KAMPALA – Parliamentarians from Uganda and the UK will this week meet in Kampala to discuss efforts to curb modern slavery, human trafficking and forced labour.
The Rt Hon. David Hanson MP will lead the delegation from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK (CPA UK), which is bringing together Commonwealth lawmakers to share experience of tackling modern slavery-related crimes through robust legislation.
The delegation will meet with Ugandan MPs working to end modern slavery, human trafficking and forced labour in Uganda, as well as representatives from the Government of Uganda and civil society.
This comes after the CPA Africa Regional Conference in Botswana where parliamentarians, including Speaker of Uganda Parliament, Rt Hon. Rebecca Kadaga called on African lawmakers to do more to tackle human trafficking in the region.
The Rt Hon. David Hanson MP stated:
“In recent years, I have been shocked to learn of many examples of slavery that were hidden or simply not tackled.
“This is an epidemic that affects all our communities and so, cooperation and the exchanging of ideas between parliamentarians is an important measure to improve how we protect the citizens we represent from these despicable crimes.”
CPA UK’s delegation will also include Parosha Chandran, the UK’s leading anti-slavery lawyer and winner of the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Hero Award. Ms Chandran will give an expert perspective on the international and domestic legal frameworks for addressing modern slavery, human trafficking and forced labour.
The Global Slavery Index 2018 estimates that there are over 300,000 victims of modern slavery, human trafficking and forced labour in Uganda. There are numerous cases of traffickers targeting victims for exploitation within Uganda, as well as transporting them to neighbouring countries and further afield to the Middle East and Europe for domestic servitude forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation.
