ZIMBABWE - Plumtree Reception and Support Centre Officially Opened - Zimbabwean and Botswanian government ministers will officially open an IOM reception and support centre at Plumtree for Zimbabwean irregular migrants returned home from Botswana on 4 March.
The centre, on the border with Botswana, opened its doors to the migrants in May 2008 with an estimated 3,000 migrants going through it doors per month. Since last May, IOM has provided humanitarian assistance to nearly 33,450 returned irregular migrants, comprising food, basic health care and referral for further treatment, protection support including psycho-social and legal assistance as well as transport home. Returnees are also provided with information and education materials on HIV and AIDS in addition to being given voluntary HIV and AIDS tests and counselling services.
Zimbabwe's Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, PaulineMpariwa, with Co-Ministers of Home Affairs, Kembo Mohadi and Giles Mutsekwa, will formally open the centre with Peter Letlhogonolo Siele, Botswana's Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, and representatives from Zimbabwean local authorities, IOM, United Nations and the Swedish development agency (Sida), in attendance.
The centre at Plumtree is the second such centre that has been established by IOM to provide humanitarian assistance to irregular Zimabwean migrants who have been returned back home. A centre at Beitbridge on Zimbabwe's border with South Africa was opened in May 2006 and which has since helped about 304,000 people. Currently, about 11,000 Zimbabweans are being returned through Beitbridge a month.
In tandem with the reception and support centres, and in partnership with the Zimbabwe government and various other partners, IOM is continuing to implement a nationwide campaign providing potential migrants with information on the risks and realities of irregular migration including vulnerability to human trafficking and HIV. The aim of the Safe Journey campaign is to enable potential migrants and those who have been returned from neighbouring countries to make informed decisions on emigration.
Like Beitbridge, the Plumtree centre which is funded by Sida, the Dutch government and the UK's Department for International Development (DIFD), also provides training to border officials, police, social service providers and relevant local authorities on migrant rights, human trafficking, irregular migration and smuggling. At the request of local authorities IOM also assists in health interventions such as fighting the cholera outbreak that has already killed about 3,900 people in the country.
For more information, please contact Erin Foster, IOM Zimbabwe: Tel: +263-4-355044 or +263-912 572 315 Email: efoster@iom.int
