Many times I wonder
why with all the brains Uganda has, the unemployment levels keep just
increasing. The country has all the
resources, but the people in the steering have just failed the country. We have all the resources, start with good
climate, the mineral resources, the wildlife and the brains, unfortunately, the
NRM strategies are simply upside down, and what is heart breaking is that the
administration that has failed to deliver is still eyes on the Presidential
seat.
Sunday, 25 August 2013 20:30
An estimated 250 Ugandans annually end up stranded abroad with human trafficking rings, a police report says.
Ugandan youths are trafficked to
countries like China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, South Africa, France,
Canada, Iraq, with many becoming victims of forced labour and sexual
exploitation. Police says human trafficking is on the rise in Uganda due
to poverty and lack of employment.
“According to statistics, every month,
we get reports of over [20] Ugandans stranded seeking help. If the
figure is multiplied in a year, it comes to over 250 Ugandans stranded
abroad every year…,” Moses Binoga, the coordinator for Anti-Human
Trafficking said in an interview on Friday.
He cautioned people who want jobs in
foreign countries to avoid dealing with unregistered companies promising
them juicy jobs since they are likely to be conned out of their
property and money.
The ministry of Gender, Labour and
Social Development has since released a list of registered and licensed
companies allowed to take people abroad for jobs and another of
unregistered, suspicious companies.
“I kindly request people to inquire with
me on telephone No. 0715 411-677 or Mr Turyasiima on 0772496059 from
the ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, to know the
licensed companies that have been authorised to take people abroad,”
Binoga said.
Many local companies and some in the Middle East recruit Ugandans for domestic jobs in the Middle East.
“Ugandan housemaids in all the middle
East are treated very harshly. Their passports are confiscated by their
sponsors, they don’t eat the same food with their employers, they are
not given medical care, work 24hrs without rest and are denied any
interaction with any person outside their homes,” Binoga said.
Even when Ugandan maids realise they are
being exploited, they can’t quit because laws in the Middle East don’t
protect them. Most Ugandans, Binoga says, spend between six to nine
months in camps before their sponsors give them air tickets to return.
“However, the governments in Middle East
can also take a year or two without providing air tickets to people
pending deportation because it’s not in their budget….,” Binoga said.
Most illegal companies secure housemaid
visas for people and deceive them that they would change to better jobs
like teaching or engineering, hotel attendants, and supermarket workers
when they reach overseas.
“When they refuse to do the work in their visas, their sponsors refuse to buy them return air tickets…” he said.
Binoga said for prostitutes, “…they
don’t have licences and they are employed by people with licences who
force them to sleep with a variety of clients involuntarily… The clients
don’t pay the prostitutes directly but pay their employers. Then the
employers pay the prostitutes in kind like food and accommodation…”
Binoga said.
Crackdown
Binoga said government has renewed its
crackdown on human trafficking in the country. Now, agencies involved in
recruiting and exporting labour, and foreign individuals who wish to
adopt children from Uganda, will have to meet more stringent
requirements before they are allowed to take Ugandans to foreign
countries to work, or children for adoption.
Binoga told a news conference recently
that it was now mandatory for all clearing points in countries of
destination, to have the same information about the labourers in a
particular country of origin.
Foreigners, who plan to adopt children
especially school going, will have to be cleared by the ministries of
Gender, Labour and Social Development, Education and Sports and of
Internal Affairs.
Status report
“These measures are aimed at controlling
child trafficking, some children are taken as if they are going for
sports or are adopted and they don’t come back; such cases are
fraudulent adoptions and that is what we are fighting,” Binoga said.
For the last six months, there have been
47 reports of transnational human trafficking registered by police,
involving more than 250 persons as victims. Majority of victims are
females aged between 20 and 30 years.
Most are taken out of Uganda or brought
to Uganda through fraud, deception, debt bondage and or false promises
of lucrative employment. A coordination office to prevent trafficking in
persons has been opened up at the ministry of Internal Affairs with a
national task force comprising of officers from 15 government
ministries, departments and agencies plus representatives of the civil
societies.
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has been designated to spearhead investigations related to trafficking in persons.
zurah@observer.ug
zurah@observer.ug
