News / National
Khupe launches anti-trafficking publicity campaign
09 Nov 2012 at 04:17hrs | Views
Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe on Wednesday launched the Anti-Trafficking Publicity Awareness Campaign to educate Zimbabweans on the practice and its effects.
The campaign comes in the wake of the realisation that many people were not aware of human trafficking while the absence of a legal framework to address the problem worsened the situation.
DPM Khupe pledged to work hard in educating people on the scourge until there is a legal framework to address the problem.
Every year, the United States Department of State publishes an annual report (the Trafficking in Persons - TIP - Report) detailing efforts made by various governments to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons.
Some of the recommendations made for Zimbabwe in the TIP reports include the need to actively advance anti-trafficking legislation and to raise public awareness on the problem at the highest level of Government.
DPM Khupe said the Anti-trafficking Publicity Awareness Campaign was a national initiative not only in response to recommendations, but as a natural result of the need to raise the attention of the public to this problem.
"This lack of awareness cuts across all levels of education and backgrounds," she said.
DPM Khupe said there was a need to raise the knowledge levels of Zimbabweans about trafficking.
She called on public officers, the private sector and civil society to join forces with Government in exposing human trafficking as a gross human rights violation.
According to the International Organisation for Migration while the global scale of human trafficking is difficult to quantify precisely, about 800 000 people are estimated to be trafficked across international borders annually.
The campaign comes in the wake of the realisation that many people were not aware of human trafficking while the absence of a legal framework to address the problem worsened the situation.
DPM Khupe pledged to work hard in educating people on the scourge until there is a legal framework to address the problem.
Every year, the United States Department of State publishes an annual report (the Trafficking in Persons - TIP - Report) detailing efforts made by various governments to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons.
Some of the recommendations made for Zimbabwe in the TIP reports include the need to actively advance anti-trafficking legislation and to raise public awareness on the problem at the highest level of Government.
DPM Khupe said the Anti-trafficking Publicity Awareness Campaign was a national initiative not only in response to recommendations, but as a natural result of the need to raise the attention of the public to this problem.
"This lack of awareness cuts across all levels of education and backgrounds," she said.
DPM Khupe said there was a need to raise the knowledge levels of Zimbabweans about trafficking.
She called on public officers, the private sector and civil society to join forces with Government in exposing human trafficking as a gross human rights violation.
According to the International Organisation for Migration while the global scale of human trafficking is difficult to quantify precisely, about 800 000 people are estimated to be trafficked across international borders annually.
Source - TH
