URN.Speaking at the Hope International Conference held under the theme “ending child sacrifice and trafficking building Momentum for Quest for Justice “held in Kampala on Friday, Justice Abodo indicated that for the last five years there has been a 400 percent increase in trafficking in person cases.
The Director of Public Prosecutions-DPP Jane Frances Aboddo wants the government to ratify the Palermo Protocol to protect immigrant workers from transnational human trafficking. The protocol that seeks to prevent, suppress, and punish trafficking in persons was adopted on December 25th, 2003 by the United Nations to supplement the 2000 convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
It was specifically put in place to prevent and combat trafficking in persons, paying particular attention to women and children and to protect and assist the victims of such trafficking, with full respect for their human rights. It also aims to promote cooperation among State Parties in order to meet the said objectives.
Speaking at the Hope International Conference held under the theme “ending child sacrifice and trafficking building Momentum for Quest for Justice “held in Kampala on Friday, Justice Abodo indicated that for the last five years there has been a 400 percent increase in trafficking in person cases. She said from January 2020 to June 2022, they registered 717 cases involving children and 962 child victims of trafficking were identified.
Of these 451 cases involved sexual exploitation, 105 labor exploitation, 41 both for sex and labor exploitation, and 19 child sacrifice cases. She noted that one of the biggest challenges they have is that the cases are complex and often involve organized crime syndicates involving terrorism and fraudulent schemes.
Abodo revealed that in most transnational cases, both the Uganda Police Force and prosecutors struggle to connect with their counterparts in other countries where victims were trafficked from or to, which makes it difficult to hunt for the criminals involved and bring them to justice.
According to Abodo, whereas her office is not against externalization of labor or safe migrant work, they are against trafficking in persons, which calls for the ratification of the Palermo Protocol and the passing of necessary legislation related to migrant worker’s protection.
On his part, Supreme Court Justice Mike Chibita and former DPP who was the Chief Guest noted that trafficking in persons and child sacrifice are complex crimes. He said they are not like most of the crimes they study in law school and at police academies.
“They are covert and with a heavy context. Accordingly, successful investigations, Prosecution adjudication, and victim witness coordination require specialized training and the sensitive nature of these cases means they need to be handled as expeditiously as possible, to ensure that survivors are able to testify and move on with their lives”, said Chibita. Justice Chibita added that there must be designated investigators and prosecutors whose only focus is to handle these cases to ensure that they are not left out.
The revelations by Abodo and Chibita come at a time when the country is awash with bad stories about external migrant workers, some of who narrate horrible tales of torture and illegal organ transplant. The latest story was of Judith Nakintu, a Ugandan who was taken to Saudi Arabia for domestic work and illegally lost her kidney.
Nakintu, who had been working as a housemaid in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia since December 2019 was suspiciously returned to Uganda with the right kidney missing. However, her family was informed that she was involved in an accident, although the nature of the accident was not revealed.
Nakintu has since been awarded Shillings 270 million by a court in Saudi Arabia for the loss of her kidney after it was found that she had been exploited by her employers who abused their power and authority to execute a mission through fraud or deceit.
