By Hanning Mbabazi
Mbale: Mbale District local leaders has expressed their worry over the increased rate of Prostitution in the area.
In a heated Security meeting held with local leaders to curb down increased criminality in the town, Authorities said many people have been robbed, strangled to death and others left with nursing wounds.
These claim that many youth instead of working have gone to streets to sell
their goodies as a way of earning a living leaving many at a risk of being
infected with HIV while others with unquestionable chances of being sex addicts.
Leaders also urge that a lot of these prostitutes come from regions of
Western Kenya, Central Uganda specifically Kampala, Wakiso Entebbe and North Eastern
Uganda.
Increased Prostitution has been sighted in areas such as Republic Street,
Central Road, near North Road Primary School, Market place, Lorry Park, Manafwa
Road and Cathedral Avenue.
They further plamed Police for blamed for the laxity which has caused rise in numbers of sex workers in the area.
Mr Robert Tukei, the Elgon region Police spokesperson, said they would soon conduct an operation to arrest all sex workers in the town.
“We shall take action. We are going to arrest and charge them accordingly,” he said. Ms Lilian Nakawesi, the Deputy Resident District Commissioner, says sex workers are also becoming a security threat in Mbale.
What Does the Law Say?
Prostitution in Uganda is illegal according to Uganda’s 1950 Penal Code but is widespread despite this.Many turn to prostitution because of poverty and lack of other opportunities.
A study of Kampala teachers in 2008 showed that teachers were turning to
prostitution to increase their income. A sex worker can earn around 1.5 million
Ugandan shillings (£439) per month, whereas this would be a yearly wage for a
secondary school teacher. There are many Kenyan prostitutes in the country.
Violence erupted in Kampala in 2016 between Ugandan and Kenyan prostitutes.
The Kenyan prostitutes were charging a low price, and the Ugandans were angry
that the Kenyans were taking all their trade. (duckysonline.com) Local leaders intervened to stop
the fighting, and the Kenyans agreed to charge the same price as the Ugandans.
Two Kenyans were injured. In an attempt to stop the influx of Kenyan
prostitutes, the authorities planned to charge a registration fee.
With 6,000 construction workers building the new Hydroelectric Power Station
fuelling demand, there are many prostitutes in the Karuma area.
Lyantonde is a truck-stop town and the main stop-over on the main highway
from Kampala to Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda. There are many prostitutes
in the town to service the truck driver’s needs. The area has the highest rate
of HIV in the country, nearly twice the national average.
Outcomes of Increased Prostitution.
Uganda is in the top 10 of countries with the highest HIV prevalence rates. Sex workers are a high risk group. In 2013 they had a 34.2% prevalence rate. Even in Kigali, where HIV infection is the highest in the country, clients are reluctant to use condoms and will offer many times the usual rate for unprotected sex.
Uganda is a source, transit, and destination country for women, and children
subjected to sex trafficking. Ugandan girls and boys are exploited in
prostitution. Recruiters target girls and women aged 13–24 years for domestic
sex trafficking, especially near sports tournaments and road construction
projects. An international organisation reported that most internal trafficking
victims are Ugandans.
During the reporting period, Ugandan victims were identified in neighboring
countries, including Kenya, South Sudan, and the DRC. Children from the DRC,
Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, and South Sudan are exploited in prostitution
in Uganda. South Sudanese children in refugee settlements in northern Uganda
are vulnerable to trafficking.
Young women remained the most vulnerable to transnational trafficking,
usually seeking employment as domestic workers in the Middle East; at times
Ugandan women were fraudulently recruited for employment and then exploited in
forced prostitution. Ugandan migrant workers are subjected to sex trafficking
in United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Egypt,
Turkey, and Algeria.
Despite the government’s complete ban in 2016 on Ugandans’ travel abroad for
domestic work, some licensed and unlicensed agencies circumvented this ban by
sending Ugandans through Kenya and Tanzania. Traffickers, who appear to be
increasingly organized, are frequently relatives or friends of victims, or may
pose as wealthy women or labor recruiters promising vulnerable Ugandans
well-paid jobs abroad or in Uganda’s metropolitan areas. Some traffickers
threatened to harm the victims’ family or confiscated travel documents.
