Zimbabwe accuses Kuwait diplomat of trafficking women
Xinhua, March 16, 2016 Adjust font size:
A Kuwait Embassy official faced allegations of assisting in the trafficking of Zimbabwean women to the Middle East after promising them professional jobs, state-run newspaper the Herald reported Wednesday.
Once there, the women were instead sold into prostitution or made to do menial jobs.
Brenda Avril May, 62, a secretary at the Kuwait Embassy in Harare who was hauled to a local court Tuesday is suspected to have been facilitating or processing visas for the victims.
The state is alleging that May recruited several Zimbabwean women, arranged their travel to Kuwait but when they got to the Arab emirate the women were put under house arrest, abused and made to work as maids for long hours without food and proper payment.
Eight Zimbabweans have also been arrested in connection with the trafficking.
When May appeared in court, it also emerged that former Kuwait ambassador to Zimbabwe Ahmed Al-Jeeran was also allegedly involved and was implicated as the ring leader in the human trafficking syndicate, the paper said.
Reportedly there are still some 200 Zimbabwean women stranded in the Arab emirate. Some of the victims managed to return home with the help of Zimbabwean diplomats and officials there.
No comment could be obtained from the Kuwait Embassy in Harare, with an official saying the ambassador was out of the country and only expected back in the country next week.
Zimbabwe passed the Trafficking in Persons Act in 2014 which imposes harsh penalties including imprisonment of not less than 10 years for human trafficking.
In its 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report, the United States Embassy in Harare said Zimbabwe is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor.
It said Zimbabwean women and men were lured into exploitative labor situations in agriculture, construction, information technology and hospitality largely in neighboring countries; some subsequently become victims of forced labor while some women become victims of forced prostitution.
It said reports continue of trafficking cases involving Zimbabwean women lured to Asia under the pretense of professional and hospitality-sector jobs, some of whom are subjected to sex trafficking. Endit