Make a Child Smile (MACS) has appealed to community leaders in Uganda’s Busia District to join the campaign to end human trafficking in the district.
The Executive Director of the non-governmental organisation (NGO), Alex Ssembatya, made the appeal during a sensitisation meeting involving leaders of over 20 villages in the area.
According to the 2020 Trafficking in Persons report, human trafficking in Uganda primarily takes the form of forced labour and sexual exploitation, with women and children the main targets.
The report estimated that 7,000 to 12,000 children in the country were being exploited through sex trafficking.
Also, the horrifying practice of child sacrifice is becoming common across the country as the Ugandan Police continues to highlight reported cases of murder of young children.
Addressing a group of local leaders from the 20 villages, Ssembatya said efforts must be made to curtail the growing trend of child abuse.
‘We are here to create awareness and recruit leaders within the border district of Busia so that they become champions in the fight against human trafficking and child sacrifice’, Ssembatya said.
‘Due to the porous borders, our children who are mostly girls are trafficked to Kenya only to work as street beggars, scrap dealers, commercial sex workers among other exploitative ventures.
‘We were able to hold sensitisation meetings among students in several schools – both secondary and Primary schools – the police, the judiciary, the local leaders from LC5 to LC1 Chairpersons with the aim of equipping them with information that they can pass on to their community members’.
During the meeting, leaders committed to amplifying the fight against human trafficking despite expressing disappointment in the handling of the menace by the police and other security agencies.
In her response, the Detective Superintendent of Police, Rose Nalubega, promised that the police will, henceforth, work to prioritise cases of human trafficking.
Source: Nilepost
Photo source: Make a Child Smile
