By Tracy Acen Oiko
Many people are eager to get employed outside their home countries for good money and this has cost some of them their freedom and for others, their lives, new trafficking report reveals.
Agnes Igoye, the deputy chair of National Prevention of Trafficking in the ministry of Internal affairs says that many people fall victims because of ignorance.
Igoye was today (July 25th) addressing the media at Police Headquarters in Naguru concerning the high number of trafficking cases.
According to her, most of the victims of trafficking have Middle East states Visas.
“We see many of the Visas of victims having notorious destinations like Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Lebanon,” she said.
She says its such cases that the ministry under the department of prevention of trafficking organised training on how to identify victims of trafficking for all stakeholders at Entebbe Airport.
The stakeholders hereby include the Immigration office, the ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development officials based at the airport and security organizations.
In the report made by the office of the directorate of public prosecution for the month of July, a total of 64 trafficking persons cases were recorded across the country.
Of these cases, Mbale which had the highest cases, recorded 18, Kampala-11, Kibaale-9, Entebbe-7, Mityana-4, Busiya-3, Masaka-1 and Mbarara-1.
According to Igoye, most of the domestic trafficking cases affect children. This is legally termed as aggravated child trafficking.
Aggravated child trafficking according to the Prevention of Trafficking Persons Act, refers to anyone who recruits, transports, harbors or receives a child for purposes of exploitation. This includes using children to commit crime or using any body parts of babies or children for rituals.
Igoye has further revealed that Uganda will join the rest of the country to celebrate the World Day against Trafficking one way of creating awareness to the masses
“We are also preparing for World Day against Trafficking, which happens every year on 30th July 2022. This year, the celebrations will be at Entebbe International Airport.” Igoye explained
