Prevent sale of human beings
Feb 02, 2011
THE New Vision story of January 24 entitled "Two held for selling girls into prostitution" signals a bigger problem. This was a chilling story of how two men, currently in police custody, and their accomplices who took advantage of some desperate Ugandan girls.
By Dora Byamukama
THE New Vision story of January 24 entitled "Two held for selling girls into prostitution" signals a bigger problem. This was a chilling story of how two men, currently in police custody, and their accomplices who took advantage of some desperate Ugandan girls.
The Police revealed that Ugandan women, mainly in their early 20s, are being sold in Asian countries to work as prostitutes. The victims were promised jobs in Malaysia but on arrival, they were locked up in brothels and forced to peddle their bodies. This deception culminated in the death of two of them.
This story of trafficking human beings is a reminder of the sad reality that modern day slavery still goes on. For every such story there may be many others which go unreported. Causes of trafficking are said to be many. In my assessment, the primary cause is greed, poverty of the mind and barbarism! The good news is that some degree of awareness has been created on this vice; and a law on trafficking in persons was enacted in 2009.
This law is modelled on the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2000. It provides for prohibition of trafficking in persons, creates offences, prosecution and punishment of offenders. It also provides for prevention of the vice, and for protection of victims of Trafficking in Persons. The trafficking in persons law is even more pertinent considering that the East African Community operationalised a Common Market on July 1, 2010 which allows for free movement of persons, goods and services.
Trafficking in persons has several components which include:
The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons,
The threat or use of force or other forms of coercion;
Exploitation.
What distinguishes the definition of trafficking in persons from that of kidnapping is the purpose which is exploitation. Exploitation is defined to include at a minimum:
Sexual exploitation, forced marriage, child marriage,
Forced labour, harmful child labour, use of a child in armed conflict;
Use of a person in illegal activities;
Debt bondage, slavery or practices similar to slavery or servitude,
Human sacrifice;
The removal of organs or body parts for sale or for purposes of witchcraft;
Harmful rituals or practices.
There are several avenues for trafficking persons. For example, adoption of children could provide such a route if the law is lax. Adoption laws should ideally include a mechanism for tracking the whereabouts and wellbeing of children who are adopted. If this is not done, such vulnerable children may be sexually exploited. Another avenue for trafficking persons could even be with consent of the person trafficked.
The fact that they may have consented cannot be used against them because deceit was used in the process.
Consent based on deceit does not absolve the trafficker of crime. The Trafficking in Persons law provides that a person who engages in trafficking of persons commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for 15 years. It further states that when an offender is a legal person such as a company, it shall be liable to a fine of sh20m), and temporary or permanent closure, deregistration, dissolution, or disqualification from practice of certain activities.
The trafficking in persons law provides for the offence of Aggravated Trafficking in Persons which makes the offender liable to imprisonment for life. This is committed where the victim is a child, where adoption, guardianship, or fostering is undertaken for the purpose of exploitation or when the offence is committed by a syndicate, or on large scale.
When the offender is an organisation engaged in the activities of organising, directing or protecting the vulnerable persons in society.
Aggravated trafficking is also when:
The offender is engaged in organising or directing another person or persons to commit the offence;
The offence is committed by a close relative or a person having the parental care, authority or control over the victim;
The offence is committed by a public officer;
The offence is committed by military personnel or law enforcement officer;
The victim dies, becomes a person of unsound mind, suffers mutilation, gets infected with HIV/ AIDS or any other life- threatening illness.
Aggravated trafficking in persons also makes the offender liable to suffer death, is in cases where a child is trafficked; or used in armed conflict; where one removes any part, organ or tissue from the body of a child for purposes of human sacrifice; or uses a child in the commission of a crime; or abandons a child outside Uganda; or uses a child or any body part of a child in witchcraft, rituals and related practices.
Every member of the community, who knows that any person has committed or intends to commit an offence under the Trafficking in Persons law, is obliged to report the matter to the police or other authority for appropriate action. Failure to do so, makes one liable to a fine of sh20m or imprisonment for six months. Beware! Ignorance of the law is no defence.
THE New Vision story of January 24 entitled "Two held for selling girls into prostitution" signals a bigger problem. This was a chilling story of how two men, currently in police custody, and their accomplices who took advantage of some desperate Ugandan girls.
The Police revealed that Ugandan women, mainly in their early 20s, are being sold in Asian countries to work as prostitutes. The victims were promised jobs in Malaysia but on arrival, they were locked up in brothels and forced to peddle their bodies. This deception culminated in the death of two of them.
This story of trafficking human beings is a reminder of the sad reality that modern day slavery still goes on. For every such story there may be many others which go unreported. Causes of trafficking are said to be many. In my assessment, the primary cause is greed, poverty of the mind and barbarism! The good news is that some degree of awareness has been created on this vice; and a law on trafficking in persons was enacted in 2009.
This law is modelled on the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2000. It provides for prohibition of trafficking in persons, creates offences, prosecution and punishment of offenders. It also provides for prevention of the vice, and for protection of victims of Trafficking in Persons. The trafficking in persons law is even more pertinent considering that the East African Community operationalised a Common Market on July 1, 2010 which allows for free movement of persons, goods and services.
Trafficking in persons has several components which include:
What distinguishes the definition of trafficking in persons from that of kidnapping is the purpose which is exploitation. Exploitation is defined to include at a minimum:
There are several avenues for trafficking persons. For example, adoption of children could provide such a route if the law is lax. Adoption laws should ideally include a mechanism for tracking the whereabouts and wellbeing of children who are adopted. If this is not done, such vulnerable children may be sexually exploited. Another avenue for trafficking persons could even be with consent of the person trafficked.
The fact that they may have consented cannot be used against them because deceit was used in the process.
Consent based on deceit does not absolve the trafficker of crime. The Trafficking in Persons law provides that a person who engages in trafficking of persons commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for 15 years. It further states that when an offender is a legal person such as a company, it shall be liable to a fine of sh20m), and temporary or permanent closure, deregistration, dissolution, or disqualification from practice of certain activities.
The trafficking in persons law provides for the offence of Aggravated Trafficking in Persons which makes the offender liable to imprisonment for life. This is committed where the victim is a child, where adoption, guardianship, or fostering is undertaken for the purpose of exploitation or when the offence is committed by a syndicate, or on large scale.
When the offender is an organisation engaged in the activities of organising, directing or protecting the vulnerable persons in society.
Aggravated trafficking is also when:
Aggravated trafficking in persons also makes the offender liable to suffer death, is in cases where a child is trafficked; or used in armed conflict; where one removes any part, organ or tissue from the body of a child for purposes of human sacrifice; or uses a child in the commission of a crime; or abandons a child outside Uganda; or uses a child or any body part of a child in witchcraft, rituals and related practices.
Every member of the community, who knows that any person has committed or intends to commit an offence under the Trafficking in Persons law, is obliged to report the matter to the police or other authority for appropriate action. Failure to do so, makes one liable to a fine of sh20m or imprisonment for six months. Beware! Ignorance of the law is no defence.