Over 98% of human trafficking victims are single mothers

Across the world, millions of women and girls live in the long shadows of human trafficking. 

Whether ensnared by force, coercion, or deception, they live in limbo, in fear, in pain.

In Uganda, the biggest percentage of over 98% of these victims are single mothers, according to Agnes Igoye, the Deputy Chair of National Prevention of Trafficking in Person at the Ministry of Internal affairs.

Igoye, while addressing the media on Monday, revealed that over 2119 people were victims of human trafficking by the end of last year, out of which, the biggest representation were single mothers who had fled marriage.

“From January to June this year, over 1000 victims of human trafficking were registered, and still, the biggest junk was single mothers. I wonder why this is so, why should men take their responsibilities? Why should we have single mothers flee the country just to fend for their children?” Igoye wondered.

Social breakdown, conflict and HIV & AIDS have led to millions of parents and grandparents in Uganda raising children alone. 

Many also care for orphans who would otherwise be homeless. 

These single parents and careers, most of whom are women, face immense challenges to earn money to meet their families’ needs.

This lack of income, combined with poor nutrition, ill health and stigma, contribute towards a cycle of extreme poverty which causes many parents to break down emotionally.

According to Igoye, the COVID-19 pandemic, domestic violence and poverty have exacerbated factors that have fueled human trafficking such as poverty, unemployment and gender-based violence. 

She encouraged male parents to rethink the act of mistreating women, observing that it is dangerous for the mother to dump their children in the name of seeking basic needs for them.

“It is shameful for male parents to leave their families to be managed by only women. Families managed single-handedly cannot afford all the basics and therefore opening up to challenges of malnutrition,” she noted.

The Government of Uganda may not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. 

These efforts included identifying more victims and signing the National Referral Guidelines for Management of Victims of Trafficking in Uganda (NRG).

The government increased prosecutions of suspected traffickers and increased training for law enforcement personnel, investigated allegations of complicity in trafficking crimes, and created human trafficking officer positions within the Ugandan Police Force (UPF) and the Criminal Investigative Department (CID). 

The government increased awareness-raising campaigns and launched, funded, and implemented the National Action Plan for the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Uganda 2019-2024 (NAP).