PROTECTION
The government did not demonstrate improved protection efforts, as it failed to provide victims with care or to support organizations that did so. It did not complete implementing regulations for the 2009 PTIP Act or allocate funding for the implementation of its victim protection provisions.The government reported providing medical treatment to victims through the National Taskforce; however, it continued to rely on NGOs and international organizations to provide the majority of victim services. The government reported its identification of at least 293 victims; however, it remained without procedures for use by all front-line officials in the systematic identification of victims among high-risk groups. Likewise, Uganda remained without a formal process to refer victims to protective services, but the National Taskforce consulted with international organizations and NGOs to coordinate victim support on an ad hoc basis. Victim care remained inadequate and services available were primarily for women.
Although the government provided travel documents to victims stranded overseas, it did not fund return travel or provide medical care or shelter to these or other repatriated trafficking victims upon their return to Uganda. During the reporting period, the CTIP office assisted 76 young Ugandan women by providing services including consular support, travel documents, and liaising with families of victims; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs collaborated with NGOs to provide counseling and temporary shelter to these women. The government did not provide any repatriation assistance to trafficking victims in 2014, although an international organization did.The government did not provide adequate shelter for many transnational victims identified outside of Uganda; it lacked safe housing to temporarily house victims. Street children, including potential trafficking victims, are often temporarily held for up to three months at an under-resourced MGLSD juvenile detention center that provided food, medical treatment, counseling, basic education, and family-tracing services. Reports indicate police and communities treat street children as criminals, arbitrarily arresting, detaining, and beating them, and forcing them to clean detention facilities.The government has not established appropriate systems to ensure such children do not reappear on the streets. While Ugandan law permits foreign trafficking victims to remain in Uganda during the investigation of their cases and to apply for residence and work permits, the government reported that no permits were requested because all foreign victims chose to return home during the reporting period.

PREVENTION
The government increased its efforts to prevent human trafficking through engagement with the media, but oversight of labor recruitment agencies remained inadequate. The MIA continued to oversee the government’s CTIP office, led by the national coordinator, an assistant police commissioner, to coordinate government anti-trafficking efforts. The staffing and budget of the CTIP office remained inadequate.The National Taskforce—

coordinated by the CTIP office—conducted regular meetings and continued publishing quarterly reports used to monitor the government’s anti-trafficking efforts. In consultation with NGOs, CTIP completed its draft of a national action plan; however, it awaited cabinet approval at the end of the reporting period.
In 2014, the government continued its robust national awareness campaigns—composed of talks, media outreach, and distribution of written materials. CTIP, with support from a foreign donor, produced 60,000 brochures for anti-trafficking purposes, to be placed in Ugandan passports. Additionally, the National Taskforce placed banners at MIA Offices of Police Special Investigation Division, and INTERPOL with information on identifying traffickers and getting help.
INTERPOL continued additional screening for trafficking indicators for those attempting to emigrate for work. In April 2014, MIA, through the National Security Information System project, initiated a biometric national identification register. The project aimed to register 18 million people in which 16 million people had been registered by the end of the reporting period. Immigration officials scrutinized travel documents, passports, and reasons for travel before clearing travelers to depart Uganda for work in foreign countries; this involved passport confiscation and denying Ugandan citizens their freedom of movement, which reportedly led migrants to take more precarious routes through neighboring countries, such as Kenya.
In 2014, the MGLSD initiated its review of the regulations on the export of labor for the purpose of addressing trafficking loopholes used by recruitment agencies. Nonetheless, it did not report progress in the implementation of the Foreign Labor Recruitment Guidelines and Regulations, developed in the previous reporting period. Beyond corruption interfering in the oversight of labor recruitment firms, the EEU remained understaffed, preventing adequate implementation of its mandate; it failed to conduct monitoring visits of employment agencies, as done in the previous reporting period. The government did not report on its efforts to close down unlicensed recruitment agencies or suspend the licenses of those suspected of facilitating human trafficking; it merely recommended recruitment agencies bear the responsibility for repatriation of victims or face deregistration.The government did not pursue criminal prosecution—under the 2009 anti-trafficking act—of these or other agencies for their role in fraudulent recruitment of Ugandans for overseas employment. MGLSD led the National Taskforce efforts in negotiating bilateral agreements with Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar; however, it did not finalize such formal agreements with destination countries—limiting the government’s ability to facilitate investigations and victim rescues abroad.The government continued to hold orientation sessions for Ugandans departing for work abroad, including how to seek assistance if abuse occurs.Although initially dismissed on procedural grounds, the March 2011 civil case against the attorney general, the inspector general of police (IGP), the director of public prosecution (DPP), and a labor recruitment agency for allegedly trafficking 155 Ugandan women to Iraq was refiled, with a hearing expected in late May 2014.The complaint alleges the IGP knew the women would be exploited and failed to carry out his constitutional duty to protect them, and that the DPP subsequently failed to prosecute the recruitment agency. Labor officers and community development officers urged employers to stop using child labor and sometimes referred child labor cases to the police.The Industrial Court, established to hear child labor cases, became operational in April 2014; however, no child labor cases were brought to the

court during the reporting period.The government did not provide anti-trafficking training or guidance for its diplomatic personnel. The government failed to make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts or forced labor in 2014. Uganda is not a party to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.