National Labour Migration Policy for Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is destination, transit and largely sending country for labour migrants to countries in Southern Africa and further afield. Labour migration in Zimbabwe has been characterized by many challenges, including brain drain, irregular migration, lack of a mechanism for social protection of migrant workers and lack of up-to-date statistics on labour migration. Due to their irregular status, most Zimbabwean migrant workers occupy jobs where decent work deficits abound, characterized by the absence of employment contracts and social protection, exploitative wages, long working hours and often lack union representation and support from both the host and sending country.

The National Labour Migration Policy for Zimbabwe aims to improve the governance of labour migration, protection and empowerment of migrant workers and seeks to ensure that migration contributes to Zimbabwe’s socioeconomic development.

The policy vision is a well-managed, sustainable and inclusive labour migration management system that promotes good governance and effective regulation of labour migration, and protection of the rights of labour migrants and their families. The policy further spells out strategic areas of focus, policy options and action plans under four thematic areas namely: (a) governance of labour migration; (b) protection and empowerment of migrant workers; (c) harnessing labour migration for development; and (d) development of comprehensive data on labour migration.