Human trafficking in Uganda

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Uganda is a source and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. Ugandan children are trafficked within the country, as well as to Canada, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia for forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Karamojong women and children are sold in cattle markets or by intermediaries and forced into situations of domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, herding, and begging. Security companies in Kampala recruit Ugandans to serve as security guards in Iraq where, at times, their travel documents and pay have reportedly been withheld as a means to prevent their departure. These cases may constitute trafficking. [1]

Contents

Pakistani, Indian, and Chinese workers are reportedly trafficked to Uganda, and Indian networks traffic Indian children to the country for sexual exploitation. Children from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C.), Rwanda, and Burundi are trafficked to Uganda for agricultural labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Until August 2006, the terrorist rebel organization, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), abducted children and adults in northern Uganda to serve as soldiers, sex slaves, and porters. While no further abductions of Ugandan children have been reported, at least 300 additional people, mostly children, were abducted during the reporting period in the Central African Republic and the D.R.C. [1]

The Government of Uganda does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. However, it is making significant efforts to do so. [1] U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 2" in 2017. [2]

Prosecution

The government sustained its anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts over the reporting period. However, the lack of a comprehensive anti-trafficking law meant that statistics on trafficking prosecutions and convictions were not separately kept. Ugandan law does not prohibit trafficking, though existing Penal Code Act statutes against slavery, forced, and bonded labor, and procurement for prostitution could be used to prosecute trafficking offenses. [1]

The government released crime statistics for 2007, which indicated that child trafficking crimes had increased over the previous year. The Inspector General of Police also announced that 54 children had been kidnapped, abducted, or stolen during the year. Seven rescued children were believed to be potential trafficking victims who had not yet reached their destinations. [1]

In July 2012, Uganda's female parliamentarians introduced the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons Bill in Parliament, a comprehensive draft anti-trafficking law, where it garnered unanimous support from the floor. It received its first reading in December and was referred to the Committee on Defense and Internal Affairs in February 2008. [1]

In January 2008, Mbarara police arrested three suspected traffickers and rescued 44 children who were allegedly being trafficked to Australia, Canada, and the United States. The suspects appeared in court in early February. A Rwandan pleaded guilty and was sentenced with a caution and released. A Burundian was charged with illegal entry into Uganda and was co-accused with a Ugandan woman of robbery. Both were remanded to jail. [1]

In 2012, the Commissioner for Labor and the Parliament began investigating companies alleged to be withholding the travel documents and pay of Ugandan security guards in Iraq. While a government report cleared three labor export agencies of fraud in February 2008, several other firms have been blacklisted for fraudulent recruitment for Iraq. [1]

The government's Amnesty Commission offered blanket amnesty to ex-combatants to induce defection or surrender of rebels and to recognize abductees as victims forced to commit atrocities. Eighty LRA combatants, many of whom had been abducted as children, applied for and received amnesty in 2007. Because of this process, the government has not arrested, prosecuted, or convicted LRA rebels for trafficking offenses. In April 2012, police officers, trained during the previous reporting period by the National Police's Child and Family Protection Unit and ILO-IPEC, trained more than 1500 additional police officers on child labor rights and worst forms of child labor. [1]

Protection

The Ugandan government showed efforts to offer initial protection to children demobilized from the LRA, though it did far less to care for victims of other types of trafficking. The negotiated Final Peace Agreement between the Government of Uganda and the LRA, which includes provisions for the protection of children associated with the LRA, was not signed by the LRA's leader, Joseph Kony. In 2012, the Ugandan military's Child Protection Unit received and debriefed 28 surrendered children who had been abducted by the LRA. The children were processed at transit shelters before being transported to non-governmental organization-run rehabilitation centers for longer-term care. [1]

The Amnesty Commission provided each child with a mattress, blanket, oil, and approximately $750,000 pesos. Police transferred 11 rescued Rwandan, Burundian, and Congolese victims of child labor trafficking to UNHCR in Mbarara for care. The government continued to remove Karamojong children from the streets of Kampala and transferred them to shelters in Karamoja. The largest transfer took place in April and May 2007. [1]

National and local level officials, particularly district child labor committees, supported the efforts of ILO-IPEC by identifying 2,796 children for withdrawal from the worst forms of child labor. Local governments also convened child labor committees that monitored the working conditions of children. The government provided few protective services to children in prostitution; instead the Ministry of Gender, Labor, and Social Development referred trafficked children to non-governmental organizations for care. [1]

Those rounded up with adults during police sweeps were generally released without charge. The Minister of Internal Affairs possesses the authority to allow foreign victims to remain in Uganda to assist with investigations. In 2007, the Minister granted two trafficking victims continued presence in Uganda. In most cases, however, victims are deported to their country of origin. The government encourages victims of sex trafficking cases to testify against their exploiters. [1]

Prevention

The government continued its efforts to increase public awareness of human trafficking. In mid-2007, the government used the annual Labor Day and Day of the African Child celebrations to raise public awareness about child trafficking and promote the new child labor laws. The police's Child and Family Protection Unit used community meetings, school visits, and radio programs to raise awareness of trafficking. The government run press, radio, and television stations ran public service announcements about trafficking. The Ugandan government, which currently chairs the Commonwealth, raised anti-trafficking issues as a priority for member states at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November 2007. [1]

Uganda's Inspector General of Police co-hosted a UNODC conference on trafficking in Kampala in June 2007. Immigration officials monitored flights to Dubai, which have been used in the past to traffic children. The government began drafting regulations to prevent the trafficking of Ugandans abroad through fraudulent labor recruitment companies. Government efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts included a billboard campaign in Uganda's major cities discouraging "sugar daddies", arrests of men found procuring females in prostitution on disorderly conduct charges, and the prevention of a regional convention of women in prostitution from taking place in Kampala. Uganda has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol. [1]

Between January 23 to 28, 2022, Minister of Work for Uganda visited Saudi Arabia on matters for safety of Ugandans following recent complaints in regard the companies responsible. This is regulated by governments following guidelines stipulated in the bilateral labor agreements. [3] [4] [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

With respect to human trafficking, Saudi Arabia was designated, together with Italy, Japan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Germany, Greece, Croatia, Israel, Iceland, Norway, and Angola, as a Tier 2 country by the United States Department of State in its 2021 Trafficking in Persons Report required by the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 on which this article was originally based. Tier 2 countries are "countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards". The 2021 report shows some effort by the Kingdom to address the problems, but continues to classify the Kingdom as a Tier 2 country.

Senegal is a source, transit, and destination country for children and women trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Trafficking within the country is more prevalent than trans-border trafficking and the majority of victims are children. Within Senegal some boys called "talibes" are victims of trafficking, by promising to educate them, but subjecting them instead to forced begging and physical abuse. A 2007 study done by UNICEF, the ILO, and the World Bank found that 6,480 talibe were forced to beg in Dakar alone. Women and girls are trafficked for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation, including for sex tourism, within Senegal. Transnationally, boys are trafficked to Senegal from The Gambia, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, and Guinea for forced begging by religious teachers. Senegalese women and girls are trafficked to neighboring countries, the Middle East, and Europe for domestic servitude and possibly for sexual exploitation. Women and girls from other West African countries, particularly Liberia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria may be trafficked to Senegal for sexual exploitation, including for sex tourism.

Sri Lanka is a source and destination country for men and women trafficked for the purposes of involuntary servitude and commercial sexual exploitation. Sri Lankan men and women migrate willingly to Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and South Korea to work as construction workers, domestic servants, or garment factory workers. However, some find themselves in situations of involuntary servitude when faced with restrictions on movement, withholding of passports, threats, physical or sexual abuse, and debt bondage that is, in some instances, facilitated by large pre-departure fees imposed by recruitment agents. Children are trafficked internally for commercial sexual exploitation and, less frequently, for forced labor. The designated Foreign Terrorist Organization Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) continued to recruit, sometimes forcibly, children for use as soldiers in areas outside the Sri Lankan government’s control. Government security forces may also be complicit in letting a pro-government paramilitary organization recruit, sometimes forcibly, child soldiers. Reports also indicate that a small number of women from Thailand, China, Russia, and other countries of the Newly Independent States are trafficked into Sri Lanka for commercial sexual exploitation. In November 2007, over 100 Sri Lankan peacekeeping soldiers were repatriated based on accusations that they engaged in sexual misconduct, some cases involving minors, in Haiti. The Government of Sri Lanka does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Sri Lanka is placed on Tier 2 Watch List for failing to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons over the previous year, particularly in the area of law enforcement.

Sudan is a source country for men, women and children trafficked internally for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. Sudan is also a transit and destination country for Ethiopian women trafficked abroad for domestic servitude. Sudanese women and girls are trafficked within the country, as well as possibly to Middle Eastern countries such as Qatar, for domestic servitude. U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 3" in 2017. In 2020, Sudan was once again placed in the "Tier 3" category, since the latest Trafficking in Persons report showed that South Sudan had not made any prosecutions of human traffickers or convicted any individuals in connection with forced conscription of children into the armed forces in the last 5 years.

Tanzania is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. Boys are trafficked within the country for forced labor on farms, in mines, and in the informal business sector. Tanzanian girls from rural areas are trafficked to urban centers and the island of Zanzibar for domestic servitude and commercial sexual exploitation; some domestic workers fleeing abusive employers fall prey to forced prostitution. In some regions, unregistered employment agencies are involved in recruiting minors from rural areas to work as domestic helpers in the capital, where they are subject to exploitation. Tanzanian children and adults are reportedly trafficked to other countries including Mozambique, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia, Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Italy and China. Trafficked children from Burundi and Kenya, as well as adults from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Yemen, are trafficked for forced labor in Tanzania's mining, agricultural and domestic service sectors, and are sometimes also subjected to sex trafficking. The Government of Tanzania does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so.

Togo is a source, transit and, to a lesser extent, a destination country for women and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Trafficking within Togo is more prevalent than transnational trafficking and the majority of victims are children. Togolese girls are trafficked primarily within the country for domestic servitude, as market vendors, produce porters, and for commercial sexual exploitation. To a lesser extent, girls are also trafficked to other African countries, primarily Benin, Nigeria, Ghana, and Niger for the same purposes listed above. Togolese boys are most commonly trafficked transnationally to work in agricultural labor in other African countries, primarily Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Gabon, and Benin, though some boys are also trafficked within the country for market labor. Beninese and Ghanaian children have also been trafficked to Togo. There have been reports of Togolese women and girls trafficked to Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, likely for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. Togolese women may be trafficked to Europe, primarily to France and Germany, for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. In the last year, 19 Togolese girls and young women were trafficked to the United States for forced labor in a hair salon. The Government of Togo does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so, despite limited resources. Togo demonstrated solid law enforcement efforts by increasing the number of traffickers convicted. However, sentences imposed on convicted traffickers were inadequate and protection efforts were diminished over last year.

It is likely that several thousands of people are trafficked in Yemen every year, often to Saudi Arabia.

Zambia is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. Child prostitution exists in Zambia's urban centers, often encouraged or facilitated by relatives or acquaintances of the victim. Many Zambian child laborers, particularly those in the agriculture, domestic service, and fishing sectors, are also victims of human trafficking. Zambian women, lured by false employment or marriage offers, are trafficked to South Africa via Zimbabwe for sexual exploitation, and to Europe via Malawi. Zambia is a transit point for regional trafficking of women and children, particularly from Angola to Namibia for agricultural labor and from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to South Africa. Malawian and Mozambican adults and children are occasionally trafficked to Zambia for forced agricultural labor.

Indonesia is a source, transit, and destination country for women, children, and men trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. The greatest threat of trafficking facing Indonesian men and women is that posed by conditions of forced labor and debt bondage in more developed Asian countries and the Middle East.

Austria is a destination and transit country for women, men, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution and forced labor.

Belgium is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Victims originate in Eastern Europe, Africa, East Asia, as well as Brazil and India. Some victims are smuggled through Belgium to other European countries, where they are subjected to forced labor and forced prostitution. Male victims are subjected to forced labor and exploitation in restaurants, bars, sweatshops, horticulture sites, fruit farms, construction sites, and retail shops. There were reportedly seven Belgian women subjected to forced prostitution in Luxembourg in 2009. According to a 2009 ECPAT Report, the majority of girls and children subjected to forced prostitution in Belgium originate from Balkan and CIS countries, Eastern Europe, Asia and West Africa ; some young foreign boys are exploited in prostitution in major cities in the country. Local observers also report that a large portion of children trafficked in Belgium are unaccompanied, vulnerable asylum seekers and refugees. Criminal organizations from Thailand use Thai massage parlors in Belgium, which are run by Belgian managers, to sexually exploit young Thai women. These networks are involved in human smuggling and trafficking to exploit victims economically and sexually. Belgium is not only a destination country, but also a transit country for children to be transported to other European country destinations.

Rwanda is a source and, to a lesser extent, destination country for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Rwandan girls are exploited in involuntary domestic servitude within the country; some of these children experience physical or sexual abuse within their employer's household. Older females offer vulnerable younger girls room and board, eventually pushing them into prostitution to pay for their keep. In limited cases, this trafficking is facilitated by women who supply females to clients or by loosely organized prostitution networks, some operating in secondary schools and universities. Rwandan children are also trafficked to Uganda, Tanzania, and other countries in the region for forced agricultural labor, commercial sexual exploitation, and domestic servitude, sometimes after being recruited by peers. In Rwanda there have been reports of isolated cases involving child trafficking victims from neighboring countries. Unlike in past years, there was no indication in 2009 that the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) duped or recruited Congolese men and boys from Rwanda-based refugee camps, as well as Rwandans from nearby towns, into forced labor and soldiering in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Peru is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Several thousand persons are estimated to be subjected to conditions of forced labor within Peru, mainly in mining, logging, agriculture, brick making, and domestic servitude. Many trafficking victims are women and girls from impoverished rural regions of the Amazon, recruited and coerced into prostitution in urban nightclubs, bars, and brothels, often through false employment offers or promises of education. Indigenous persons are particularly vulnerable to debt bondage. Forced child labor remains a problem, particularly in informal gold mines, cocaine production, and transportation. There were reports the terrorist group Sendero Luminoso, or Shining Path, recruited children as soldiers and drug mules. To a lesser extent, Peruvians are subjected to forced prostitution in Ecuador, Spain, Italy, Japan, and the United States, and forced labor in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil. Peru also is a destination country for some Ecuadorian and Bolivian females in forced prostitution, and some Bolivian citizens in conditions of forced labor. Child sex tourism is present in Iquitos, Madre de Dios, and Cuzco. Traffickers reportedly operate with impunity in certain regions where there is little or no government presence.

Iraq is both a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution and forced labor. Iraqi women and girls, some as young as 11 years old, are subjected to conditions of human trafficking within the country and in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Iran, and possibly Yemen for forced prostitution and sexual exploitation within households.

Malawi is primarily a source country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced labor and forced prostitution within the country and abroad. Most Malawian trafficking victims are exploited internally, though Malawian victims of sex and labor trafficking have also been identified in South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, and parts of Europe. To a lesser extent, Malawi is a transit point for foreign victims and a destination country for men, women, and children from Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe subjected to conditions of forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation. Within the country, some children are forced into domestic servitude, cattle herding, agricultural labor, and menial work in various small businesses. Exploited girls and women become "bar girls" at local bars and rest houses where they are coerced to have sex with customers in exchange for room and board. Forced labor in agriculture is often found on tobacco plantations. Labor traffickers are often villagers who have moved to urban areas and subsequently recruit children from their original villages through offers of good jobs. Brothel owners or other prostitution facilitators lure girls with promises of nice clothing and lodging. Upon arrival, they charge the girl high rental fees for these items and instruct her how to engage in prostitution to pay off the debt. South African and Tanzanian long-distance truck drivers and mini-bus operators move victims across porous borders by avoiding immigration checkpoints. Some local businesswomen who also travel regularly to neighboring countries to buy clothing for import have been identified as traffickers. Reports of European tourists paying for sex with teenage boys and girls continue.

Mauritius is not a major source for children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced prostitution within the country. Secondary school-age girls and, to a lesser extent, younger girls from all areas of the country, including from Rodrigues Island, are induced into prostitution, often by their peers, family members, or businessmen offering other forms of employment. Taxi drivers are known to provide transportation and introductions for both the girls and the clients. Girls and boys whose mothers engage in prostitution are reportedly forced into prostitution at a young age. Some drug-addicted women are forced into prostitution by their boyfriends, who serve as their pimps. In Great Britain, two Malagasy nationals were convicted in 2009 of holding a small number of Mauritian nationals, as well as citizens of other countries, in conditions of forced labor; this appears to be an isolated case of transnational human trafficking involving Mauritian citizens. Students from all over the world are forced into prostitution within the country.

Morocco is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children who are subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Children are trafficked within the country from rural areas to urban centers to work as maids or laborers, or for commercial sexual exploitation. Moroccan men, women, and children are exploited for forced labor and prostitution in European and Middle Eastern countries. Young Moroccan girls from rural areas are recruited to work as child maids in cities, but often experience non-payment of wages, threats, and physical or sexual abuse, and sometimes face restrictions on movement. These practices indicate that these girls are subjected to involuntary servitude. Moroccan boys experience forced labor as apprentices in the artisan and construction industries and in mechanic shops. A few Moroccan men and boys are lured to Europe by fraudulent job offers, and are subsequently forced to sell drugs. In addition, men and women from sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Philippines enter Morocco voluntarily but illegally with the assistance of smugglers; once in Morocco, some of the women are coerced into prostitution or, less frequently, forced into domestic service. Nigerian gangs, who engage in a variety of criminal activities like human smuggling and drug trafficking, compete to control the trafficking of sub-Saharan Africans in Morocco.

Burundi is a source country for children and possibly women subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of involuntary domestic servitude and forced prostitution. Children and young adults may also be coerced into forced labor on plantations or small farms in southern Burundi, or to conduct informal commerce in the streets. Child labor is very common in agricultural fields where major exports, like tea and coffee, are harvested. Forced labour of children and adults is also very common in mines due to a large market for valuable stones and ores. Many trafficking victims can be found in mines in the northern area of Burundi, especially around Cibitoke. Some traffickers may be family or acquaintances of victims who, under the pretext of assisting underprivileged children with education or with false promises of lucrative jobs, subject them to forced labor, most commonly as domestic servants. While there is little evidence of large-scale child prostitution, “benevolent” older females offer vulnerable younger girls room and board within their homes, and in some cases eventually push them into prostitution to pay for living expenses; extended family members also financially profit from the commercial sexual exploitation of young relatives residing with them. It is most common for the trafficking of victims to remain internal within the country or to extend only to the surrounding countries. Male tourists from Oman and the United Arab Emirates exploit Burundian girls in prostitution. Businessmen recruit Burundian girls for commercial sexual exploitation in Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda, and recruit boys and girls for exploitation in various types of forced labor in Tanzania. Unlike in past years, there were no reports of forced or voluntary recruitment of children into government armed forces or rebel groups during the reporting period. If the trafficking of Burundians does extend externally, it is most common for them to be sent to locations in the Middle East and Western Europe.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced labor and forced prostitution. The majority of this trafficking is internal, and much of it is perpetrated by armed groups and government forces outside government control within the DRC's unstable eastern provinces.

Sex trafficking in China is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the People's Republic of China. China, the world's most populous country, has the second highest number of human trafficking victims in the world. It is a country of origin, destination, and transit for sexually trafficked persons.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs (2008-06-10). "Country Narratives -- Countries S through Z". 2001-2009.state.gov. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  2. ↑ "Trafficking in Persons Report 2017: Tier Placements". www.state.gov. Archived from the original on 2017-06-28. Retrieved 2017-12-01.
  3. ↑ "Minister Betty Amongi Travels To Saudi Arabia Over Ugandan Workers' Rights » Business Focus". Business Focus. 2022-01-25. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  4. ↑ "Amongi in Saudi Arabia as safety concerns for migrant workers grow". New Vision. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  5. ↑ Independent, The (2022-02-03). "Uganda, Saudi authorities agree on joint monitoring of migrant workers safety". The Independent Uganda. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
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