Written by Edris Kiggundu Wednesday, 14 October 2009 20:01
Uganda is not doing enough to rein in child and human trafficking, having failed to comply fully with the minimum standards aimed largely at eliminating the practice, the United States government has noted in a highly critical report.
The report published by the US State Department in June this year notes that Uganda remains a major source and destination for children and adults trafficked for purposes of child labour and sexual exploitation.
The report titled Trafficking in Persons Report 2009-Uganda states: Children from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya and Tanzania are trafficked to Uganda for agricultural labour and commercial sexual exploitation.
According to the report, children trafficked within Uganda are usually forced to become domestic servants while those taken outside the country are sexually exploited.
The report also resurrects the highly contentious issue that Karimojong women and children are still being sold as slaves in cattle markets before they are forced into domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, cattle herding, and ultimately end up as beggars on the streets of urban centres.
This matter was first raised in 2006 after a survey by Save the Children, an international NGO, revealed that Karimojong children were being sold in weekly cattle markets in Kotido, Moroto and Nakapiripirit districts. The survey, at the time, indicated that the practice was being perpetuated by brokers who would then ferry these children to towns like Kampala, Mbale, Iganga and Busia.
Other nationalities are also trafficked into the county for agricultural labour and sexual exploitation, the report notes, singling out Pakistanis, Indians, and Chinese workers that are now a common phenomenon in most parts of the country.
Governments efforts to tackle the problem are weak, says the report, noting that at times victims are instead arrested when they try to seek justice.
Uganda is not doing enough to rein in child and human trafficking, having failed to comply fully with the minimum standards aimed largely at eliminating the practice, the United States government has noted in a highly critical report.
The report published by the US State Department in June this year notes that Uganda remains a major source and destination for children and adults trafficked for purposes of child labour and sexual exploitation.
The report titled Trafficking in Persons Report 2009-Uganda states: Children from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya and Tanzania are trafficked to Uganda for agricultural labour and commercial sexual exploitation.
According to the report, children trafficked within Uganda are usually forced to become domestic servants while those taken outside the country are sexually exploited.
The report also resurrects the highly contentious issue that Karimojong women and children are still being sold as slaves in cattle markets before they are forced into domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, cattle herding, and ultimately end up as beggars on the streets of urban centres.
This matter was first raised in 2006 after a survey by Save the Children, an international NGO, revealed that Karimojong children were being sold in weekly cattle markets in Kotido, Moroto and Nakapiripirit districts. The survey, at the time, indicated that the practice was being perpetuated by brokers who would then ferry these children to towns like Kampala, Mbale, Iganga and Busia.
Other nationalities are also trafficked into the county for agricultural labour and sexual exploitation, the report notes, singling out Pakistanis, Indians, and Chinese workers that are now a common phenomenon in most parts of the country.
Governments efforts to tackle the problem are weak, says the report, noting that at times victims are instead arrested when they try to seek justice.
