Human Trafficking in  [Zimbabwe]  [other countries]
Street Children in  [Zimbabwe]  [other countries]
Child Prostitution in  [Zimbabwe]  [other countries]
 

Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery

In the first ten years of the 21st Century  -  2000 to 2009

Republic of Zimbabwe

The government of Zimbabwe faces a wide variety of difficult economic problems as it struggles with an unsustainable fiscal deficit, an overvalued official exchange rate, hyperinflation, and bare store shelves. Its 1998-2002 involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo drained hundreds of millions of dollars from the economy. The government's land reform program, characterized by chaos and violence, has badly damaged the commercial farming sector, the traditional source of exports and foreign exchange and the provider of 400,000 jobs, turning Zimbabwe into a net importer of food products.  [The World Factbook, U.S.C.I.A. 2009]

Zimbabwe is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. Large scale migration of Zimbabweans to surrounding countries has increased – as they flee a progressively more desperate situation at home – and NGOs, international organizations, and governments in neighboring countries report that some of these Zimbabweans face human trafficking. Rural Zimbabwean men, women, and children are trafficked within the country to farms for agricultural labor and to cities for forced domestic labor and commercial sexual exploitation. NGOs believe internal trafficking increased during the year, largely due to the closure of schools, worsening political violence, and a faltering economy.   - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009  [full country report]

 

 

CAUTION:  The following links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Zimbabwe.  Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false.  No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

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Reports of Rape and Torture Inside Zimbabwean Militia

For Ms. Siyangapi's secret was not merely her own. Her appearance was also testimony to one of the least documented — and most brutal — practices of the military enforcers of Zimbabwe's authoritarian government, enforcers from whom she now has to hide. Ms. Siyangapi told listeners that month that she had been abducted from a Bulawayo street market in November 2001 and forcibly enrolled in the National Youth Service, a ragtag, government-run paramilitary group formed three years ago by the government to stifle growing political dissent among Zimbabwe's civilians.  Her duties, however, were not political: during her nine-month stay in a training camp and later at a paramilitary base, she said, she was raped almost nightly, sometimes several times a night, by some of the hundreds of young male conscripts there.  To the extent she had proof, she offered it to the crowd: a 6-month-old baby girl named Nocthula, or Peace.  "At night, they removed the globes from the light sockets," Ms. Siyangapi, 22, said in an interview at a hide-out in South Africa, to which she fled after escaping Bulawayo in July. "Sometimes there were 10 boys. They didn't leave until 3 a.m. If you cried, you were beaten."

Amnesty International documented cases of rape within the Youth Service in a report released in April. The Amani Trust, perhaps the most active human rights group currently in Zimbabwe, has estimated that as many as 1,000 women are being held in Youth Service camps as sexual servants. The trust, an affiliate of the International Council for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture, assists victims of political violence.

Tanya: It’s Better to Die of AIDS Than Hunger

‘Soon after the death of my father I was evicted from the house where my parents lodged in Mbare.  I went to stay with my grandmother who lives in Mabvuku.  There were 10 of us children staying there and we had all been left by deceased relatives.  Life was difficult because, being an old woman, my grandmother had no means of sustaining herself and all of us at the same time.’

 

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U.S. Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs

INCIDENCE AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - The traditional practice of offering a young girl as payment to settle inter-family feuds continues to occur in Zimbabwe, as does early marriage of young girls.  Zimbabwe is considered a source and transit country for a small number of children trafficked for forced labor and sexual exploitation.  Within Zimbabwe, a small number of children are reportedly trafficked internally to southern border towns for commercial sexual exploitation.

Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS – The traditional practice of offering a young girl in marriage as compensatory payment in interfamily disputes continued during the year. Arranged marriage of young girls also continued. The legal age for a civil marriage is 16 for girls and 18 for boys. Customary marriage, recognized under the Customary Marriages Act, does not provide for a minimum marriage age for either boys or girls; however, the SOA prohibits sexual relations with anyone younger than 16 years of age. Child welfare NGOs reported that they occasionally saw evidence of underage marriages, particularly in isolated religious communities or among HIV/AIDS orphans but lacked meaningful statistics on its prevalence. Musasa Project reported an increase in instances where families pledged girls in marriage and even unborn babies in exchange for economic protection. Such girls often "married" well before the age of 12.

There was little information on the extent of trafficking beyond anecdotal reports of girls exchanging sex for passage across the South African border, women lured to other countries with false job promises, immigration officials of neighboring countries sexually abusing children during deportation, children working as domestic or agricultural workers, and employers requiring sex from undocumented Zimbabwean workers in South Africa under threat of deportation. There also were anecdotal reports that victims were trafficked to border areas and into Botswana and South Africa. Likewise, there were anecdotal reports that victims were transited through the country to South Africa from Botswana, Ghana, and East Africa.

Anecdotal information suggested that citizens who emigrated to seek a better life were exploited while employed illegally in a neighboring country, when being deported, or after being lured to another country by false employment schemes. The groups at highest risk were HIV/AIDS orphans and displaced persons.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 1996

[13] The Committee notes with concern the persistence of behavioral attitudes in the society as well as cultural and religious practices, which, as recognized by the State party, hamper the implementation of children's rights. Mention can be made in this regard of the difficulties in ensuring birth registration in remote areas of abandoned and refugee children, as well as of the situation of female victims of practices such as ngozi (girl child pledging), lobola (bride price) and early marriage, and of disabled children.

Combat Human Trafficking [Access Restricted]

allafrica.com/stories/200704100256.html

COMBAT HUMAN TRAFFICKING  - Markets for body parts in the southern Africa region seem to be on the upsurge as reports indicate that numbers of missing girl children and women are shooting up, particularly in neighbouring countries.  The human parts found in the plastic bag in Bindura are suspected breasts and private parts of a woman probably trafficked under the pretext of job promises.  Human body parts are believed to enhance profits in business and the belief seems to be widespread in this region.

Zimbabwe - A centre for Human Trafficking

[scroll down  or select this title from the menu at the top, if visible]

The Zimbabwean government has rejected assertions by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) that human trafficking is a growing phenomenon in the southern African country, despite the existence of enormous evidence on the ground.

United States Mulls Further Sanctions on Zimbabwe Over Human Trafficking

The U.S. administration said it might impose sanctions on Zimbabwe, already hit with so-called targeted sanctions aimed at the country's leadership, because the Harare government has failed to take action on human trafficking.

The White House said Zimbabwe made no progress during a 90-day grace period given a number of countries listed in June as deficient by the State Department. Other countries called “worst offenders” included Nnorth Korea, Iran, Sudan and Cuba.

Hunger forces Zim girls into forced marriages

www.mg.co.za/article/2006-05-17-hunger-forces-zim-girls-into-forced-marriages

www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=271977&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/

Faced with starvation after six years of poor harvests, Zimbabweans are resorting to centuries-old traditions of "forced marriages", known in the local Shona language as "kuzvarira", for survival.

Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 7   Civil Liberties: 6   Status: Not Free

Human Rights Overview by Human Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide

Nip Human Trafficking in the Bud

Reports of organised human trafficking and smuggling gangs in Zimbabwe are disturbing and call for swift action to nip it in the bud before the problem gets deeply rooted.  Scores of foreigners, mostly Asians of Pakistan origin have been smuggled into the country, where they perceive huge opportunities to engage in illicit activities.  Immigration officials and the police have managed to bust trafficking rings involving nationals from Pakistan, Rwanda, Burundi and Somalia

But for the majority of the victims of human trafficking, promises of wealth and better life often turn out to be modern-day slavery.  Young men and women are lured by agents who cash in on the dreams of the poor to make it big in developed countries or African countries with opportunities like Zimbabwe, South Africa and Botswana.  In Europe, the majority of the victims are women, who come from eastern European countries such as Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, and Lithuania. However, increasing numbers are also coming from Africa, Zimbabwe included.

Section IV  Clinical and therapeutic responses [PDF]

www.hsrcpress.ac.za/downloadpdf.php?pdffile=files%2FPDF%2F2038%2F2038_04_Sexual_Abuse%7E09112004022501PM.pdf&downloadfilename=Sexual Abuse of Young Children in Southern Africa - Section IV%3A Clinical and therapeutic responses

[Sect IV, Ch 19] CASE STUDIES OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE IN ZIMBABWE (BY CLARE RUDD) – INTRODUCTION - In this chapter, case studies concerning children who were seen at the clinics are presented.

Reports of Rape and Torture Inside Zimbabwean Militia

For Ms. Siyangapi's secret was not merely her own. Her appearance was also testimony to one of the least documented — and most brutal — practices of the military enforcers of Zimbabwe's authoritarian government, enforcers from whom she now has to hide. Ms. Siyangapi told listeners that month that she had been abducted from a Bulawayo street market in November 2001 and forcibly enrolled in the National Youth Service, a ragtag, government-run paramilitary group formed three years ago by the government to stifle growing political dissent among Zimbabwe's civilians.  Her duties, however, were not political: during her nine-month stay in a training camp and later at a paramilitary base, she said, she was raped almost nightly, sometimes several times a night, by some of the hundreds of young male conscripts there.  To the extent she had proof, she offered it to the crowd: a 6-month-old baby girl named Nocthula, or Peace.  "At night, they removed the globes from the light sockets," Ms. Siyangapi, 22, said in an interview at a hide-out in South Africa, to which she fled after escaping Bulawayo in July. "Sometimes there were 10 boys. They didn't leave until 3 a.m. If you cried, you were beaten."

Amnesty International documented cases of rape within the Youth Service in a report released in April. The Amani Trust, perhaps the most active human rights group currently in Zimbabwe, has estimated that as many as 1,000 women are being held in Youth Service camps as sexual servants. The trust, an affiliate of the International Council for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture, assists victims of political violence.

Tanya: It’s Better to Die of AIDS Than Hunger

‘Soon after the death of my father I was evicted from the house where my parents lodged in Mbare.  I went to stay with my grandmother who lives in Mabvuku.  There were 10 of us children staying there and we had all been left by deceased relatives.  Life was difficult because, being an old woman, my grandmother had no means of sustaining herself and all of us at the same time.’

Earning a Life: Working Children in Zimbabwe

The important question we need to address is not the fact that children work, but rather the conditions under which they work. Stopping children from working for their livelihood is likely to do them more harm than good. We need to prevent not the work of children, but the abuse of working children.

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Human Trafficking in  [Zimbabwe]  [other countries]
Street Children in  [Zimbabwe]  [other countries]
Child Prostitution in  [Zimbabwe]  [other countries]