Job agencies a key driver of human trafficking

By John Agaba

Most labour recruitment agencies that are taking Ugandans to work abroad operate without licenses, which is fueling human trafficking in the country.

Eunice Kisembo, the chairperson of the national task force for the coordination of government initiatives against human trafficking, said: “We have about 46 agencies recruiting people to work abroad, but only 23 of these have renewed their licenses.’’

“Because of this, we have some agencies that do not know anything about human trafficking laws. They assume that their duty stops at delivering these people,” he added.

Kisembo revealed this during the Uganda Youth Development Link workshop to create awareness on prevention of human trafficking. It was held at Hotel Triangle in Kampala at the end of last week.

Also the immigration spokesperson at the internal affairs ministry, Kisembo said because some agencies don’t read and interprete contract terms for their clients before shipping them, many of them reach the foreign countries only to find no jobs.

She revealed that they were working with the Police, Interpol and the foreign affairs ministry to set up a body to verify if indeed the jobs exist before the agency is cleared to recruit any people.