VZCZCXYZ0001
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSB #0350/01 1160636
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 260636Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1401

UNCLAS HARARE 000350 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR S. HILL 
AF/RSA FOR M. HARPOLE 
G/TIP FOR A. LEMAR-MEREDITH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL ZI
SUBJECT: ZIMBABWE: TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS SOLICITATION FOR 
G/TIP-MANAGED FY2007 FUNDS 
 
REF: STATE 00028157 
 
¶1. (U) In response to reftel, Embassy Harare forwards the 
following five summary excerpts from anti-trafficking 
proposals submitted by International Organization for 
Migration (IOM), Save the Children Norway, Musasa Project, 
Girl Child Network and Human Rights Trust of Southern Africa 
(SAHRIT). The complete proposals and other supporting 
documentation will be sent via email to Amy LeMar-Meredith in 
the G/TIP programs coordination office. 
 
--International Organization for Migration (IOM) 
Requested Funding: $500,000 
Project Title: Eliminating Trafficking in Persons in Zimbabwe 
Project Duration: 24 months 
 
Proposal Abstract: Zimbabwe is a source, transit and 
destination country for women, men and children trafficked 
for forced labor and sexual exploitation, with the majority 
trafficked to South Africa for farm labor or commercial 
sexual exploitation. The overall goal of this project is to 
reduce and prevent internal and cross-border trafficking in 
Zimbabwe and to offer assistance and protection to victims of 
trafficking in persons (TIP). The purpose is to enhance the 
institutional capacities of civil society and relevant 
Government agencies to combat trafficking through the 
development of comprehensive, sustainable, well coordinated 
and integrated activities promoting prevention measures, 
protection of victims and prosecution of traffickers. The 
project is furthermore a direct response to the Zimbabwean 
Government's expressed interest and request for IOM to 
implement and coordinate counter-trafficking activities in 
the country. 
 
The strategy focuses on three main components, which build 
and complement IOM's already existing counter-trafficking 
work in Zimbabwe. The three main components are: 
institutional capacity building, information awareness 
raising and direct assistance to victims of trafficking. 
Institutional capacity building aims at strengthening local 
institutional capacities such as civil society organizations 
(CSOs) and relevant Government bodies to enhance their 
ability to address trafficking. An information awareness 
raising campaign aims to sensitize and inform potential 
migrants, victims of trafficking and their families about the 
risks of internal and cross-border trafficking and irregular 
migration and its linkages to HIV/AIDS, to empower them to 
protect themselves from falling prey to traffickers, as well 
as to change the general attitude towards victims of 
trafficking. Furthermore, direct assistance to victims of 
both internal and cross-border trafficking will be provided 
and a shelter for children and a toll-free help-line will be 
established. IOM will also establish an effective referral 
mechanism involving both Government and CSOs with the 
objective of delivering direct assistance to victims and 
prosecution of traffickers. The project will also pilot some 
livelihood intervention activities in communities that have 
been identified as the areas from where most children are 
being trafficked from. 
 
The project will target the following locations: Harare, 
Beitbridge, Plumtree, Chiredzi and Chipinge districts. The 
rational behind choosing these locations is that IOM through 
its previous counter-trafficking and irregular migration work 
through out the country has identified theses areas to be 
hotspots for trafficking activities. The project will be 
implemented in two phases where phase two will build on phase 
one. 
 
Upon conclusion of the two year project it is IOM's hope that 
trafficking from and/ or to Zimbabwe will no longer be as 
attractive as it is today due to a greater capacity on the 
part of the Government, CSOs and other stakeholders to 
identify, protect and assist victims.  Additionally, the 
public will have a greater awareness of the issue and risks 
associated with the trafficking phenomena. Furthermore, 
Zimbabwe will have comprehensive and sustainable strategies 
put in place at district and provincial levels to deal with 
TIP. 
 
Post's Notes: Of the groups submitting proposals, IOM is in 
the best position to engage the government to address the 
trafficking problem in Zimbabwe. Additionally, this proposal 
leverages IOM's ongoing regional anti-trafficking program 
managed from South Africa as well as the IOM reception center 
already open in Beitbridge and another planned for Plumtree. 
Based on its existing relationships and experience, IOM 
should be able to effectively collaborate with the Government 
of Zimbabwe and CSOs working on the issue to build a strong 
 
 
victim referral and assistance network. 
 
--Save the Children Norway (SCN) 
Requested Funding: US$420,877 
Project Title: Prevention and Protection of Trafficking in 
Women and Children 
Project Duration: 24 months 
 
The proposed project, although conceived by the Save the 
Children Norway, is a collaborative response by the Save the 
Children Alliance (SCA) to the illegal movement of children 
across borders from Zimbabwe to neighboring countries, and 
aims at addressing gaps existing particularly in border 
areas, regarding the protection of children susceptible to 
pressures that result in the illicit migrations. The project 
intends to improve care and protection for deported 
unaccompanied children. The mitigation approach will be based 
on prevention, protection, and prosecution initiatives and 
improving referral and support services for the children 
through relevant organizations in the target areas, including 
provision of direct and indirect support services to children 
to foster reunification and reintegration. 
 
It is anticipated that activities shall adopt a collaborative 
implementation dispensation that utilizes the SCA 
philosophical framework and capacities. In that regard, the 
activities to be implemented in this project, such as 
reviewing legislation on migration and documentation, 
training and capacity building of stakeholders and community 
sensitization on illegal child migration and provision of 
material and psychosocial support to the deported and 
reunified children, shall, as far as it is possible, harness 
and draw technical support and expertise from the SCA. 
 
Post's Notes: SCN has submitted a proposal that addresses 
victim assistance and the criminal justice sector. 
Additionally, SCN currently runs the children facility at the 
IOM reception center in Beitbridge and has a good working 
relationship with the Department of Social Welfare. The SCN 
proposal, however, may focus too much on addressing the 
negative impact of irregular migration on children as opposed 
to the actual child trafficking problem. 
 
--Musasa Project 
Requested Funding: US$500,000 
Project Title: Prevention and Protection of Trafficking in 
Women and Children 
Project Duration: 24 months 
 
Proposal Abstract: Musasa Project has established that 
trafficking is a violation of women and children's rights and 
is a modern day form of slavery. Existing gender imbalances 
in Zimbabwe make women and girls easy targets for 
trafficking. Socio-cultural norms such as male perception of 
female inferiority and male superiority, lack of education, 
early/forced marriages, all contribute towards exposing women 
to violence and marginalization. Another factor is the lack 
of economic empowerment, particularly where a country faces 
great economic challenges. More people become desperate to 
escape the country at any cost and hence can become easy 
targets for traffickers. As a leading organization that is 
championing the promotion and protection of women's rights, 
Musasa believes that there is a need to challenge society and 
policy makers to take action against trafficking. The 
vulnerability of women and children to trafficking could be 
tackled through empowerment programs and the strengthening of 
legal and social frameworks. Victims in turn need to be well 
supported, nurtured and re-orientated into society and 
communities. 
 
Musasa Project proposes embarking on a prevention and 
protection program that includes the following elements: 
victim identification and support; capacity building; 
information and awareness campaigns; education and mass media 
campaigns; lobbying for widespread criminalization of 
trafficking and identifying gaps in the justice system; and, 
a national survey to establish the nature, extent, and impact 
of trafficking and to establish if there are any existing 
structural support systems. The expected results include the 
following: increase in the number of women accessing 
counseling, legal advice and shelter; increase in the number 
of counselors trained on trafficking in counseling sites and 
shelters; improved service provision for survivors of 
violence from other service providers like the police, 
judiciary, health personnel, traditional and religious 
leaders; eradication of gender based violence and trafficking 
cases; improved community capacity to identify and report 
cases of trafficking; treatment and redress for victims; and, 
legal sanctions for alleged offenders. 
 
Post's Notes: The Musasa proposal covers a number of 
important activities, including victim identification and 
support, capacity building at counseling centers, and an 
awareness campaign. Additionally, Musasa Project is one of 
the few organizations that currently operates women's 
shelters in Zimbabwe and is capable of expanding these 
activities to cover trafficking victims. The proposal, 
however, includes a request for funding for a vehicle 
($24,000) and a baseline survey ($64,000). 
 
--Girl Child Network 
Requested Funding: US$152,000 
Project Title: Anti-Trafficking In Persons Project 
Project Duration: 12 months 
 
Proposal Abstract: GCN's experience in dealing with 
anti-trafficking activities has called for the urgent need to 
consolidate efforts towards alleviating the menace that has 
left many a girl child's life and dreams shattered because of 
the abominable activities that are involved. From August 2006 
to date, GCN through the support of a US Embassy Grant 
managed to rescue and assist numerous girls who were involved 
in human trafficking. 
 
Having realized that most of the victims of human trafficking 
are young girls, GCN has also realized the need to come up 
with programs and activities that are geared towards reducing 
the vulnerability of girls to human trafficking, rescuing 
girls already engaged in human trafficking related activities 
and also alleviating the plight of girls rescued from the 
jaws of human traffickers. As such GCN will implement 
programs that include: capacity building of girls' club 
presidents and their coordinators; training of media 
personnel on sensitive reporting of trafficking issues; 
awareness raising campaigns with traditional leaders; rescue 
and rehabilitation and support of girls involved in human 
trafficking; and, production and distribution of material on 
trafficking. 
 
From the above proposed activities GCN intends to achieve the 
following: increased knowledge within girls' clubs on 
trafficking and related anti trafficking efforts that reduce 
their vulnerability to the menace and reduce cases of 
trafficking involving girls; increased reporting of 
trafficking in the mainstream media as a way of raising 
awareness of the problem; reducing the number of girls and 
women falling prey to trafficking as a result of increased 
and enhanced capacity of traditional leaders to deal with 
issues of trafficking as most cases involve people they lead. 
 
Post's Notes: The current USG grant of $18,000 to GCN to 
assist trafficking victims expires in June 2007 -- this 
proposal would support a continuation and expansion of the 
existing activities. GCN has shown some success in 
identifying and rescuing trafficking victims and the 
organization provided important case information that was 
included in this year's TIP report. 
 
--Human Rights Trust of Southern Africa (SAHRIT) 
Requested Funding: US$411,873 
Project Title: Determining the Link between Corruption and 
Human Trafficking in the SADC Region 
Project Duration: 24 months 
 
Proposal Abstract: SAHRIT sets out to under take a project on 
human trafficking with the aim of establishing the extent to 
which corruption contributes to human trafficking in the 
Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region. The main 
concern is that human trafficking has been a trend that has 
been in existence for many years in other parts of the world, 
but is seemingly becoming a matter of great concern in the 
SADC region. A look at the current trends of human 
trafficking has shown that in the SADC region most of the 
trafficking is being perpetuated by both corruption and harsh 
economic environments that most SADC countries are challenged 
with. Also added to this is the fact that there seems to be 
no specific legislation in the region that addresses the 
problem of trafficking, and also, the problem has been down 
played by governments and civil society, thus creating a 
niche to address this problem. 
 
The project that SAHRIT seeks to engage will involve 
conducting a situational analysis that will determine the 
extent of human trafficking in the SADC region and the link 
between corruption and human trafficking, highlighting the 
extent to which corruption contributes to the process of 
human trafficking. Further the project also seeks to identify 
what legislative and administrative reforms need to be put in 
place that will adequately address the problem of human 
trafficking within SADC. Some of the recommendations will 
then form the basis for the interventions which will include 
development of a capacity building program for officers 
within anti-corruption agencies and law enforcement agencies 
to effectively arrest the growing exploitative and lucrative 
industry through carrying out a training needs assessment. 
 
The expected results of the project are that the extent that 
corruption contributes to human trafficking within SADC will 
be identified and possible strategies to address the problem 
identified; strategies for more robust legislative reform and 
the training needs of law enforcement officers and those 
working within the anti-corruption institutions identified 
and capacity developed. 
 
Post's Notes: SAHRIT's proposal takes a regional approach and 
contains activities that focus on performing a situational 
analysis of the regional trafficking problem as it relates to 
corruption that will eventually lead to capacity building for 
law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies. The proposal, 
however, does not contain victim assistance activities. 
 
---------------- 
Point of Contact 
---------------- 
 
¶2. (U) The post point of contact for trafficking in persons 
is Scott C. Higgins; office phone 263-4-250-593, extension 
321; fax 263-4-253-000; e-mail HigginsSC@state.gov. 
DELL