Police, ODPP applauded for enforcing human trafficking laws

Human Trafficking Institute has acknowledged the Uganda Police Force and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for the role they have played in aggressively working to enforce the Anti-Trafficking Law.

The acknowledgement came up during the Trafficking in Persons Media Workshop where it was revealed that a total of 1, 331 cases were filled in the last 3 years.

According to the 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report, The Coordination Office to Prevent Trafficking in Persons (COPTIP) has continued to report “incidents” related to human trafficking, which included simple inquiries up to full police investigations.

During his presentation at the workshop held at Sheraton Hotel in Kampala, Tyler Dunman, the Country Director of Human Trafficking Institute, noted that increased enforcement of the law has led to an increase in convictions of suspects.

“Aggravated Trafficking in Persons of children happened to be the highest in the previous years. This mainly was seen among the female children,” he said.

Dunman added that 30% of the cases prosecuted in 2021 in Africa were from Uganda. This means one out of 3 cases prosecuted was mainly from Uganda, saying that prosecutors are identifying crimes of trafficking.

Speaking at the same workshop, Rachel Bokhole, the Coordinator of Human Trafficking Cases at the office of DPP, called upon journalists to protect potential and actual victims while reporting their stories.

“Journalists should strictly be keen when executing stories about trafficking in persons. Some Media houses will just openly disclose everything that eventually may traumatise victims,” she said.

The 2009 anti-trafficking act criminalized sex trafficking and labour trafficking, and it prescribed punishments of up to 15 years imprisonment for offences involving adult victims and up to life imprisonment for those involving child victims.