[ Human Trafficking, Country-by-Country ]

ZAMBIA (Tier 2) – Extracted in part from the U.S. State Dept 2023 TIP Report

The Government of Zambia does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so.  The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, if any, on its anti-trafficking capacity; therefore Zambia was upgraded to Tier 2.  These efforts included amending the anti-trafficking law to criminalize all forms of trafficking and creating a new department to implement the government’s anti-trafficking efforts.  The government increased victim identifications and investigations of alleged traffickers, including complicit officials.  The government mandated use of the NRM for referring trafficking victims to care by law enforcement, immigration officials, and other frontline officers.  The government increased training for law enforcement and frontline officials on victim identification and human trafficking investigations.  The government opened an additional shelter for trafficking victims and increased resources allocated to overall anti-trafficking efforts.  However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas.  Due to gaps in awareness of victim identification procedures and lack of resources, the government inappropriately penalized some trafficking victims solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked.  Due to conflation between human trafficking and migrant smuggling in the anti-trafficking law, officials sometimes misidentified trafficking crimes.

Prioritized Recommendations

Ensure victims are not inappropriately penalized solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked, especially for immigration violations, engaging in commercial sex, or street vending. 

Train frontline officials to proactively identify and refer trafficking victims to appropriate services according to the NRM by screening for trafficking indicators among vulnerable populations, including individuals involved in commercial sex, migrants, refugees, unhoused children, and workers from the People’s Republic of China (PRC). 

Expand and institutionalize specialized training for police, including human trafficking focal points in police stations, immigration officials, prosecutors, and magistrates on investigating and prosecuting trafficking crimes and differentiating trafficking as separate from migrant smuggling. 

Consistently investigate and prosecute human trafficking crimes, separate from migrant smuggling cases, particularly trafficking of children in domestic servitude and sex trafficking, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms. 

Establish a network of interpreters to ensure provision of interpretation services for foreign victims to deliver comprehensive legal and protective services. 

Appropriately fund and staff the Department of Anti-Human Trafficking (DAHT) to effectively coordinate and build capacity across the government and with district committees and implement the NAP on trafficking in persons. 

Seek input from survivors of human trafficking and civil society organizations on crafting anti-trafficking policies and programs. 

Amend the Employment Act to close loopholes that allow recruiters to charge fees to workers and hold fraudulent labor recruiters criminally accountable through enforcement of strong regulations and oversight of labor recruitment companies. 

Enhance data collection on trafficking cases and trends, separating data regarding migrant smuggling, illegal adoption, and other crimes. 

Amend the anti-trafficking law to distinguish human trafficking crimes from migrant smuggling.