Agencies in charge of fighting human trafficking have expressed concern over the increase of the vice in the country saying children are the most affected.
According to Agnes Igoye, the Deputy National Coordinator Prevention of Trafficking in Persons at the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control, in 2021 they received 421 incidents that had 1,000 victims involved.
Out of the cases reported, 30 were successfully investigated and culprits were charged and convicted under the Prevention of Trafficking Act.
Igoye said it is unfortunate that some parents are involved in the acts of trafficking because they give away their children willingly to go and work and look after them.
“We are jointly training our officers with our Kenyan counterparts because this is a cross border challenge. Children are moving across borders..really we need o come together and fight this vice,” Igoye said.
Charles Twine the spokesperson of the Criminal Investigations Directorate said many cases of trafficking go unreported since some parents are also accomplices in the crime.
Twine says some of the children below the age of ten are trafficking for ritual purposes and labour exploitation.
He said the biggest challenge with fighting human trafficking is that, traffickers have a very big racket that is well funded.
He said the vice is very common in Karamoja, Busoga, and the central region districts of Kalungu, Masaka, Rakai and Luweero. In the South Western Uganda Rubirizi, Isingiro and Bushenyi are the most affected.
“We are talking of matters which have been reported, and we believe what is reported and investigated is actually not half of what is taking place. Trafficking is real either through deception or through kidnap,” Twine said.
