Saudi Arabia has been ranked top in mistreatment of Ugandan job seekers, followed by Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates according to a research report by Platform for Labor Action.
According to the June 2016 report handed over to Parliamentary Committee on Gender on Tuesday, majority of Ugandans in the Middle East are Victims of International Trafficking (VIT).
The report indicates that 37.2 percent were trafficked to Saudi Arabia, 18.6 percent to Kuwait, 9.3 percent to United Arab Emirate (UAE), 7percent to Oman, 7 percent to Kenya, 4.7 percent to Qatar, 2.3 percent to China while 14 percent were trafficked to other countries.
Platform for Labour Action, Executive Director, Grace Mukwaya noted that most of the victims are enticed with prospective job offers which at the end turns out not to be true.
According to reports, most of the victims are those that go through unrecognized consultancy and recruitment firms that not registered.
“73 per cent of the victims are employed as domestic workers and 16 per cent commercial sex workers while a section others are employed as casual laborers on farms,” Mukwaya said.
Mukwaya observed that most victims are falling prey due to high unemployment levels back home, poverty, peer pressure, little pay, better employment terms offered, free visas and tickets.
“Most of the VIT respondents (78%) reported that the jobs offered in the country of destination were different from those promised in the country of origin during negotiation; 81% reported variations in salary and working conditions and some described the conditions as ‘terrible’.”
The report has recommended for a proactive mass sensitization about what constitutes trafficking in persons, the problems and dangers of human trafficking, identification and reporting of human trafficking.
Mukwaya has called upon government together with other stakeholders to develop a package of strategic information that translates into travel safeguards for the externalization of labor.
Margaret Komuhangi, the Chairperson of Parliament’s Committee on Gender said that the report will provide insightful considerations for legislation on externalization of labour.