School-hungry Karimojong girls lured into housekeeping

A survey carried out by independent NGOs has indicated a rise in child trafficking in Karamoja Sub-region. The vice has been attributed to unscrupulous charities that pose as NGOs offering support to vulnerable children in Karamoja.

A survey carried out a year ago by Avocats Sans Frontieres (Layers Without Borders) and Federation of Uganda Women Lawyers on the situation of child trafficking in Teso and Karamoja, established that at least 65 per cent of housemaids in the sub-regions are Karimojong children.

“The girls are lured from their homes with a promise that they will be taken to school but end up as domestic servants without the knowledge of their parents,” the Katakwi district deputy chief, Ms Margaret Ikulot, said.

Ms Ikulot said those involved in the business are mainly women who earn a lot from the ‘trade’. “The children are traded for mostly food, which is sent back to their families, while some are rented and others sold,” Mr Ikulot said.

Mid-Eastern Police Spokesperson Juma Hassan Nyene said many of these children are promised education and provided with shelter but instead they are subjected to a lot of domestic work.

“Some children have been handed over by their parents for as low as Shs40,000. Poverty is pushing the parents to this,” Mr Nyene added. The law in Uganda provides for protection from social and economic exploitation for children below 16 years, prohibits child servitude and forced labour, all offences punishable by a maximum of seven years in jail on conviction.

However, enforcement of these laws has not been effective enough to curb child trafficking in Karamoja and the neighbouring districts. A head count of Karimojong children in Katakwi by the district’s probation and social welfare department in 2009 established that there were more than 300 Karimojong children employed as domestic servants.

A Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act of 2009 that requires the Minister of Internal Affairs to designate an office to be responsible for the coordination, monitoring and overseeing the implementation of the law, is yet to be effected.

cap: A Karimojong girl grinds millet in Katakwi District. A survey carried out a year ago by Avocats Sans Frontieres, an NGO, and the Federation of Uganda Women Lawyers on the situation of child trafficking in Teso and Karamoja sub-regions, established that at least 65 per cent of housemaids are Karimojong children. PHOTO BY RICHARD OTIM

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