Uganda ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in September 2003.[1]
In 2008, Uganda was a source and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. Ugandan children were 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 were sold in cattle markets or by intermediaries and forced into situations of domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, herding, and begging. Security companies in Kampala recruited Ugandans to serve as security guards in Iraq where, at times, their travel documents and pay were reportedly withheld as a means to prevent their departure. These cases may constitute trafficking.[2]
Pakistani, Indian, and Chinese workers were 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 were 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 were reported, at least 300 additional people, mostly children, were abducted during 2008 in the Central African Republic and the D.R.C.[2]
In 2008 the Government of Uganda did not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. However, it is making significant efforts to do so.[2]
The U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 2" in 2017[3] and 2023.[4]
In 2023, the Organised Crime Index gave the country a score of 7.5 out of 10 for human trafficking, noting that the most common form was the movement of children from one part of Uganda to another, and that help for victims was limited.[5]
- ^ United Nations Treaty Collection website, Chapter XVIII Penal Matters section, Section 12a, retrieved August 19, 2024
- ^ a b c The Office of Electronic Information (2008-06-10). "Country Narratives - Countries S through Z". Bureau of Public Affairs. US Department Of State. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "Trafficking in Persons Report 2017: Tier Placements". www.state.gov. Archived from the original on 2017-06-28. Retrieved 2017-12-01.
- ^ US Government website, Trafficking in Persons Report 2023
- ^ Organised Crime Index website, Uganda: 2023
