MBALE – International Organization for Migration – IOM, the UN Migration Agency, this week trained 92 district leaders on ethical recruitment and safe labour migration pathways.
Participants included District Chairpersons, Labour Officers and Resident Commissioners (RDCs) from eastern and northeastern districts with the highest cases of Trafficking in Persons (TIP).
The two-day exercise in Mbale City was funded by the United States Department of State Office to Monitor & Combat Trafficking in Persons through the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS).
It aimed to empower district leaders to champion safe labour migration, considering policy, regulatory, and enforcement frameworks at national and local levels.
Participants were taken through the International Recruitment Integrity System (IRIS Standards) and the Montreal Recommendations on Recruitment, both safe and ethical recruitment resources developed by @IOM – UN Migration in collaboration with partners.
“Statistics show that Uganda has over 800,000 youths clocking work-seeking phase every year, but their jobs do not exist. It is therefore important that the alternative of seeking jobs elsewhere is done in a way that respects their rights, orderly, humane, and safe,” said Odette Bolly, IOM Uganda’s Labour Mobility and Human Development Manager.
