Law against cannibalism,sex tourism passed

Apr 06, 2009

CANNIBALISM and sex tourism have been criminalised under the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Bill, 2009 passed by Parliament last week.

By Joyce. Namutebi, J. Odyek and C. Bekunda

CANNIBALISM and sex tourism have been criminalised under the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Bill, 2009 passed by Parliament last week.

For humans, cannibalism means eating another or part of a human being. Sex tourism is defined as “a programme organised by travel and tourism related establishments or individuals, which consists of tourism packages or activities, utilising and offering escort and sexual services and practices offered for any persons as part of work recreation.”

Winnie Masiko (NRM) and Dora Byamukama (EALA) addressed a press conference at Parliament yesterday about the Bill highlights.

Byamukama, one of the initial drafters of the Bill, noted that there was no law against cannibalism.

She said the East African community was discussing the East African Tourism Bill and although sex tourism was not specifically mentioned in the Bill, it was one of the things that tourists come for. She said sex tourism could be another form of exploitation.

The Bill provides that any person who recruits, hires or maintains, confines, transports, transfers, harbours or receives a person, through force for purposes of engaging that person in prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation, forced labour, forced or arranged marriage is liable to 15 years imprisonment.

Masiko said the Bill had a provision on children. “Any person who commits an offence in trafficking in children, uses a child in any armed conflict, removes any part, organ or tissues from the body of a child taken alive, uses a child in a commission of crime or uses a child or part of a child in witchcraft or related practices, commits the offence of aggravated trafficking in children and is liable to life imprisonment.”

Mathias Kasamba, chairperson of the parliamentary committee on defence and internal affairs, noted the absence of national figures in Uganda on human trafficking.

He, however, cited the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and US Department of State reports on Uganda. ILO indicated that the Lords Resistance Army since 1990 had abducted between 25,000-30,000 children. The ILO estimates that 1.5m children are employed or working, while about 12,000 Ugandan children are engaged in commercial sexual exploitation.

Global estimates indicate that approximately two million persons are trafficked per year, of who 1.2 million are children.

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