UGANDA (Tier 2)
The Government of Uganda doesn’t absolutely meet the minimal requirements for the elimination of trafficking however is making vital efforts to take action. The authorities demonstrated general rising efforts in contrast with the earlier reporting interval; due to this fact, Uganda remained on Tier 2. These efforts included investigating and prosecuting extra trafficking crimes and drafting a brand new anti-trafficking National Action Plan. The authorities, in cooperation with a global group, opened a assist middle for migrant employees providing pre-departure coaching to cut back trafficking vulnerabilities. The authorities’s hotline recognized a gradual stream of trafficking victims, referring these victims to care and initiating prison investigations, and established two new district degree anti-trafficking process forces. However, the federal government didn’t meet the minimal requirements in a number of key areas. The authorities recognized and referred fewer trafficking victims to companies. Access to satisfactory companies for some victims, notably males and people in rural areas, remained restricted, and the shortage of short-term shelter and long-term housing continued to adversely have an effect on the federal government’s capability to guard trafficking victims. Reports of official complicity continued. The absence of insurance policies to supply help to victims and witnesses hindered the federal government’s efforts to research and prosecute trafficking.
PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: Using the National Referral Guidelines for Management of Victims of Trafficking in Uganda (NRG), systematically and proactively establish trafficking victims by screening weak populations, akin to refugees, asylum-seekers, people in industrial intercourse, kids in the Karamoja area, and Cuban regime-affiliated professionals, for trafficking indicators and refer all trafficking victims to acceptable companies. * Significantly improve the provision of short-term shelter, long-term housing, and specialised companies for all trafficking victims – notably males and victims recognized in rural areas – together with by partnering with NGOs that present sufferer care. * Investigate all credible allegations of official complicity in human trafficking and maintain complicit officers criminally accountable by way of prosecution and conviction. * Develop and implement a victim-witness help program to extend protecting companies for trafficking victims collaborating in prison proceedings and stop re-traumatization. * Strengthen the partnership between police and prosecutors to extra effectively and successfully full the judicial proceedings of trafficking instances, together with rising coaching on sturdy proof gathering and victim-centered investigations. * Increase safety for Ugandan trafficking victims exploited overseas, together with coaching Ugandan embassy employees to establish and help victims and assigning extra labor attachés to Ugandan embassies to watch migrants’ working situations overseas. * Adopt a complete National Action Plan and dedicate sources to its implementation. * Strengthen the capability of labor inspectors to establish and report potential trafficking crimes and refer trafficking victims to acceptable companies. * Continue to implement sturdy rules and oversight of labor recruitment firms, together with eliminating recruitment charges charged to migrant employees and holding fraudulent labor recruiters criminally accountable. * Screen any North Korean employees for indicators of trafficking and refer them to acceptable companies, in a way in step with obligations below UN Security Council Resolution 2397.
PROSECUTION
The authorities made combined anti-trafficking regulation enforcement efforts.
The Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act of 2009 criminalized intercourse trafficking and labor trafficking and prescribed punishments of as much as 15 years’ imprisonment for offenses involving grownup victims and as much as life imprisonment for these involving child victims. These penalties had been sufficiently stringent and, with respect to intercourse trafficking, commensurate with these prescribed for different grave crimes, akin to kidnapping.
The Coordination Office to Prevent Trafficking in Persons (COPTIP) remained answerable for compiling regulation enforcement knowledge. COPTIP continued to report “incidents” associated to human trafficking, which ranged from easy inquiries to full police investigations; the federal government didn’t present a breakdown of the varied classes that made up an incident or what number of incidents resulted in full investigations. In 2024, the federal government reported investigating 1,055 incidents of human trafficking, in contrast with 1,006 incidents in 2023. The authorities reported initiating prosecutions in opposition to 967 alleged traffickers in 784 instances, in contrast with prosecuting 589 alleged traffickers in 494 instances in 2023. Of the 967 alleged traffickers, 602 had been charged with intercourse trafficking, 212 for labor trafficking, and 153 for unspecified types of trafficking. The authorities reported it continued 1,874 investigations and prosecutions of 1,980 alleged traffickers from earlier reporting intervals. Courts convicted 101 traffickers below the 2009 anti-trafficking act in 2024, in contrast with 130 convictions in 2023. Of the 101 convictions, courts convicted 86 traffickers for intercourse trafficking, and 15 for compelled labor. Courts sentenced traffickers to jail phrases starting from three months to 24 years’ imprisonment.
Corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained vital considerations, inhibiting regulation enforcement motion. The authorities reported it charged 9 authorities officers – together with cops, navy officers, and public officers – for potential trafficking crimes; all 9 instances remained ongoing on the finish of the reporting interval. Two of the 9 officers had been charged with fraudulently recruiting Ugandan employees for expertise jobs in Thailand; the employees had been then exploited in compelled labor in on-line cryptocurrency scams in Burma concentrating on Western audiences. Observers reported that some cops and prosecutors dropped trafficking instances or downgraded offenses to lesser fees for numerous causes, together with officer negligence, ignorance of trafficking legal guidelines, or complicity with traffickers. Additionally, prior experiences famous that cops and immigration officers, notably at airports and border crossings, accepted bribes to facilitate trafficking crimes or to warn traffickers of impending operations and investigations. Observers reported allegations that high-level officers owned or had been related to labor recruitment firms suspected of trafficking. A Ugandan High Court Judge was discovered responsible of exploiting a home employee in the United Kingdom (UK); sentencing was pending by the tip of the reporting interval. The UK authorities additionally declared the Ugandan Deputy High Commissioner a persona non grata in October 2024 for facilitating the recruitment and alleged trafficking of Ugandan home employees in the UK.
The UPF Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID) was answerable for trafficking investigations and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) had an Anti-Trafficking Unit with unique authority to prosecute all trafficking instances. The Chief Magistrate and High Court had jurisdiction to listen to trafficking instances, and the International Crimes Division of the High Court was answerable for child trafficking instances. Law enforcement officers, in partnership with an NGO, continued to make use of a cell phone app to gather and disseminate standardized knowledge pertaining to human trafficking investigations, prosecutions, and convictions, enabling authorities businesses to trace trafficking instances and nationwide trafficking traits.
The authorities, in partnership with NGOs and worldwide organizations, skilled police, social employees, border brokers, immigration officers, and neighborhood elders on the anti-trafficking regulation, victim-centered investigation methods, and sufferer identification and referral procedures. COPTIP, in collaboration with NGOs and international governments, skilled not less than 750 officers at numerous ranges of presidency. Despite coaching, some Ugandan police and immigration officers continued to lack an understanding of the anti-trafficking regulation and misclassified trafficking instances as different crimes or collected inadequate proof for trafficking instances to proceed to prosecution. Due to the restricted availability of shelters and different protections, the federal government usually rapidly repatriated international victims earlier than acquiring their testimony, which continued to impede the completion of trials. The authorities lacked sources and personnel to sufficiently handle inside and transnational trafficking crimes, with observers reporting that trafficking prosecutions may be delayed for a number of years, negatively impacting proof gathering. The authorities collaborated with the governments of Burundi, Kenya, and Malaysia on trafficking investigations and prosecutions. The authorities collaborated with the governments of Kenya and Tanzania to coach border authorities to mitigate human trafficking by way of ports. Officials from the ODPP, COPTIP, and UPF participated in a regional discussion board with officers from Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Kenya to collaborate on a number of safety points, together with multilateral efforts to establish trafficking victims and prosecute traffickers.
PROTECTION
The authorities decreased sufferer safety efforts.
The authorities reported figuring out 404 victims in 2024, in contrast with 1,698 victims recognized in 2023. NGOs and worldwide organizations reported figuring out an extra 474 victims and offering 3,888 victims, together with these recognized in earlier reporting intervals, with numerous companies, together with medical care, shelter, counseling, household reunification, vocational coaching, training, authorized assist, and repatriation help. Government officers continued to make use of the National Referral Guidelines (NRG) to establish trafficking victims and refer them to companies. The NRG offered sufferer referral pointers for presidency officers – together with police, prosecutors, and immigration officers – and NGOs, and described sources and suggestions for sufferer safety. The authorities continued to distribute copies to officers and skilled them on its use. The authorities, in collaboration with a global group, had a web based listing to attach authorities businesses and victims of trafficking with NGOs offering companies. The authorities screened weak populations for trafficking indicators, akin to kids and adults in the Karamoja area, at kids’s shelters, border places, faculties, and medical amenities. Identified victims had been referred to authorities or NGOs for help.
The authorities continued to make use of the NRG, service supplier listing, and the nation’s multisectoral sufferer assist system to instantly refer and help victims with care. The authorities, in partnership with civil society organizations, offered 47 victims with numerous safety companies, together with shelter, medical companies, psycho-social counseling, vocational coaching, and neighborhood reintegration, in contrast with offering 442 victims companies in 2023. In addition, the federal government reported referring 120 victims to NGO-provided companies, in contrast with referring 550 victims in the earlier 12 months. The authorities operated short-term shelters in Kampala in partnership with worldwide organizations. The authorities didn’t report how a lot funding it spent on sufferer companies in 2024, in contrast with 180 million Ugandan shillings ($47,682) in 2023. The authorities continued to depend on civil society to supply most sufferer companies however offered some in-kind help to companion organizations. The availability of sufferer care remained insufficient to satisfy the wants of victims and accommodate the variety of victims recognized – particularly outdoors the central and jap components of the nation – and companies had been primarily for ladies and youngsters, limiting the companies out there for grownup male victims. Government officers and civil society reported the shortage of short-term shelters and long-term housing out there in the nation continued to adversely have an effect on the federal government’s capability to adequately defend trafficking victims. In some instances, police reportedly returned child victims exploited by their guardians to their houses due to the restricted availability of shelters or different types of care. Because of an absence of sources and the restricted availability of short- and long-term shelters, they had been usually overcrowded. Observers beforehand reported the federal government eliminated a whole bunch of youngsters who had been homeless from city areas and positioned these kids in overcrowded shelters; most youngsters had been victims of trafficking from the Karamoja area and exploited in compelled begging. In September 2021, the Cabinet accepted the institution of shelters for migrant employees, together with potential trafficking victims, in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The authorities reported it established one shelter in Saudi Arabia, which supplied restricted companies; no shelters had been operational in Qatar or UAE. The authorities reported cooperating with the governments of Burma, India, and Saudia Arabia to repatriate Ugandan trafficking victims exploited overseas, although it relied upon worldwide organizations, native NGOs, and victims’ households to fund the repatriations.
The authorities remained with out victim-witness laws or a proper victim-witness help program to guard trafficking victims collaborating in prison proceedings and stop re-traumatization and usually relied on NGOs to supply these companies. ODPP, in partnership with native NGOs, continued to function child-friendly interviewing rooms in Kampala the place regulation enforcement, NGOs, and social employees may conduct forensic interviews with child trafficking victims. The absence of formal victim-witness help insurance policies hindered some investigations and prosecutions, particularly as traffickers continued to be in communication with victims, resulting in threats to discourage their participation in trials; in addition, some regulation enforcement officers didn’t take a victim-centered method in prison proceedings, probably re-traumatizing victims or discouraging victims from collaborating. The 2009 anti-trafficking regulation permitted international trafficking victims to stay in Uganda through the investigation of instances and to apply for residence and work permits, however the authorities didn’t report the extent to which it offered these companies. The regulation permitted victims to supply testimony by way of video or written assertion or to anonymously present data. The regulation allowed victims to hunt restitution and compensation in prison and civil fits. At least six traffickers had been ordered to pay restitution to victims with quantities starting from 300,000 shillings ($82) to 250,000,000 shillings ($68,045). Observers reported considerations that restitution funds had been usually delayed or ignored on account of restricted enforcement mechanisms.
PREVENTION
The authorities elevated prevention efforts.
The National Task Force, led by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with COPTIP serving as its secretariat, met repeatedly to coordinate anti-trafficking efforts. COPTIP, in partnership with a international authorities, supported the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons (PTIP) District Task Forces (DTFs) in Arua and Kyotera, and established two new process forces in Kasese and Tororo through the reporting interval. The PTIP DTFs had been chaired by the districts’ Resident District Commissioner and comprised of police, prosecutors, cultural leaders, and civil society; COPTIP offered the PTIP DTFs with coaching on trafficking case coordination and held trafficking-awareness workshops. The authorities initiated improvement of a brand new five-year anti-trafficking NAP as its 2019-2024 NAP concluded; the NAP remained pending by the tip of the reporting interval. The authorities reported ministries requested funds to implement the NAP as part of the overall price range. Observers continued to report COPTIP didn’t have ample staffing or funding to meet its mandate, hindering progress on anti-trafficking efforts. COPTIP once more didn’t publish an annual report containing normal data on human trafficking and a abstract of its anti-trafficking efforts. The authorities, independently and in partnership with NGOs and worldwide organizations, held numerous consciousness campaigns for presidency officers, civil society, neighborhood leaders, and the general public on recognizing trafficking crimes, vulnerabilities to trafficking, and sufferer safety measures. The Ministry of Gender, Labor, and Social Development (MGLSD), in partnership with a global group, operated a trafficking-specific hotline to establish potential victims, refer victims to care, and provoke prison investigations; the federal government reported receiving a median of 24 trafficking case referrals monthly. The Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control (DCIC) continued to function a 24-hour toll-free hotline for normal data, together with to report trafficking crimes. An NGO, in collaboration with the federal government, offered coaching to social employees, helpline operators, and regulation enforcement officers on trauma-informed look after the identification and help of trafficking victims.
The MGLSD continued to control labor migration and different labor-related issues, together with addressing instances of compelled labor, and continued efforts to enhance moral recruitment practices. The authorities maintained an exterior employment administration system, which functioned as a “one-stop” web portal the place Ugandans may search and apply for all pre-vetted abroad employment alternatives by way of licensed recruitment firms. In March 2025, the MGLSD, in cooperation with a global group, opened a assist middle for migrant employees to function an data hub providing pre-departure coaching, together with on employees’ rights, authorized help, vacation spot international locations’ legal guidelines and cultural practices, and required documentation. The authorities additionally reported streamlining the passport and visa application course of for migrant employees to restrict dangers related to labor brokers by way of a web based passport application and fee portal. MGLSD accredited personal coaching establishments to supply pre-departure coaching classes for Ugandan migrant employees registered by way of labor recruitment firms. The two-week necessary pre-departure trainings for all Ugandan migrant employees using registered labor recruitment firms included data on employment contracts, legal guidelines and rules, well being administration, and cultures of vacation spot international locations. Despite efforts to enhance recruitment practices and implement rules, observers famous inadequate funding, staffing gaps, corruption, and the continued operation of unlawful recruitment businesses hindered the effectiveness of MGLSD’s efforts. The 2021 rules continued to permit recruiting businesses to cost migrant employees recruitment charges as much as 20,000 UGX ($5) for administrative prices and numerous prices for placement charges and journey preparations, akin to pre-departure trainings, visa purposes, and medical examinations.
The DCIC continued efforts to control labor recruitment, together with investigating complaints in opposition to labor recruitment firms illegally holding migrant employees’ passports: UPF closed 16 labor export firms through the reporting interval. The authorities reported the conviction of a labor recruitment firm associated to the dying of a Ugandan migrant home employee in Saudi Arabia. The MGLSD didn’t make use of labor attaches in most Ugandan diplomatic missions overseas, hindering the federal government’s general capability to watch migrant employee situations overseas. However, the MGLSD employed a labor attaché in the Ugandan embassy in Saudi Arabia to research migrant employee complaints. In November 2024, MGLSD repatriated 146 Ugandan migrant employees, with out figuring out whether or not any had been trafficking victims, below its bilateral labor settlement (BLA) with Saudi Arabia; current BLAs with Jordan and the United Arab Emirates continued. The MGLSD signed a brand new BLA with Qatar that formalized recruitment practices for expert, semi-skilled, and home employees and started discussions with the federal government of Oman to ascertain a BLA for Ugandan migrant employees. Some labor inspectors overseeing working situations in the nation acquired coaching on figuring out trafficking instances and utilized area guides to report potential trafficking crimes to regulation enforcement; nonetheless, NGOs reported restricted information and coaching gaps continued to hinder general effectiveness. The authorities didn’t present anti-trafficking coaching to its diplomatic personnel. The authorities made efforts to cut back the demand for industrial intercourse acts, together with by cooperating with worldwide regulation enforcement officers to arrest consumers of economic intercourse and reported convicting not less than one international nationwide of associated crimes.
TRAFFICKING PROFILE: Trafficking impacts all communities. This part summarizes authorities and civil society reporting on the character and scope of trafficking over the previous 5 years. Human traffickers exploit Ugandan adults and youngsters in labor trafficking in numerous industries, together with agriculture, fishing, mining, road merchandising, hospitality, and home work. Traffickers additionally exploit ladies, women, and boys in intercourse trafficking all through the nation, notably in Kampala and different city areas, in brothels, bars, residential houses, rental properties, and on the road. Children from the Karamoja area, notably from Napak district, are particularly weak to trafficking due to an absence of financial and academic alternatives in the area; NGOs estimate the vast majority of child intercourse trafficking victims in Uganda are ethnically Karamojong. Traffickers, typically referred to as neighborhood “elders,” additionally exploit kids from the Karamoja area in compelled begging and home servitude; in some instances, traffickers drive kids to satisfy them at worldwide borders, the place they arrange markets to promote the kids into home servitude or intercourse trafficking. In some instances, dad and mom knowingly ship their kids to exploitative conditions to ship remittances again to the household or drive their kids to beg to complement household revenue. Traffickers exploit kids not in college in intercourse trafficking, together with on-line industrial sexual exploitation, and labor trafficking in home work and compelled begging. Traffickers use in-person connections and social media to promote fraudulent job alternatives in Kampala to lure adults and youngsters from rural areas into exploitative conditions. Observers report drought or heavy rainfall and rising temperatures elevated poverty, meals insecurity, and lack of work; people impacted by these conditions are notably weak to trafficking.
Employment businesses primarily based in Uganda and overseas, authorized and fraudulent, recruit Ugandans to work in the Middle East – notably Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, the UAE, and Oman – the place, at occasions, traffickers exploit them in compelled labor in home work, hospitality, or development; Ugandans who voluntarily migrate in search of employment alternatives are additionally weak to exploitative situations. Reports point out traffickers in Saudi Arabia repeatedly promote and “trade” Ugandan home employees utilizing a web based market. To circumvent the 2016 authorities ban on migrant employee journey to Oman, some licensed and unlicensed businesses despatched Ugandans by way of Kenya and Tanzania, rising their vulnerability to debt bondage due to larger recruitment and journey charges. Traffickers additionally exploit Ugandans in compelled labor and intercourse trafficking in neighboring African international locations, Asia, and North America. Several NGOs and the MGLSD reported a trafficker rip-off lured Ugandans to Thailand after which transported the victims to Burma the place they had been exploited in cyber rip-off operations. Traffickers goal college graduates with the promise of high-paying jobs overseas; nonetheless, upon arrival in the vacation spot nation, traffickers exploit these people in compelled labor. Media and NGOs report unscrupulous actors, together with Russian officers and illicit recruiters, fraudulently recruited ladies ages 18-22 from Africa – together with Uganda – South Asia, and South America for vocational coaching packages and subsequently positioned them in navy drone manufacturing websites. Media report employees at these websites are subjected to hazardous situations, surveillance, hour and wage violations, contract switching, and worker-paid recruitment charges, all of that are indicators of human trafficking.
Children who’re homeless or utilizing the streets as a supply of livelihood are notably weak to trafficking overseas. Some Ugandan women, notably from the Karamoja area, are exploited in Kenya by enterprise house owners and employers in intercourse trafficking and compelled labor. NGOs report 34 p.c of Ugandan women are concerned in early or compelled marriages, rising to 50 p.c for women in the Karamoja area. Traffickers exploit adolescent boys from the Karamoja area in cattle raiding. Observers report ISIS-Central Africa might unlawfully recruit, typically with parental information, Ugandan kids to affix the non-state armed group.
Uganda hosts greater than 1.8 million refugees, primarily from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Traffickers exploit refugees in village settlements and concrete areas in labor and intercourse trafficking. Uganda continues to function a transit level for migrants looking for work in the Middle East; traffickers exploit this transiting inhabitants in compelled labor and intercourse trafficking. Traffickers exploit kids from neighboring East African international locations, together with Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania, in labor trafficking, primarily in agriculture and home work, and intercourse trafficking in Uganda. Chinese nationwide employees could also be exploited on worksites affiliated with Chinese national-owned firms and China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The Cuban regime might have compelled Cuban regime-affiliated professionals in Uganda, together with lecturers and medical personnel, to work. Democratic People’s Republic of Korea nationals working in Uganda could also be working below exploitative working situations and show a number of indicators of compelled labor.
