Employment agencies undergo training to curb human trafficking

ETHICAL recruitment practices in the country have come under the spotlight with the Ministry of Public Service, Labour, and Social Welfare rolling out training programmes for employment officers in a bid to impart relevant skills that will help reduce incidences of human trafficking.

The move is expected to help to fight unscrupulous employment agencies who use unethical means to recruit desperate job seekers and ultimately subject them to human trafficking and exploitation.

Zimbabwe has experienced cases of human trafficking of its nationals particularly women and children becoming a global problem.

More than 200 Zimbabwean women were victims of human trafficking to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries over the past few years.

The women were trafficked after falling prey to human trafficking scams. The ministry in partnership with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) started the training last week in Bulawayo province. The program will be replicated countrywide.

In an interview, the Ministry of Public Service, Labour, and Social Welfare’s acting deputy director for employment services Ms Vimbai Chiza said the training is premised on research which was undertaken on ethical recruitment in Zimbabwe which brought into light the need to equip the public and private employment agencies with relevant skills.

“The outcomes of this training are to ensure proper supervision and monitoring of private employment agencies including online one’s. We will also be able to have comprehensive statistical data on foreign recruitments collected, this will also ensure that transparent foreign recruitment interviews are conducted,” said Ms Chiza.

“Also, the principles of foreign recruitment that are enunciated in the standard operating procedures for ethical recruitment which we developed last year are upheld taking into consideration the equality of job seekers observed.”

The program is anchored on five focus areas which include ethical recruitment, labour mobility, and international instruments guided by global and regional labour migration frameworks.

“It is our hope that this first training will then be cascaded to other provinces targeting all employment officers who interface with job seekers and private employment agencies to ensure that all our officers are capacitated on ethical recruitment,” said Ms Chiza.

The training was attended by employment agency representatives as well as employee representatives.

Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) national organiser also responsible for labour migration, Mr Michael Kandukutu said the training on safe and ethical recruitment is important not only to the members of trade unions but the general citizens.

“Citizens need to understand the role that private employment agencies play in the migration circle. Some families are now getting in debt when they sell or dispose of properties just to be able to fundraise money to travel to the diaspora.

“In terms of the laws, those who want to migrate in search of employment, are not expected to pay through recruitment agencies, in fact, it’s the employers who require the services of those workers who should meet the cost.

“That information is not available to our citizens and such workshops are very good in terms of empowering trade unions and officials from the relevant ministry so that they give that information to the general citizenry,” said Mr Kandukutu.-ebusinesweekly