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. 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.
