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.

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ANTI-TRAFFICKING LAW PASSES
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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.

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SETTING UP ANTI-TIP INVESTIGATIVE TEAMS
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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.

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TRAINING CRIMINAL INVESTIGATORS
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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.

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COMMENT
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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