Attempts to fight human trafficking from Uganda are undermined by corrupt links between bogus recruitment agencies and people in positions of power.

A recurring narrative has emerged in media reporting on the growing problem of human trafficking from Uganda. A number of licensed and unlicensed Kampala-based recruitment agencies continue to exploit weak regulation and law enforcement oversight to recruit Ugandans for work overseas, particularly to Persian Gulf countries such as Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).¹ Victims may originally travel with these agencies willingly, eager to take up promised employment opportunities – predominantly in the service sector and in domestic help in the case of women, and in the construction, agriculture and service sectors for men.² Upon arrival, these promises transpire to be false.

Victims are trafficked into forced labour and endure egregious human rights abuses, from non-payment of wages to confiscation of passports and restrictions on travel, and subjected to physical, psychological and sexual abuse.³ The fraudulent agencies may also trap victims into debt bondage by charging extortionate fees for the recruitment process, leaving little opportunity for victims to escape their conditions of exploitation.⁴

The available data suggests that trafficking transnationally from Uganda is on the rise, and that recruitment agencies play a major facilitating role.⁵ While the Ugandan government is taking steps to counter trafficking, investigations for this Risk Bulletin have shown that these efforts are being undermined by corrupt links between the recruitment agencies and people in positions of power who are able to facilitate trafficking and quash investigations.

Figure 3 Reported trafficking cases and number of victims involved, according to Uganda Police Force data, 2014–2018

SOURCE: Uganda Police Force, Annual Crime Reports: 2015, https://www.upf.go.ug/download/publications(2)/Annual-Crime-Report-2015.pdf?x45801; 2017, https://www.upf.go.ug/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/ANNUAL-CRIMEREPORT-2017.pdf; and 2018, https://www.upf.go.ug/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/annual-crime-report-2018..pdf. Data for interim years is reported in the three reports publicly available above.

Reporting from the Uganda Police Force (UPF) suggests an increase in the annual number of people trafficked (both internally and transnationally) since 2016 (see Figure 3).⁶ Our understanding from our interviews is that this increase has continued during 2019. This tallies with qualitative reporting from other sources which suggest that human trafficking from Uganda has expanded from small, informal structures (primarily individuals and family groups) to complex networks with more structured activities in which the recruitment agencies play a bigger role.⁷

The number of licensed recruitment agencies in Uganda has grown from 46 in 2013 to 106 in September 2018;⁸ in addition, there is an unknown number of unlicensed agencies. This proliferation of agencies seems to be part of a broader picture of increasingly sophisticated, higher-volume trafficking. In 2018, 234 agencies or individuals connected with recruitment agencies were investigated in connection with human trafficking. Three agencies had licences revoked and seven suspended for failure to comply with their obligations relating to labour export.⁹

Trafficking trends can be further broken down into trafficking from Uganda and trafficking of non-Ugandan victims to and within Uganda (Figures 4 and 5). In terms of trafficking within Uganda, the overwhelming majority of victims are from countries immediately bordering Uganda (such as Burundi and South Sudan) and from regions currently or recently affected by conflict and political unrest. As Uganda is currently estimated to be the biggest recipient of refugees in Africa,¹⁰ it seems that these refugee populations are more vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation.

The leading destination countries for Ugandan victims of trafficking are in the Middle East, especially the Gulf region. These victims are predominantly women.¹¹ Kenya, which also features highly as a destination country for trafficking victims, has been identified as a major transit point for trafficked people en route to Oman and the UAE.¹² In an interview, an officer of the Ugandan Criminal Investigations Department estimated that between 2017 and 2018, about 50 trafficked people per month passed undetected from Uganda to Kenya between the Malaba and Busia border posts, and then onwards via Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.¹³ This route appears to have been used more frequently in recent years following heightened security at Entebbe Airport.¹⁴

Figure 4 Destination countries of people trafficked from Uganda

SOURCE: Uganda Police Force, Annual Crime Report 2018, www.upf.go.ug/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/annual-crime-report-2018..pdf?x45801.

Figure 5 Countries of origin of victims of trafficking rescued in Uganda in 2018

SOURCE: Uganda Police Force, Annual Crime Report 2018, www.upf.go.ug/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/annual-crime-report-2018..pdf?x45801.

Members of Uganda’s Anti-Trafficking Task Force and other law enforcement officials have suggested that these figures are a considerable underestimate, and that the vast majority of trafficking from Uganda takes place undetected. Estimates that up to 50 girls may be trafficked per day have been cited widely.¹⁵ While perhaps an underestimate in absolute terms, the numbers presented here may still provide an indication of the increase in trafficking and the leading destination and source countries for trafficking victims.

The transnational trend is driven by a number of factors. The push towards migration created by Uganda’s high unemployment rates, particularly among young people, is matched by the reliance of key sectors of the economy in the UAE and Oman on inexpensive migrant labour.¹⁶ Aspects of Omani and Emirati employment law leave migrant workers vulnerable to exploitation. These include visa sponsorship schemes, under which migrant workers are unable to change jobs or employers without the consent of the visa sponsor (often the recruitment agency or the employer), who can object and revoke the visa.¹⁷ This makes workers dependent on exploitative employers. A recent US State Department analysis noted that the proportion of East and West Africans within the UAE’s vast migrant population has grown in recent years.¹⁸ Observers have argued that recruitment agencies in Oman have turned to East Africa as South Asian countries have successfully negotiated with destination country authorities for improved workers’ rights.¹⁹

The UPF has emphasized increased efforts by law enforcement and government to counter trafficking, and has argued that these efforts account, at least in part, for the rise in the number of documented trafficking cases and number of victims.²⁰ The Anti-Trafficking Task Force, judiciary and other law enforcement agencies have intensified training and local partnership with civil society and community leaders to increase the reporting of people suspected of illegal labour recruitment. As a result, law enforcement officials have begun to prosecute significant criminal actors associated with illegal recruitment.

Although the government of Uganda banned recruitment and exportation of labour to the Middle East in January 2016, the activities of licensed and unlicensed agencies in recruiting labour continued.²¹ In fact, the ban reportedly boosted the irregular recruitment market and left migrants more vulnerable.²² Accordingly, the ban was lifted in 2017, and the government has worked with recruitment agencies to ensure the relevant Ugandan embassies are aware of citizens working abroad, in a bid to protect migrant workers and regularize their employment and immigration status.

Whatever successes these initiatives may have had, stakeholders on the front lines of the anti-trafficking fight have argued that the real issue is corruption and have condemned the lack of transparency in ownership of recruitment agencies.²³ One police officer interviewed for this report noted that many of these companies ultimately belong to powerful individuals in government, often with their identities hidden.²⁴

These conflicts of interest create a culture of political protection, which also affects many other industries in Uganda. This has allowed the people running recruitment agencies to avoid monitoring and regulation of their business activities, and to evade legal requirements, for example by obtaining licences irregularly or obtaining tax waivers. Lack of compliance with legal standards has become the norm across businesses. As such, apparently legitimate businesses have been able to provide a front for sophisticated human-trafficking operations. While the Ugandan government has promised to investigate corruption in labour recruitment agencies, the promised report has failed to materialize.

Corruption and complicity of border and airport officials are significant challenges in the context of cross-border trafficking. A commissioner from the Ministry of Finance, security officers at the Malaba border crossing, Entebbe Airport staff and officials of civil aviation authorities have been investigated in Uganda in 2018 in relation to human trafficking,²⁵ but as yet no one has been prosecuted. Other investigations have cited the corrupt involvement of border officials at Uganda–Kenya land borders and at Jomo Kenyatta Airport.²⁶

High-level officials with interests in recruitment agencies have reportedly obstructed judicial processes and investigations, which exacerbates the resource constraints under which these institutions already operate.²⁷ Law enforcement staff interviewed for this report recounted that counter-trafficking investigations have been thwarted by fellow officers who acted on directives ‘from above’.²⁸ Suspects have used their power and influence to delay prosecution, tamper with evidence, and threaten and harass victims.²⁹ The first major suspects arrested in relation to illegal labour recruitment and trafficking of persons were released on bail, even though substantial evidence was available of forgery of signatures and documents of the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development.³⁰

Civil society groups have called for more transparency, and for the ultimate beneficiaries of these recruitment agencies to be publicly named. Unless the corrupt interests associated with these agencies are identified and addressed, human trafficking from Uganda may continue to grow, regardless of other regulatory and law-enforcement efforts to eliminate it.

Notes