On December 11, 27 people were found dead in an agricultural area north of Zambia’s capital, Lusaka. The dead, dumped one on top of the other in the street, are presumed to be Ethiopian migrants. According to a police spokesman who spoke to the BBC, the migrants are believed to have “suffocated to death while […]
Zambia: Covid-19 and Detention
Although the number of confirmed Covid-19 infections in Zambia remains low (76 as of 22 April), the rate of infection continues to rise. A land-locked country, Zambia announced in late March that it would not close its borders because of the economic impact this would have. President Edgar Lungu said on 26 March, “Zambia is […]
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DETENTION STATISTICS
DETAINEE DATA
DETENTION CAPACITY
ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION
ADDITIONAL ENFORCEMENT DATA
PRISON DATA
POPULATION DATA
SOCIO-ECONOMIC DATA & POLLS
LEGAL & REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
Does the Country Have Specific Laws that Provide for Migration-Related Detention?
Detention-Related Legislation
Regulations, Standards, Guidelines
Name
Year Published
GROUNDS FOR DETENTION
Immigration-Status-Related Grounds
Non-Immigration-Status-Related Grounds in Immigration Legislation
Criminal Penalties for Immigration-Related Violations
Grounds for Criminal Immigration-Related Incarceration / Maximum Length of Incarceration
Has the Country Decriminalised Immigration-Related Violations?
LENGTH OF DETENTION
Maximum Length of Incarceration for Immigration-Related Criminal Conviction
DETENTION INSTITUTIONS
PROCEDURAL STANDARDS & SAFEGUARDS
COSTS & OUTSOURCING
COVID-19 DATA
TRANSPARENCY
Transparency Score on Migration-Related Detention
MONITORING
Types of Authorised Detention Monitoring Institutions
Institution
Type
Year
NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING BODIES
NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISMS (OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE)
NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (NGOS)
GOVERNMENTAL MONITORING BODIES
INTERNATIONAL TREATIES & TREATY BODIES
International Treaties Ratified
Ratification Year
Observation Date
CAT, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
1998
2017
ICPED, International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance
2011
2017
CTOCTP, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
2005
2017
Ratio of relevant international treaties ratified
Ratio: 13/19
Relevant Recommendations or Observations Issued by Treaty Bodies
Recommendation Year
Observation Date
Human Rights Committee
36. The State party should:
(a) Take steps to harmonize its legislation and bring it into full compliance
with the Covenant and international standards protecting refugees and migrants;
(b) Ensure that the detention of migrants and asylum-seekers is reasonable,
necessary and proportionate, in accordance with the Committee’s general comment No.
35 (2014) on liberty and security of person, and that alternatives to detention are used
in practice;
(c) Provide immigration and law enforcement officers dealing with migrants
and refugees with adequate training on the rights of asylum-seekers, refugees and
migrants under the Covenant and other international standards;
(d) Ensure access to legal aid for migrants in detention facilities.
2023
2023
2023
Committee on the Rights of the Child
39 The Committee recommends that the State party :
(a) Provide alternatives with the aim of ending detention for asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children and for families with children;
(b) Ensure that age assessments are multidisciplinary and take into account the best interests of the child;
(c) Strengthen and provide sustainable funding for the national referral mechanism for the provision of assistance to asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children.
2022
2022
2022
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
§ 34. The State party: (a) Amend the Refugee Act No. 1 (2017) to ensure that refugees and asylum seekers have the right to access employment, health care and education, and enjoy freedom of movement, and that effective protection is provided to them against refoulement; (b) Develop and effectively implement a long-term strategy that provides a durable solution for the local integration of refugees, especially with regard to education and access to decent livelihoods, as living in camps does not represent a durable solution; (c) Improve the material conditions of refugee camps and ensure that refugees and asylum seekers staying in such camps enjoy an adequate standard of living and access to basic social services; (d) Consider lifting its reservations to articles 17, 22, 26 and 28 of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.
2019
2019
Committee on the Rights of the Child
§ 56. "The Committee recommends that the State party expedite the adoption of the Refugee Bill and strengthen the legal protection of refugee children. The Committee also urges the State party to provide refugee children with access to social services, such as health and education."
2016
2016
> UN Special Procedures
> UN Universal Periodic Review
REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS
Regional Legal Instruments
HEALTH CARE PROVISION
HEALTH IMPACTS
COVID-19
Country Updates
On December 11, 27 people were found dead in an agricultural area north of Zambia's capital, Lusaka. The dead, dumped one on top of the other in the street, are presumed to be Ethiopian migrants. According to a police spokesman who spoke to the BBC, the migrants are believed to have “suffocated to death while in transit.” Previously in October, the bodies of 30 presumed Ethiopian migrants were found in a mass grave in neighbouring Malawi.
Although Zambia has historically been the destination for hundreds of thousands of refugees, the country has become an important transit for migrants travelling from the Horn of Africa to South Africa in search of refuge and work. Part of a wider “Southern Route” which includes countries such as Malawi and Mozambique, significant numbers of migrants pass through Zambia, who are often at grave risk of abuse. According to the IOM, “Africa is the second-deadliest region for people on the move, with more than 9,000 deaths during migration documented on the continent since 2014,” says the IOM. “Regional household surveys indicate that these figures are almost certainly a vast undercount.”
On top of this, migrants in Zambia frequently face arrest and arbitrary detention. The country’s Immigration and Deportation Act (2010) provides the legal framework for the arrest and deportation of undocumented and overstaying migrants, for illegal entry, and for unauthorised presence in urban areas. Enforcement is rigorous, at least on paper. Officers are allowed to search workplaces or educational institutions without a warrant if a so-called illegal immigrant is suspected to be there.
In the past, authorities have conducted coordinated operations to reduce the number of undocumented and overstaying immigrants in the country. In 2016, police officers in Lusaka conducted patrols to find “illegal immigrants,” leading to the arrest of 5,747 people. During this operation, authorities primarily focused on the informal settlements around Lusaka where many undocumented migrants reside. Since then, the Department of Immigration has continued to report mass arrests and detention of undocumented migrants.
Child migrants have also been amongst those detained in Zambia. Although Zambian authorities have introduced a National Referral Mechanism (NRM) and associated Guidelines, which provide for the protection of vulnerable non-nationals including unaccompanied children, it appears that children continue to face detention in the country. In June 2022 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recalled joint general comments No. 3 and No. 4 of the Committee on Migrant Workers and Committee on the Rights of the Child (2017) and urged the country to end the use of detention for asylum-seeking, refugee, and migrant children and families with children.
Detained migrants are also frequently deported or removed, even to countries such as Ethiopia where some returned refugees and migrants face serious rights abuses. Indeed, between 8 and 12 September this year alone, 107 people were deported to Ethiopia. As Human Rights Watch has reported, Tigrayans returned to Ethiopia have been arbitrarily detained, mistreated, and disappeared following forced returns from countries such as Saudi Arabia.
In December 2022, the GDP and partner Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) submitted a freedom of information request to Zambia’s Department of Immigration seeking up-to-date and disaggregated statistics detailing the detention and deportation of non-citizens, as well as a list of facilities currently in use for immigration-related detention. As of 22 December, the GDP and LHR had not received a response.
Although the number of confirmed Covid-19 infections in Zambia remains low (76 as of 22 April), the rate of infection continues to rise. A land-locked country, Zambia announced in late March that it would not close its borders because of the economic impact this would have. President Edgar Lungu said on 26 March, “Zambia is landlocked; and that means, with a crisis of this magnitude, we shall find ourselves under forced lockdown if all our neighbors close their borders. This situation would make us economically vulnerable and weaker.”
By mid-April, however, the country started implementing more stringent measures, including in its prisons, which also confine immigration detainees. On 12 April, the authorities announced that they would release all foreign nationals jailed on misdemeanor and immigration charges, and send them back to their countries of origin. The Ministry of Home Affairs said that the move would help reduce overcrowding in detention facilities - where rates of HIV and tuberculosis are known to be high - and protect prisoners who remain. However, because of restrictions on international travel many returns are not possible, so the country says it will regularise the status of migrants. According to the country’s Home Affairs Minister, “For foreign nationals who have exhausted their days and are unable to travel to their countries due to suspension of flights, (they are) to quickly visit the Immigration offices and regularise their stay in Zambia.”
The country also says that it has increased measures in border areas, including introducing tests at border crossings, although its border markets - including the Kasumbalesa Common Market near the border with Congo - are to remain open, and placing people arriving from “high-risk” countries in two-week quarantine. According to one report, the health minister said in late April that those arriving from “a COVID -19 High-risk country will be quarantined at a government designated institution but at their own cost.”
Zambia hosts a substantial refugee population, including nearly 50,000 Congolese. Concerns have been raised regarding safeguarding measures. UNHCR reports that it is organising local radio messaging in all refugee-hosting areas and engaging with personalities such as local musicians to produce Covid-19 prevention radio and social media messages. The agency has also provided the Ministry of Health with Refugee Housing Units to set-up at high-risk points such as borders.
Government Agencies
Ministry of foreign affairs - https://www.mofaic.gov.zm/
Ministry of Home Affairs - https://www.mohais.gov.zm/
Department of Immigration - https://www.zambiaimmigration.gov.zm/
International Organisations
UNHCR - https://www.unhcr.org/where-we-work/countries/zambia
IOM - https://www.iom.int/countries/zambia
ILO - https://www.ilo.org/regions-and-countries/africa/zambia
NGO & Research Institutions
Human Rights Commission - https://hrc.org.zm/
Amnesty - https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/africa/southern-africa/zambia/
Human Rights Watch - https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2025/country-chapters/zambia
