By Anyway yotamu and Joyce Mukucha
With support from the International Organisation for Migration(IOM), US Department of State Bureau of Population and the European Union, the Government of Zimbabwe has launched the National Referral Mechanism for Vulnerable Migrants in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe is a destination for irregular migrants, asylum seekers, undocumented Labour migrants, unaccompanied migrant children (UMC),and victims of trafficking who move within mixed migration flows.
The NRM document also seeks to maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of measures put in place at the local and national levels to address challenges faced by vulnerable migrants by preventing duplication of work, promoting inter-departmental and inter agency cooperation and improving the speed of service provisions to the intended recipients.
Speaking at the launch in Harare on the 16th of December 2019, Mr Erasmus Gapare the Director Human Resources in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare said: “The department undertakes steps to administer, coordinate and monitor the effective and efficient delivery of migrant protection interventions”.
“The National Referral Mechanism is a cooperative agreement for multi stakeholder comprehensive assistance through which state actors, with different sectoral responsibilities involved in identification, referral, assistance, repatriation, reunification and monitoring.”
He also appreciated the stakeholders for their efforts in strengthening policies that protect migrants’ rights.
“I would like to acknowledge the sterling work done by our technical partners involved in coming up with the document. These are the International Organization for Migration, the United States Bureau of Population, United Nations High Commission for refugees among others which provided content to the document and the referral mechanism,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the IOM Chief of Mission, the IOM Project Manager, Mr Daniel Sam said as the leading intergovernmental organisation on migration, IOM has supported countries around the world in preparing their respective Migration Management systems.
IOM implored the Government of Zimbabwe to improve migration statistics and overall evidence base through systematic and effective system of collecting, organising, storing and sharing data on departures and arrivals.