Human trafficking victims protecting agents

What you need to know:

  • Ms Rose Nalubega, Police’s acting commissioner for sexual offences, said human trafficking is such an intricate business that when police try to help the victims, they view police as saboteurs attempting to block them from better opportunities.
  • Marion Ben Bella, a prosecutor at the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, said she was frustrated when two cases of sexual abuse were handed over to her for investigation but after doing a lot of work to get the culprits prosecuted, the victims lost interest in their cases because they had been paid off.

Ministry of Internal Affairs officials have accused registered labour recruitment agencies of engaging in human trafficking for jobs abroad.
Speaking at a consultative meeting for “duty bearers in management of victims of trafficking and commercial exploitation in the region,” the ministry officials said human trafficking is organized crime perpetrated by known recruitment agencies which are licensed by government.

“Section 9 of the Employment Regulations demand that the recruitment agency monitors adherence to welfare of the person they have recruited to ensure they are adequately catered for wherever they have been given jobs,” Phillip Nkalengaho, a CID investigating officer, said on Monday at the meeting convened by FIDA at Golf Course Hotel.

The meeting involved representatives of Police, Immigration and Directorate of Public Prosecutions.
Mr Kalengaho explained that while recruitment agencies are required to monitor the medical insurance, medical care and working conditions of the recruited people, most of them do not do that and the trafficked Ugandans end up being abused by their employers abroad.
Ms Rose Nalubega, the police acting Commissioner for Sexual Offences, said human trafficking is such an intricate business that when police try to help the victims, they view police as saboteurs attempting to block them from better opportunities.

“We can rescue the victims but tracing the perpetrators is very difficult because at some point the victims will refuse to give information and you cannot proceed with the case,” she observed.
Marion Ben Bella, a prosecutor at the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, said she was frustrated when two cases of sexual abuse were handed over to her for investigation but after doing a lot of work to get the culprits prosecuted, the victims lost interest in their cases because they had been paid off.

“The problem we have is that we do not have witness protection laws to protect the victims and when you want them to testify against their tormentors, they lose interest in the case because either they have been threatened or they have been bought off,” Ms Ben Bella said.
Mr Nathan Mwesigye Byamukama, the regional director for training on prevention and suppression of sexual and gender based violence in Great Lakes region, said human trafficking is a lucrative and sophisticated business. He said most trafficked people are sold as modern-day slaves to offer cheap labour. He said some work as sex slaves and some of them are killed to extract their internal organs which are sold expensively.

Asked what government is doing to bring the culpable recruitment agencies to justice, Mr Pius Bigirimana, the Permanent Secretary in the Labour and Gender ministry, challenged to Internal Affairs officials to name the companies involved in the illegal trade so that action can be taken.
“Let them tell you these agencies, let them bring hard facts and we shall take action against those agencies,” he said.