Ugandans cautioned on jobs abroad

Jan 24, 2017

Most of them end up in either slavery or prostitution and homosexuality

Ugandans seeking employment abroad have been advised to be vigilant to avoid falling prey to exploitation by human traffickers. 

The deputy director of Law Development Centre (LDC), Florence Nakachwa said that all that glitters is not gold. 

"There is a need to make Ugandans aware that there is exploitation, abuses which people who go out there, are subjected to.  We have freedom of movement, but you should know that where you are going, there are no jobs" Nakachwa said. 

She advised parents to stop sending their children abroad for work since most of them end up in either slavery or prostitution and homosexuality. 

Nakachwa sounded that advise while closing a three-day training for Community Legal Volunteers (CLVs) conducted by the Association of Female Lawyers, FIDA Uganda at Esella Hotel in Kira, Wakiso district recently. 

"We are equally blessed here in Uganda with a number of opportunities; our children should use all the skills available to them to make Uganda a great country" she said.

Nakachwa added that the country needs more energetic youth to engage in agriculture to ensure food security. 

"These are the times when we need all our youth to be productive in agriculture to save our country from the drought but many are nowhere to be seen. The modern day slave trade should stop" she stressed. 

She reported that the government has at instances intervened to rescue Ugandans from sexual slavery, forced prostitution while others have been providing forced labour in countries such as South Africa, Zambia, Malaysia and Oman. 

"The ministry of labour has developed guidelines for companies recruiting external labour so parents should use the only legalized companies" she said. 

According to Nakachwa, parents should also emphasize good upbringing in order to curb incidences of domestic violence in future. 

"Before we think about the rights of children in connection to violation of the law, we need to look at the parenting issue" Nakachwa. 

She also implored the CLVs to sensitize other citizens about their rights and obligations before handing over certificates of attendance to the trainees. 

FIDA boss Irene Ovonji Odida said a total of 21 community legal volunteers from seven districts to help in resolving cases at village levels had been trained. 

"The legal volunteers have acquired skills in mediations, law interpretation and case reporting" she explained. 

The districts include Lwengo, Arua, Kabale, Kamuli, Kampala, Kapchorwa and Mbale. 

Ovonji noted that the volunteers help parents obtain custody of their children to preventing unlawful evictions and illegal garnishment and also rely private attorneys to protect the basic human needs of communities. 

"They provide significant extra resource to help meet growing demand for the expert legal advice that the organisation (FIDA) offers" she said. 

She added that they promote volunteering to increase their capacity to help clients and enable them assist more people. 

"Volunteers cannot replace the capacity lost by the cuts to legal aid funding but they are an increasingly important way of supporting our services" she said.

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