NGO warns against trafficking children

By Moses Kidandi

Authorities at Dwelling Places an Organization advocating for the rescue, resettlement and rehabilitation with education street connected children have hailed authorities in Soroti district for their vigilance and interception of 13 girls on a bus to Kampala.

According to Maureen Muwonge the Deputy director in charge of children protection at Dwelling Places, such vigilance and responsibility is desired across the country because child trafficking for street begging and sexual exploitation is on the increase across the country.

Muwonge explained that the primary responsibly for protection of children lies with the parents adding that while as most of the children are from Karamojong, all children in the country are prone to child trafficking and calls for extreme vigilance of the public.

An enumeration report by Retrak & ministry of gender (2018) indicates that there are an estimated 15,476 street connected children in 4 major towns of Kampala, Jinja, Mbale and Iganga.

In each of these towns, the native tribes are the dominant on the streets, followed by the Karamojong children. This simply means that in Kampala, the Baganda are the highest on the streets, followed by the Karimojong.