Uganda: Columnist attributes rise in human trafficking to failure to effectively regulate recruitment agencies
"Who is to blame for human trafficking, government or agencies?"
Recently, The EastAfrican newspaper reported that human trafficking is on the increase in the region. Since travel between the East African countries is now easier with passports no longer required, the neighbouring countries of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania are said to be the main transit locations for trafficking. Although the most common form of human trafficking is sexual exploitation and forced labour, there is also a growing market for human organs...
The ruling NRM government has not institutionalised anti-trafficking training among law enforcement and frontline officials and there are still reports of misclassification of cases and poor investigations. Furthermore, it seems government did not investigate allegations of corruption impeding government oversight of labour recruitment agencies. Therefore, no action was taken. There is suspicion among Ugandans that; 1) corruption in the labour recruitment agencies may lead to traffickers using alternative routes through different countrie...The hidden personalities behind the labour agencies are part of the untouchable elites in government...If it is true that the lucrative labour agencies belong to certain powerful individuals in government, then it is highly unlikely that concrete efforts will be made to fight human trafficking through public awareness and sensitisation programmes.