PREVENTION
The government maintained efforts to prevent trafficking. In June 2014, it hosted the fourth National Symposium on Human Trafficking, focused on protecting migrants from trafficking and exploitation, bringing together government and other stakeholders to discuss allocation of resources, capacity of law enforcement, victim identification, and fast-tracking of human trafficking cases involving migrants. The government reported continued work on its 2012-2015 national action plan to combat trafficking, in partnership with NGOs and international organizations. The national secretariat and an inter-ministerial committee continued to oversee national anti-trafficking efforts; however, neither was able to meet outside of the symposium during the reporting period—limiting its effective oversight of efforts during the year. The 2014 national budget included allocation of funds for MCDMCH and MLSS to conduct trafficking awareness-raising campaigns organized in 14 targeted districts with an observed increase in suspected or reported trafficking cases.
During the year, MLSS employed 58 labor officers, a decrease from 108 in the previous reporting period; new officers did not receive anti-trafficking training. MLSS officials regulated fees paid by workers to recruitment agencies to screen for exploitative labor recruitment practices. MLSS, in conjunction with international organizations, conducted training for domestic worker recruitment agencies and domestic employee centers to assist the agencies in detecting trafficking situations and ensuring workers were aware of their rights. In the previous reporting period, the government began a review of the Employment Act to determine how to best address potential abuses in the informal sector that are not adequately covered under the current law, including domestic service; however, the review and its amendments remained incomplete.The government conducted multiple raids to remove individuals facilitating prostitution or purchasing services to reduce the demand for commercial sex; however, it did not make efforts to reduce the demand for forced labor. Zambian peacekeepers received anti-trafficking training on how to identify and protect potential trafficking victims. The government did not provide anti-trafficking training or guidance for its diplomatic personnel.

ZIMBABWE: Tier 3 
Zimbabwe is a source, transit, and destination country for men,
women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced

labor. Women and girls from Zimbabwean towns bordering South Africa, Mozambique, and Zambia are subjected to forced labor, including domestic servitude, and sex trafficking in brothels catering to long-distance truck drivers on both sides of the borders. Zimbabwean men, women, and children are subjected to forced labor in agriculture and domestic service in the country’s rural areas, as well as domestic servitude and sex trafficking in cities and towns. Family members recruit children and other relatives from rural areas for work in cities where they are subjected to domestic servitude or other forms of forced labor; some children, particularly orphans, are lured with promises of education or adoption. Children are forced to labor in the agricultural and mining sectors or to carry out illegal activities, including drug smuggling. Additionally, the practice of ngozi, giving a family member to another family to avenge the spirits of a murdered relative, creates a vulnerability to trafficking.
Zimbabwean men, women, and children migrate to South Africa, where some are forced to labor for months, often seasonally, on farms, at construction sites, in factories, or in mines without pay. Many Zimbabwean women and some children willingly migrate to South Africa, often with the assistance of taxi drivers who transport them to the border at Beitbridge or nearby. Some of the migrants are transferred to criminal gangs that subject them to abuse, including forced prostitution in Musina, Pretoria, Johannesburg, or Durban. Zimbabwean women and men are lured into exploitative labor situations in agriculture, construction, information technology, and hospitality largely in neighboring countries; some subsequently become victims of forced labor, and some women become victims of forced prostitution. Reports continue of trafficking cases involving Zimbabwean women lured to China under the pretense of professional and hospitality-sector jobs, some of whom are subjected to sex trafficking.
Men, women, and children predominantly from East Africa are transported through Zimbabwe en route to South Africa; some of these migrants are trafficking victims. Refugees from Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo reportedly travel from Zimbabwe’s Tongogara Refugee Camp to Harare, where they are exploited and, in some cases, forced into prostitution. Chinese nationals are reportedly forced to labor in restaurants in Zimbabwe. Chinese construction and mining companies reportedly employ practices indicative of forced labor, including verbal, physical, and sexual abuse, and various means of coercion to induce work in unsafe or otherwise undesirable conditions.There were increased reports of children from Mozambique being subjected to forced labor, including in street vending.
The Government of Zimbabwe does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so.While the government passed the “Trafficking in Persons Act” in June 2014, it failed to ensure prohibitions under the law were consistent with the international definition of trafficking in persons under the 2000 UNTIP Protocol; rather, contrary to international law, the 2014 act serves in effect to prohibit transportation-based crimes.The government did not report any anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts during the reporting period. Official complicity in trafficking crimes remained a concern. The government made minimal efforts to protect trafficking victims, instead relying on NGOs to identify and assist victims. In January 2015, it established an inter-ministerial anti- trafficking committee; however, it did not report on any actions conducted by the committee during the year. In November

2014, the government participated in a national action planning workshop; however, it has yet to create a national action plan to combat human trafficking.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ZIMBABWE:
Amend the 2014 anti-trafficking legislation to incorporate a definition of trafficking consistent with the 2000 UNTIP Protocol; increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses, including those allegedly involving officials; convict and punish trafficking offenders; formalize procedures for identifying victims and transferring them to the care of appropriate governmental or non-governmental service providers; train officials on victim identification and referral procedures and relevant legislation; provide financial or in-kind support to NGOs and international organizations offering victim services; develop and implement a national action plan to combat trafficking; incorporate trafficking crimes into police procedures for recording and reporting crime data; and continue to raise awareness of human trafficking and the availability of assistance for victims.