Crime
No Excerpt
At least 103 people were trafficked every month in the first 10 months of the year 2024, figures by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Lady Justice Jane Frances Abodo have indicated.
Speaking during the opening of the second national workshop on Standard Operating Procedures for police investigating officer and prosecutors at Kampala Fairway Hotel, DPP Abodo said between January and October 2024, at least 1037 cases of trafficking in persons have been registered in Uganda.
“Between January and October of this year, there have been about 1037 victims identified. This means by the end of this year; we will have surpassed what we recorded last year where over 1260 victims were identified and rescued. These numbers are not all, but just a tip of what happens,” Abodo said.
“These are not just statistics but victims and lives which have been shattered as Uganda, just like month countries globally remains as a source, route and destination for human trafficking victims.”
Figures from the Coordination office for prevention of trafficking in persons at the Ministry of Internal Affairs show that of the 1260 victims of human trafficking for last year, most were juveniles.
Speaking on Tuesday, the Director of Public Prosecutions called for a multi-sectoral approach to deal with trafficking in persons that she said it multi-faced.
“The amorphous and changing nature of trafficking in persons calls for an equally sophisticated and coordinated response.”
DPP Abodo said coming up with the Standards Operating Procedures is one way of handling human trafficking decisively, applauding CIVIPOL, GIZ, European Union and UNODC for partnering with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and Police to train investigators and prosecutors and development of SOPs.
“We must make every place unsafe for human traffickers. Let us make life so difficult for them by making sure we do everything we must, right.”
Commenting about the SOPs for prosecuting an investigating trafficking in persons cases, Marco Bufo, the CIVIPOL BMM regional coordinator and team leader said there is need to have a human rights based, gender sensitive, child focused, victim centred, and trauma informed approach.
“We have to adopt a trauma informed and victim centred approach to protect rights of the victims. The approach should be holistic, integrated and multi-disciplinary,” Bufo said.
He said the standard operating procedures are complemented by a checklist which will soon be digitalized to facilitate use throughout the country
Superintendent of Annette Karungi, the acting head of the anti-trafficking in persons department reiterated police’s efforts in fighting trafficking in persons.
“Initially, trafficking in persons was so common in Kampala but statistics so it has moved to countryside. These SOPs will be our Bible to ensure we do the right thing and it will facilitate prosecution and make work on judges easier and increase on the number of convictions,” SP Karungi said.
She said the Police’s Criminal Investigations will take similar small workshops in regions to ensure they equip investigators to decisively deal with human trafficking.
