The Ministry of Internal Affairs has urged the public to always do due diligence on labor export companies and individuals by reaching out to the authorities to verify their promises of getting them jobs and scholarships abroad.

The authorities to be reached out to were identified as the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, among others.

Commissioner of Police (CP) Julius Twinomujuni, the Coordination Officer for Prevention of Trafficking in Persons at the Ministry of Internal Affairs made these remarks during the National Task Force meeting held at the Silver Springs Hotel Bugolobi on January 10, 2024.

The meeting’s goal was to figure out how to best protect migrant workers in order to combat human trafficking.

Twinomujuni noted that most migrant workers are often promised jobs and scholarships that, at times, do not exist, and they end up in different ways of exploitation, especially labour and sexual exploitation.

According to the 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report Uganda, out of the 589 cases filed, 338 involved sex trafficking, 173 involved labour trafficking, and 78 involved unspecified forms of trafficking; 526 involved exploitation in Uganda and 63 involved exploitation abroad.