At least 20 cases of missing children are being recorded every month at the Malaba and Busia borders. This is, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Agnes Igoye, the Deputy National Coordinator Trafficking in person department, says that last week’s visits to Malaba in Tororo and Busia district revealed a worrying trend where children are being targeted for trafficking while in some incidents parents have deliberately given them out.
She explains that in the few days her team spent in the two districts, many children were not in school but have been turned into casual laborers and have been used to smuggle some goods.
Once the children cross the border disguising as helpers to their disabled relatives, Igoye says they don’t return. Igoye adds that some children are being given out to work in local mines, bars and other businesses.
“People with disabilities are increasingly being used for smuggling across the border. They are using children to push them. It is time for school but children are not in school. We have learned that 20 cases of missing children are reported every month. That is very disturbing,” Igoye says.
The shocking part of the missing children at Malaba and Busia borders, according to Igoye, is that many parents do not bother to report. It is always the concerned people like relatives or neighbors who report. This is the reason why the Internal Ministry suspects that parents are deliberately give out their children.
“There is local mining where they are using children. Some of them have died. We are investigating these incidents. We are seeing increasing numbers of children at the borders. If your child is missing and you don’t report, you will be arrested for not reporting,” Igoye says.
Igoye explains that in their brief investigations, they have learned that teenage girls from Tooro, Buganda, and Banyarwanda are the most traffic at the borders. Such girls are removed from their home areas on promises of well-paying jobs but end up being deployed in bars and brothels.
