UGANDA CONTINUES TO MAKE ANTI-TIP PROGRESS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KAMPALA 000442 DEPT FOR G/TIP,SIGMON, YOUSEY, LARSEN,DEBACA DOJ FOR ICITAP, TREVILLIAN, RODERICK, BARR, AND RAUCH SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM KCRIM KTIP KWMN EAID UG SUBJECT: UGANDA CONTINUES TO MAKE ANTI-TIP PROGRESS REF: KAMPALA 27 ¶1. Summary: The Ugandan Government continues to make progress in combating trafficking in persons. On April 2, the Ugandan Parliament passed a comprehensive anti-trafficking bill that will now enable law enforcement institutions to more effectively combat trafficking. The Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (G/TIP) Counter-trafficking Program has given Ugandan law enforcement the training and tools it needs to implement a large-scale anti-trafficking initiative that includes technical assistance, training, and equipment donation. Over the last three months, the Ugandan Police Force (UPF) established an internal anti-trafficking unit, an inter-ministerial trafficking unit and anti-trafficking investigative teams at the national, regional and district levels. Police and immigration officials have begun to institutionalize training provided through the Department of Justice's International Criminal Investigation and Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) by the Senior Law Enforcement Advisor (SLEA). We are already seeing results from increased public awareness, but the passage of the new anti-trafficking law combined with the well-received training and technical expertise from the SLEA will strengthen the government's capacity to increase the number of prosecutions of trafficking cases. End Summary. -------------- ANTI-TRAFFICKING LAW PASSES -------------- ¶2. The Ugandan Parliament passed into law a comprehensive bill to combat human trafficking. The bill was introduced by the Uganda Women Parliamentary Association (UWOPA) and criminalizes offenses related to human trafficking, such as labor and sexual exploitation, human sacrifice, cannibalism, and forced marriages. The law meets international standards and protocols, including the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) and Trafficking in Persons (Palermo Protocol). The penalty for trafficking offenses range from nine years to life imprisonment and offenders could receive the death penalty in aggravated cases involving more than one person or the transmission of HIV/AIDS through the crime. The P/E Chief participated in the drafting of the bill and the SLEA worked closely with the Ugandan Parliament's legal counsel to include modifications, including the seizure and forfeiture of instruments of the crime of trafficking in addition to the already included forfeiture of proceeds of the crime. This will allow Uganda to eliminate tools that human traffickers have at their disposal. The newly passed law will take force in June. The Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and Ministry of Justice will now take steps to include anti-trafficking provisions into the penal code. -------------- SETTING UP ANTI-TIP INVESTIGATIVE TEAMS -------------- ¶3. In January 2009, the Minister of State for Internal Affairs Matia Kasaija and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kale Kayihura announced the formation of an anti-human trafficking/human sacrifice task force within the UPF and a hotline to report suspected human trafficking and human sacrifice cases (reftel). The SLEA, who is based in UPF headquarters, helped to identify qualified investigators to staff and command the unit. In February 2009, the Ministry of Internal Affairs also established an inter-ministerial committee comprised of members from the UPF, Immigration, DPP, Ministry of Labor, Gender and Social Development, Ministry of Education, Internal Security Organization and other key government stakeholders, to address and identify methods to combat human trafficking. In February 2009, the SLEA was appointed by the IGP to serve as the technical consultant to both task forces. ¶4. The UPF established both regional and district level investigative teams specifically assigned to investigate human trafficking offenses. The SLEA helped the UPF determine the criteria for selection and the members of the teams were selected from among those individuals who attended ICITAP anti-trafficking training. One of the goals of the district level teams is to establish a local referral system with nongovernmental organizations to provide medical services, counseling, shelter and other necessary services for TIP victims. ¶5. The Director of Immigration, Godfrey Sasagah, recently agreed to establish an in-service training bureau for the Directorate of Immigration and Citizenship Control. This is a significant development because Immigration has never had a mechanism to formally train its officers. Additionally, Senior Immigration Officer Agnes Igoye was appointed chief of the unit. She attended ICITAP's TIP instructor development course and the TIP criminal investigations course, and also helped to facilitate the one-day TIP first responder courses in Mbale. KAMPALA 00000442 002 OF 003 ¶6. In an important related development for all victims of sexual assault, including TIP victims, the SLEA lobbied for and persuaded the UPF to pay for physical examinations of victims of sexual assault. In the past, victims paid as much as 40,000 Uganda Shillings ($20) for an examination. This cost was prohibitive for most victims and discouraged victims from coming forward. In early March 2009, the UPF announced that victims would no longer be required to pay for this examination. -------------- TRAINING CRIMINAL INVESTIGATORS -------------- ¶7. In February 2009, ICITAP provided a two-week TIP criminal investigations course with 28 participants from the UPF and Immigration. ICITAP also invited Joseph Konyo, the head of the Tanzanian Police Force's counter-trafficking unit, with whom ICITAP worked closely in the past. He provided information on best practices and lessons learned in Tanzania in combating human trafficking. Additionally, six ICITAP trained instructors presented portions of the program to their counterparts. This course emphasized the human trafficking process, interviewing and interrogation techniques, undercover operations, crime scene management and preservation of evidence, surveillance and gathering and analyzing intelligence, while stressing the importance of respect for human rights. Four of the participants had previously attended the ICITAP TIP instructor development course. Assistant Commissioner of Police Moses Binoga, the new chief of the UPF anti-human trafficking/sacrifice unit participated. This training taught practical skills in a realistic setting and emphasized the need for cooperation between police, immigration and international partners. G/TIP program officer Jill Larsen observed the training. ¶8. While Joseph Konyo was in Uganda, a case arose of a Tanzanian woman attempting to sell her child in Uganda for sacrifice. Upon arrest she informed Ugandan police officers that she was told it would be possible to obtain a better price for the child in Uganda. Konyo and Moses Binoga were able to combine the efforts of their respective agencies to investigate this offense. It should be noted that due to the increase of public awareness concerning human trafficking/human sacrifice, citizens of the village where the woman attempted to sell her child notified police. ¶9. Since January 2009, the UPF has institutionalized the combating human trafficking first responder training in its in-service curriculum. The UPF Child and Family Protection Unit advised that they have trained 150 new officers utilizing ICITAP trained instructors on combating TIP. Additionally, the Criminal Investigations Directorate, which is currently providing training to new officers, has included TIP training in its program. Further, the newly appointed head of Immigration's training bureau, Agnes Igoye, has committed to providing TIP training to all new and seasoned personnel once a training schedule is developed. The SLEA is currently working in cooperation with the UPF Community Policing Unit and anti-trafficking/human sacrifice unit to develop a detailed investigative manual on human trafficking and missing/abducted children. ¶10. Since January 2009, there have been 13 reported cases of human sacrifice and over 100 missing persons (primarily children) reported monthly. In an effort to address this problem, the SLEA is working with UPF command staff to implement an "AMBER" alert type of system in Uganda. UCARE (Uganda Child Abduction Regional Alert) System, once operational will immediately notify the public of missing/abducted children whose disappearance falls within a specific protocol through the use of cellphone messages. Also, once the system is functioning in Uganda, the IGP has committed to proposing the inclusion of neighboring countries such as Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. ¶11. Grant Tabo, the Criminal Investigation Division Officer-in-Charge in Mbale (located on the border with Kenya), reported that in March, four children between the 6-12 years of age were abducted from Mbale and brought to Kenya to be used in forced labor. Tabo launched an investigation upon receipt of the information and worked with the Kenyan police. They were able to rescue the children and safely return them to Uganda, where they were reunited with their parents. Tabor used his own money to go to Kenya and convince the Kenyan authorities that he had an actual trafficking in persons case. According to Tabo, the two female suspects have appeared in Mbale court and been charged with kidnapping. They face a penalty of up to life imprisonment. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶12. Uganda's anti-trafficking progress demonstrates the importance of supporting governments that have political will with training and KAMPALA 00000442 003 OF 003 expertise. The presence of a full-time police advisor has expedited the formation of anti-trafficking investigative units and helped law enforcement organize its anti-trafficking activities in a short period of time. We should begin seeing concrete results, i.e. more prosecutions, by the end of the year. HOOVER