HUMAN TRAFFICKING.  DOMESTIC AND REGIONAL RESPONSE:-

THE UGANDA EXPERIENCE

Prepared and Presented by Lady Justice, Margaret C. Oguli Oumo

18-20th October, 2007

Johannesburg – South Africa

Contents

Chapter 1

1.0	Definition……………………………………………………………………………3

Chapter 2
2.0	Nature of Human Trafficking……………………………………………………...5
2.1	Prostitution………………………………………………………………….5
2.2	Migration from rural to urban centers…………………………………....6
2.3	Immigrant labour…………………………………………………………...6
2.4	Domestic labour……………………………………………………………..6
2.5	Armed conflict………………………………………………………………7
2.6	Plantation workers/construction workers/factory workers……………...7
2.7	Sex Tourism………………………………………………………………....7
Chapter 3
3.0	Causes of Human Trafficking
3.1	Causes of Human Trafficking……………………………………………8
3.2	The Impact of Human Trafficking on the Population………………….9
Chapter 4
4.0 Response(Domestic)……………………………………………………….............10
3.2.1	Criminal Law Perspective……………………………………  10
3.2.2	Human Rights Perspective…………………………………….11
3.2.3	ICEDAW………………………………………………………11
3.3	Regional Response…………………………………………………………11
Chapter 5
3.4	Recommendations for Action……………………………………………12

Chapter 1
Definition 
Human trafficking has been defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer or receipt of persons by means of threatening, use of force or other forms of coercion, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of position of vulnerability or of giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the con scent of a person having control over another person for the purposes of exploitation.
Exploitation shall include at:-
	The exploitation of prostitution of others or other forms of exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or other practices similar to slavery- servantitude or the removal of organs.

CASE STUDY FROM UGANDA   
Mary, trafficked to London from Kampala, is one of a growing number of young African women to fall victim to a single trafficker, working on his own. The daughter of a Tutsi Rwandan father and a Ugandan mother, Mary was away from her home in Kigali the day the génocidaires came for her family. She returned to see the mutilated bodies of her father, brother, and two sisters. Her mother, separated from her father, was living in Kampala and Mary managed to escape the Hutu killers and join her. She was in her early twenties, a tall, very pretty, well-educated young woman. She had no trouble finding a job in a computer company. But because she did not have proper identification papers she was vulnerable to the attention of the Ugandan security services. She was arrested twice on suspicion of being a spy and put in prison, where she was repeatedly raped by guards.
Convinced that she had to get away, she was introduced by a family friend to a "businessman" who was recruiting young women to work in hotels and airports in the UK. She imagined herself behind a desk, possibly as a receptionist. With the businessman, Mary flew to London in the company of six other women, all of them dressed rather formally, as if on their way to attend a conference. It was her first ride on an airplane. At Heathrow, the party was split up. Mary was told that her job was not ready, and taken to a room in Mitcham, on the outskirts of London; she was dismayed to discover that the businessman was to share it with her. On the fourth night he raped her. Soon he started bringing back "friends"; she saw him collecting cash from them. Some nights there were "parties" and she would be gang-raped. When she tried to escape, he beat her up; he also told her that if the police ever found her they would take her to prison and lock her up forever. She had no way of knowing whether or not this was true. For her, police were also men who raped.
As the months passed, Mary's health began to fail. She was exhausted, prone to infections; she pleaded with the man in charge of her to see a doctor. She went to a local hospital, where she learned that her blood count was dangerously low. While she waited for the results of more tests, her trafficker told her that he was HIV-positive.
Something, however, had changed in their relationship. Perhaps he was now too ill himself to care. He agreed to release her, to send her to a friend who would provide her with a false passport and help her find a job in Manchester. By now she knew from the tests that she was not just HIV-positive but that she had AIDS, which is suspected of having become endemic among trafficked women, although no figures have been compiled. In Manchester, she was able to get antiretroviral medicine from the National Health Service and to work at a job she enjoyed. She began to feel safe, but then she made a mistake. Told by her employers that she needed to register with the National Insurance Office, she sent them her false passport. It was instantly recognized as a fake and Mary was arrested and sentenced to eight months in jail. What followed, she told me, was not so bad; it was something like boarding school. She worked hard, studied computing and information technology, and felt secure.
When she was released, in August 2005, she applied to the UK Home Office for asylum and was turned down. No one was much interested in her story of trafficking or in the fact that her name was on a list of people sought by Uganda's secret services as an alleged spy. Nor did it matter to the British authorities that she would have no more medicine for AIDS if she was returned to Kampala. She had no choice: she went underground, dropped out of sight. Today she has a job, for which she is paid in cash, no questions asked. Desperately anxious to draw no attention to herself, she makes no friends, talks to no one, lives alone. If stopped by the police, she knows that she will be deported. "I live," she told me when I met her in July in London, "from day to day. What I really feel now is that I should have died with my family in the genocide. I don't know any longer what to hope for. But if they come to get me I will cut my throat."

Chapter 2

2.0 NATURE OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN UGANDA.
       Human trafficking takes many forms in this chapter I attempt to highlight the different forms of Human trafficking taking place in Uganda now. 

2.1 PROSTITUTION
Despite the much reported economic growth in the country, Poverty levels in Uganda are still very high. 60% of the people in Northern Uganda and 17% in Central and Western regions live below the poverty line.

There is distinct linkage between prostitution and poverty as the majority of the women join the trade because of economic hardships.

Many women migrate from rural areas to urban centers in search of work and many do not have the education and lack the skills and training to be able to join the formal sector.
They cannot raise the capital to engage in other businesses in the informal sector so end up on the streets as prostitutes.

The desire for a better life, emancipation, the desire to leave the village and escape from poverty, insecurity, and economic hardships leads many of the girls to run to the urban centers of Uganda. Several young girls have fallen prey to trafficking through the hands of those who have authority over them. For example, guardians of orphans, children from polygamous marriages and homes where the parents are not willing to provide for them for example, where the parents are divorced or separated are more vulnerable.

2.2 Migration from rural to Urban centers.
Poverty, AIDS which has left many children orphans, Ignorance, lack of skills and exposure. The demand for cheap labour as domestic workers, labourers for constructions sites, plantations, factories, hotels and shops, motivate the young people to leave the rural areas and move to the towns.

2.3 Immigrant labour
In the 1970s, the declining economic situations brought about by the economic war and political instability brought by the brutal regime of Idi Amin made many people to flee Uganda in search of employment in other countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Britain and USA.
At first, the movement was by people from some ethnic groups which were targeted by the then president Idi Amin. This was followed by military people who Amin considered a threat to his regime. 

2.4 Domestic Labour
Trafficking of young people is encouraged from rural area to urban areas by relatives. Because of:-
•	The culture of placement of children outside the family.
•	The extended family solidarity for further education, training of children.
•	Ignorance of parents who are not willing to take children to school.

The traffickers promise young children jobs, education, and training in exchange for food, clothing and shelter.
The children are introduced to work and it is believed that the trafficker is helping to educate and instill a culture of work on the child. The children end up being exploited as they cannot determine their hours of work or negotiate for payment  which are often given to the relatives. The children remain within Uganda but work in slave like conditions where they are exploited with no minimum wage and provision for rest.
Where parents can provide education, a good living environment, they do not send the children to the relatives to bring them up.

2.5 Armed Conflict
The situation of internal armed conflict in Northern and Eastern Uganda which has lasted for over 20 years has resulted in many young people being abducted from the areas affected by the insurgency.  Many children who have escaped from captivity testify of being subjected to slavery, manual labour, that they are trained as fighters for the rebels, girls are given as sex slaves to rebel commanders and soldiers.

2.6 Plantation / construction /factory workers
As Uganda seeks to industrialize and attract investors, the desire for cheap labour in the plantations, factories, hotels , shops, etc have made young un educated unskilled people vulnerable to traffickers.
These investors often want to maximize their profits and leave before the period in which their tax benefits expire, exposing their workers to slave-like conditions of work without a minimum wage. 
The lack of government control makes the workers more vulnerable.
The investment climate has also attracted a new breed of traffickers where cheap labour is brought from other countries especially India and China.
•	They often come as illegal immigrants for example.
•	Recently a group of young Indian girls was discovered by the police in a surburb in Kampala and police investigations revealed that they had been brought in as companions for the investors.

2.7 Sex Tourism
The expansion of the tourist industry in Uganda brought about by the prevailing peace poses a threat to young people, especially young girls who have been turned into prey by the tourist predators.
A lot of sex workers are often found in places frequented by tourists.

Chapter 3

3.0    Causes of Human Trafficking							Poverty is one of the causes of exploitation in the developing countries of Africa, and Uganda is no exception. Poverty combined with destabilization of families due to factors such as rural-urban migration, armed conflict and global economic policies place the ordinary people at the risk of exploitation, particularly women and girls. Low income families are at the risk of exploitation. 

3.1 Causes of Human Trafficking

Poverty is the main cause of exploitation. Poverty combined with destabilization of families particularly due to rural-urban migration, armed conflict and global economic policies that are placing many people in developing countries, including Uganda at the risk of exploitation.
The culture of consumer values in the context of structural adjustment programmes in rural area and Africa have been combined with open market policies has placed low income families at risk of exploitation and adults tempted by financial considerations.

Traditional family values of child care seem to be breaking down. Children themselves are becoming attracted to consumer culture. In that context tourism is becoming a link to sexual exploitation of women in general and children particularly. Promotion of tourism has became a goal to attract foreigners at any cost. The demand for exotic locations creates an urgent demand for such services.

Although there is now allocation of more resources for education universal primary education (UPE), it is not enough for education and other aspects of human development. Tertiary/ University education is still expensive and out of the reach to many. The culture of emphasizing male child education over female child education is still very much with us. The women’s literacy levels are still lower than the males. Leaving the women with less skills and training for employment in the formal sector and vulnerable to exploitation. Global economic trends have created an environment in which trafficking is flourishing and the women especially do not have access to education and their families to employment or alternative methods of income generation. 
The  low status of  women  / girls  in the  family and  community  has contributed to  trafficking  and  exploitation  of women / girls .  Local   customs  and values which put  emphasis on male  power has  given  legitimacy  to   manipulation  of social  practices  for example  women can not   inherit land.

Poor parents are  forced  or  duped   into giving  their   own daughters  to  strangers  as brides   or  workers   and the  girls  have  no   exercise  over  personal   choice.    The  permissive attitude to domestic   violence   against   women  and  girls  also   results  in  sexual abuse  in the   family  or   in  the   domestic  service  , so  the   victims  of  violence  are drown into   prostitution.

3. 2    The impact of human trafficking on the population.

Human trafficking  and  sexual  exploitation  impacts  on  a person’s right    to protection from  abuse  and exploitation ,the   right  to  privacy , personal  liberty and  participation   recognized by   UN  conventions  like    the (ICCPRs),(CEDAW) –(ICRC). It involves discrimination which will result in marginalization, exclusion and for children- denial to physical and physiological development. 

It creates greater risk to physical damage, the   damage of sexual organs / STDs; it exposes them to death /HIV/AIDS, infection. Grave physical injury, rape, sodomy   permanent disfigurement.     The right to life and protection   from violence is denied .Women and girls seem to suffer greater abuse.  They are more frequently trapped and enslaved and have less freedom when they are   victims of trafficking or abduction. Women are often with their children and the children are used to get them to exploit and intimidate them into submissiveness.

They  may be  forced to give  up  children  for abortion or  be  required   to report children with  no  resources to do so .  In the  rebel  areas,  the men  often run  and  leave  the women  to run  with  the  children .

The women  /girls face  a greater  risk  of  sexual  exploitation  and   psychological  violence  since  every  effort  is  made to   destroy their self esteem  so that they lose  the   sense of  individual  identity and  succumb  to  sexual enslavement.    Young girls are   vulnerable because   of the   myths surrounding   sex with virgins.

Chapter 4

4.0   RESPONSE (Domestic)
In this chapter, we shall look at the attempts by Uganda as a country to address the issue of human trafficking. There is a legal frame work within which traffickers can be arrested prosecuted and punished.  Uganda’s approach has been too pronged from a criminal law perspective and a human rights perspective. 

4.0.1 CRIMINAL LAW PERSPECTIVE
The Penal Code is the major enactment that can be used to combat human trafficking. The Act does not specifically use the term or phase trafficking in Human beings, nevertheless there are provisions which prohibit slavery, trafficking abduction, which is kin to trafficking and are provisions that may be exploited in the fight against trafficking of human beings and trafficking of women for purposes of prostitution or slavery. Especially Chapter XXIV of the Penal Code Act, these crimes are categorized as offences against liberty. Section 239-250.   I shall not go into details, but they include offenses like 
•	Kidnapping from Uganda
•	Kidnapping  from lawful guardianship
•	Abduction
•	Abduction in order to subject persons to harm, slavery, wrongful concealment and confining kidnapped or abducted persons.
•	Inducing a person to give himself/herself as a slave.
•	Unlawful compulsory labour.

•	There is no mechanism for handling cases of human trafficking.
•	There is no specific law outlawing human trafficking.
•	There are claw back provisions in the law which make it difficult to prosecute and punish the traffickers for example the law on abduction requires that the evidence of the victim has to be corroborated.
•	There is no specific law criminalizing human trafficking, so the police may be reluctant to act. There are claw-back provisions in the law, for example on abduction. There has to be corroboration of the evidence of the victim

4.0.2 HUMAN RIGHTS PERSPECTIVE
The Constitution of Uganda 1995, which is Supreme law in Uganda, recognizes the protection of liberty as fundamental human right and freedom. (See Article 23(1)2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, (9). Derogation from particular human rights and freedoms is prohibited most especially freedom from slavery or servitude. (See Article 44 of the Constitution).

4.0.3 CEDAW
Uganda is also a party to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.(CEDAW) Uganda has signed and ratified this convention and by ratifying it, it means that Uganda has committed herself to take all measures including legislation to condemn discrimination against women in all its forms, to pursue by appropriate means without any delay.The Government is also to put in place policies eliminating discrimination against women, and in particular under Article 6 it undertakes to take action to suppress all forms of trafficking in women and exploitation of women.

4.1 REGIONAL RESPONSE
Uganda is a party to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.(ACHPRS) 
1981 was the beginning of a new era in the field of Human Rights in the African region. It entered into force on 21st October 1980, and as of 29th April, 2002, 53 states including Uganda had signed as parties to it.

The Charter also created the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, to ensure protection of human rights in Africa. See Article 30.

In 1998, the protocol on the establishment of an African Human Rights’ Court was adopted. The Court has now been established and is now going to be based in Arusha, Tanzania.
The African charter recognizes the following civil, political, economic, social and  cultural rights including in particular; the right to respect of one’s dignity as a human being, including freedom from slavery, slave, trade, torture, inhuman and degrading punishment and treatment.  (Article 5).

Chapter 5
5.0 GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR Action
There are conventions and protocols on human   trafficking  but  many  countries havenot                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      ratified them or entered   bilateral agreements against  trafficking.

•	There is a legal frame work that needs to be strengthened with necessary mechanisms for legal legislation on human trafficking to act as a deterrent and to also put in place special institutions to combat trafficking.

•	Introduce the concept of automatic applications of international conventions and protocols into domestic legislation.

•	We need inter country   collaboration through   NGO’s   like the women judges in different countries and   Interpol to be   able to track down trafficking and engaging in effective   investigations and prosecution.

•	The local  women  judges  associations  should be  engaged  in  advocacy  and set  up programmes  of  re-integration  and  recovery  of   victims of  trafficking.  They should   also be engaged in lobbying for law reform.    They should encourage   collaboration with international agencies for example   women  judges  in East  Africa  with the  East African  community  and  women judges  in southern Africa  with the  SADC and governments  in the region responding to  problems  of human   trafficking . We should strengthen local lobbying and advocacy by networking beyond national and international agencies and government through conferences.

•	We should  lobby  countries  that  have  not   ratified  the  protocols on  human trafficking  to do  so  immediately.

•	Countries should allocate the necessary resources for the purposes of study and data collection to provide an appropriate information data base for programming resource allocation, advocacy and legal reform and policy formulation.                                                 

•	 Countries should recognize the importance of corporation because while some countries can be the origin of the people who are being trafficked others are transit zones and others recipients of people being trafficked

•	Countries should review and revise all laws, strengthen them and where necessary put in place new ones to address the problem of trafficking. 

•	All conduct of trafficking should be criminalized and deterrent punishment and sanctions to ensure effective implementation and enforcement of the laws must be put into place. 

•	These  policies should  be combined  with  policies  and  programs to  promote long  term  social and  medical rehabilitation and  behavioral change on the part of  traffickers.

•	Efforts  should be made  to  realize  the  international  and  constitutional  legal  standards  of  equality that  are  accepted  in most  countries to  create an   environment in which disadvantaged people can’t be  discriminated against  and  exploited.

•	Countries  should  develop  national agenda  for  action with the  time bound  goals to  work  towards  effective  elimination of human trafficking.

•	Indicators should be developed to monitor progress on the achievement of these goals.

•	Countries should develop effective mechanisms and put into place focal points at local level and community levels to assist in implementing action.

•	Economic policies  to  address  poverty  , education , skills  acquisition should be  given  priority so that  children  from  poor  families  can  have  education , skills and  training and so that  they  can  be  employed and  not  end  up  being  exploited, community  based programs  to help  the victims  of trafficking should be put into place. 

•	The  legal system and procedures should  be modified  so as  to  treat  victims of trafficking as persons in need of care ,recovery and re- integration rather than  as  offenders.

•	We need  sensitization  programs for  law enforcement  personal ,  judicial  officers and  social  workers  taking  into accounting a non  punitive  approach to be  accompanied by  change  of  laws  and legal  procedures relating  to the  victims  of  trafficking  , sexual exploitation  and  abuse.

•	Programmes should  focus on the  trafficking  to  encourage   interaction  so that  victims  become  change agents  and  community  resource persons to  prevent incidents of trafficking , exploitation and assist with  their  reintegration and recovery of  victims.