The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has supported a three-day study tour by Zimbabwean Members of Parliament to neighbouring Zambia to familiarize them with Zambia’s implementation of its counter-trafficking laws, according to a statement by the African Press Organisation.
The study is reported to have focused on Zambia’s implementation of the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, also known as the Palermo Protocol.
It is also said to have followed significant steps taken by Zimbabwe to implement counter trafficking legislation, culminating in its ratification of the Protocol earlier in July. The country is now transposing the Protocol into its domestic legal system, according to reliable sources.
Zambia has already transposed the Protocol into its domestic legislation and is implementing those laws.
According to the US State Department’s 2012 Trafficking in Persons Report, Zimbabwe is still a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking.
The study tour followed an IOM counter trafficking workshop for Zimbabwean MPs conducted last year. It examined global human trafficking trends and dynamics and identified gaps in existing Zimbabwean counter trafficking laws.
