Online Reporter
Gibson Nyikadzino
Zimpapers Politics Hub
The International Labour Organisation says at least $236 billion is believed to be generated annually in illicit profits from the global human trafficking industry, according to its 2024 report.
A decade ago, these illicit profits were $150 billion and have now increased by 37 percent.
What the human trafficking industry generates annually is an equivalent, on average, of a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of what could be considered 16 of the less economically developed economies in Africa.
This comparison brings into picture the extent of the problem human trafficking has become.
It is a controlled grey industry that is interlinked to some things that appear legitimate, but also with a questionable legitimacy.
Many nationalities have been victims of human trafficking, including Zimbabweans.
In the case of Zimbabwe, the country domesticated several international and regional instruments to combating human trafficking into the Trafficking in Persons Act (Chapter 9:25) of 2014.
Additionally, Zimbabwe in 2007 also ratified the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC) to curb organised crimes, including trafficking and in 2013 acceded to the Palermo Protocol, to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.
Complementing the laws and instruments is the Anti-Trafficking in Persons National Plan of Action 2023-2028 that Government launched. Alternatively, Section 35 (3) (a) of the Constitution states that “all Zimbabwean citizens are entitled to the following rights and benefits, in addition to any others granted to them by law — (a) to the protection of the State wherever they may be.”
This protection is also extended to victims of human trafficking that might be located and known to be in other jurisdictions where there might have gone in different circumstances.
Diplomatic channels have been opened by Government using intergovernmental and interstate agencies to facilitate the coming to Zimbabwe of victims or survivors of human trafficking.
Victims of human trafficking syndicates who had been promised lucrative jobs in the Middle East have been brought to Zimbabwe after negotiations to free them from enslavement.
Government has been prudently practical in ensuring that its obligations are met and citizens are protected.
Dangling the carrot
Of late, Government has raised concern over citizens who have skipped borders and making a great trek to jurisdictions that are engulfed in war and where they end up as servicemen sent to the battlefront for these sides.
On their exit, they use undesignated points, their passports are not stamped that they are leaving the country and not stamped, too, that they have entered a particular country.
According to the Centre for Combating Human Trafficking (CCHT), these citizens illegally leave Zimbabwe, go to South Africa and then Kenya. It is from Kenya that they find themselves in war jurisdictions, or end up as slave labourers in countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos, among others.
Through networked strategies, these people will have been lured and promised well-remunerating and attractive jobs with desired perks that push their whims to leave the country.
The promises will be too good to refuse and too attractive to let them slip.
Government’s precarious position
Under normal circumstances, when one leaves the country and deciding to stay or work in another country, it is encouraged that they notify their presence to embassies in countries they will be resident.
This helps in terms of accountability, transparency and makes both the Government and citizen responsible towards addressing challenges that one may encounter.
However, when someone decides to leave the country illegally, and stay in another country illegally, they make themselves unaccountable to anyone and it is difficult to ensure their safety.
This is compounded when one goes in war jurisdictions and dies at the battlefront.
Because of their nationality, it is the Embassy of Zimbabwe that will be approached to facilitate the repatriation of their remains to Zimbabwe.
It means Government will be put in a precarious situation where through its agencies starts to look for relatives of either the deceased, or the one who was lured through a sophisticated human trafficking network, to help establish the legitimacy of the circumstances under which one left in order to start negotiations.
It is not easy for the Government to turn a blind eye to the obligation of helping citizens, also, it puts Government in a volatile and diplomatic fix when citizens do not want to be open about their travels.
Before citizens make decisions to leave the country at the promise of jobs, they need to ask themselves whether their action is also advancing or is likely to damage the interests and reputation of Zimbabwe.
No superstition about safety
There is a general belief that most people hold when it comes to travelling abroad.
This is informed by the desire to escape envy or that some people, if informed earlier before the trip materialises, they will throw spanners into the way. When it comes to one’s safety, this belief is both an illusion and disillusion.
Though in a globalised world, rarely have been Zimbabweans been found to be getting opportunities of work in countries like Cambodia, Myanmar, or Laos. If they are there, it is just an exceptionally insignificant number working with either United Nations agencies or other international institutions.
Before such travels upon job offers, or any opportunity, one also needs to be judicious and make inquiries through appropriate ministries, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. This even includes the validation of institutions, and the verification process to establish the authenticity of the job offers.
It is imperative that one does not sneak out of the country for an unknown job opportunity that will be technically walking them into the grave because human trafficking is real.
It is a modern form of slavery that no one should talk about lightly because it involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to forced labour. It is the work of organised criminal groups that exploit institutions to their ugly benefit. No Zimbabwean should fall victim.
Government protects all Zimbabweans, however, those who do not want to be accountable to government and open about their whereabouts cannot be forcibly detained or stopped from making their choices. These choices made in the dark, at times have catastrophic consequences.
