Child trafficking is where children and young people are tricked and forced or even persuaded to leave their homes.
Children are trafficked for sexual exploration, to work as bar attendants, supermarket attendants, hotel attendants and house maids.
The sex exploitation may expose the child to sexual diseases like HIV and other psychological disorders.
All these things they are forced to do can easily cause them physical Health Problems since they live in unhealthy human living conditions like inadequate diet and hygiene, beating and abusing, Neglect and denial of their basic human rights of which may result into long lasting health problems.
Though the government increased anti trafficking law enforcement efforts, the preventing trafficking act of 2009 criminalized sex trafficking and labour trafficking are prescribed punishment of up to 15 years of imprisonment for the offenses involving adult victims and life imprisonment for those involving child victims.
Child trafficking is still going on very well and some people are using it as their profitable business.
One of the biggest drivers of child trafficking is the high levels of poverty in the country which has forced some parents hand over their children in exchange of money and other materials in the future.
Though some parents are not always aware of what their children are going to do and where exactly they are going to work from, but at least they should take the responsibility to ask to understand but this cannot be done if the parents are poor because poverty can even make some blind and ignorant yet that same person is normal.
In order for the government to at least achieve it’s goals of settings laws concerning this vice, it should first look into the factor of solving and overcoming poverty, which will make it easy for the government to start enforcing its roles and to strengthen education services because as we talk now, the tree of education in Uganda is falling and of which is also contributing to child traffic
According to the Coordination Office To Prevent trafficking,in 2022 the government reported to have investigated 1200 incidents of human trafficking, a significant increase compared with 421 incidents in 2021.
The Government should note that the major cause of child trafficking is poverty, school drop outs , cultural practices, migration, ineffective legislation,lack of enforcement and political instability and if all these are worked upon, Uganda is likely to become a child trafficking free country.
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