policies by providing a framework through which migration matters are streamlined and managed in Zimbabwe in a coherent and coordinated manner across policies, laws and institutions.”
The NMP was strongly guided by the country’s National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) which envisaged a prosperous and empowered middle-income society by 2030.
He said the policy served as a bold and transformative policy framework underpinning the drive towards the attainment of Vision 2030.
“It encapsulates intentional mobilisation of migration growth vectors focusing on the liberalisation of movement of both foreign, domestic and investors or business people,” Minister Kazembe said.
“The policy document exhibits a deliberate effort to leverage Zimbabwe’s competitive resource advantage both human and natural, as it highlights the need for increased critical skills development and retention and promotes the return of professionals in various capacities for purposes of their active participation in the mainstream economy. The policy document further exhibits a commitment to the tenets of good corporate governance through the observance of human rights of all migrants.”
Chief Director of Immigration Ms Respect Gono said the NMP will attend to gaps that were not addressed by the current legislative and policy instruments. The NMP sought to align migration governance so that it is in sync with current migration trends.
“The NMP seeks to engender seamlessness in the flow and movement of persons in tandem with African Union (AU) Agenda 2063 aspirations. Agenda 2063, among other issues speaks to the desire to have a ‘seamless continent with seamless borders’ by year 2063. The formulation of the NMP was informed by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals, the Global Compact for Migration, Migration Governance Framework, African Union Migration Framework and the Southern African Development Community policies as complemented by the Zimbabwe Constitution.
IOM Zimbabwe chief of mission Mr Mario Lito Malanca congratulated the Government on the launch of the policy and highlighted the importance of continued cooperation with partners. He reiterated the importance of effective implementation of the policy for Zimbabwe to reap the benefits of migration.
“The Government of Zimbabwe had demonstrated their sincere commitment to managing migration in an effective way through the adoption of this policy. The policy is a living document and a dynamic tool which if implemented well, as Government has committed to do, will advance the socio-economic well-being of migrants and society,” he said.
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