In 2019 Zimbabwe was a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation.
Women and children were trafficked for domestic labor and sexual exploitation, including in brothels, along both sides of the borders with Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zambia.
Men, women, and children from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia were trafficked through Zimbabwe en route to South Africa.
In circumstances such as human trafficking, definition is extremely important as in order to prosecute and charge those who are caught, their actions must fall directly under said law.
This definition of human trafficking involves, "recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or recipient of persons by the use of force or other means of coercion with the purpose of exploitation".
Zimbabwe was promoted to a Tier 2 from the previous year because of its efforts to combat human trafficking through increasing cooperation with certain NGOs in Africa to identify victims.
Since then, Zimbabwe government officials have greatly increased cooperation with NGOs and other international organizations which has allowed for more law enforcement data on trafficking.
[8] The growing number of illegal migrants deported from South Africa and Botswana, combined with a crippling lack of resources, severely impeded the government's ability to effectively identify victims of trafficking among returnees.
The Department of Immigration required all deportees returning from South Africa via the Beitbridge border crossing to attend an IOM-led briefing on safe migration, which includes a discussion on human trafficking and IOM's assistance services.
[6] While the 2014 Trafficking in Persons Act required the Zimbabwean government to create and establish shelters, counseling, rehabilitation centers, and reintegration services, there have been no efforts to do so.
The anti-trafficking inter-ministerial committee (ATIMC) implemented a National Action Plan (NAP) in order to combat human trafficking and prevent it from ever happening by training certain officials.
Although, senior government officials have frequently spoken about the dangers of trafficking and illegal migration, and the state-run media has printed and aired warnings about false employment scams and exploitative labor conditions.
The government relies on international organizations and other NGOs in their efforts to raise awareness of the problem in Zimbabwe, which is the first step in any prevention program related to human trafficking.