VIDEO: Police accused of aiding human trafficking

KAMPALA. Recruitment agencies have blamed the rampant human trafficking cases on police’s incompetence in scrutinizing documents used in external labour enlistment.
Speaking at the formal interaction meeting organised by Interpol director, AIGP Fred Yiga, labour export companies said many policemen including senior officers lack information on dissecting international documents and procedures followed to recruit external labour force, a gap that is dearly being exploited by traffickers.

Mr Ezra Mugisha, a board member of the Uganda Association of External Recruitment Agencies (UAERA), said illegal recruitment agencies were taking advantage of police's incompetence in international matters to smuggle out desperate girls.

“We once had a court case and we’re surprised that the magistrate pointed out the irregularities that had been involved in the recruitment of girls, but a full OC [Officer in Charge] could not identify any of the forgeries,” Mr Mugisha said.

“We spend a lot of time explaining the meaning and implications of such documents because your officers do not know them. We need a desk at Interpol were we can often file our complaints. We need technical people to handle international matters,” Ms Aisha Kitandwe, a UAERA board member said.

In his response to recruiters’ arguments, AIGP Yiga said Interpol was dwarfed with manpower, a reason they cannot be at every border point. He, however, said all his personnel placed at Interpol points are equipped with the necessary skills that enable them detect forgeries, a reason they have arrested several culprits and rescued victims.

Mr Yiga added that as Interpol they have tried to be innovative to ensure their documents are not forged but most middlemen used by recruitment agencies get documents from Nkrumah and Nasser roads.
“Cases of human trafficking are still many because of middlemen. From January to July we have registered 58 cases of human trafficking involving 109 victims. We have rescued 69 and discovered three killed,” Mr Yiga said.

The 2017 annual crime report released by police last month showed human trafficking increased by 29.3 per cent. A total of 177 cases were registered last year compared to 125 registered the previous year. The number of victims increased by 15.4 per cent and women were most victims followed by children.

WATCH VIDEO: Police accused of aiding human trafficking

Transnational trafficking counted for 249 out of 335 overall victims. Uganda was a destination of six foreigners from Rwanda and Somalia. Female children were the most internally trafficked compared to their male counterparts.

In her presentation, Ms Grace Akullo, director Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID), said 96 per cent of the 353 interceptions at border points and Entebbe International Airport, were females.
UERA chairman, Andrew Tumwine Kameraho, said the number of Ugandans working abroad currently stands at 120,000 and the governments earns $1.3b from them, of which $600m comes from Middle East countries.

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