SCHOOLS PLACED ON ALERT AS TRAFFICKERS TARGET LEARNERS

Musingwire Rolland, (Data analyst- Coordination Office for Prevention of Trafficking in Persons (COPTIP) during his presentation.

By Godwin Abedican

Arua

Schools are being called upon to pay keen attention towards learners’ safety in the wake of rising cases of human trafficking targeting school children.

Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation inform of forced labor, sexual slavery, or other forms of commercial sexual exploitation and it can occur either within a single country or across national borders.

Musingwire Rolland, a Data analyst at the Coordination Office for Prevention of Trafficking in Persons (COPTIP) in the Ministry of Internal Affairs notes that the recruiters in trafficking have since moved away from their basic recruitment methods but have diversified their methods of operation.

“These people are changing. They know that people have been trained, the Local Councils have got some knowledge and they know that people in the communities have understood that human trafficking is a crime. So, what they do now is that, they go to tertiary institutions that are about to pass out students, they move to secondary schools targeting candidate classes who are soon finishing their S.6 or senior S.4 because they know these are vulnerable students. This is their new tactic of work”

“Imagine someone finishing S.6 and is being presented a bursary in a university. The person goes as a victim of human trafficking but in disguise of being taken for a scholarship. This is how people are falling prey, this is how most of the people are going. Somebody goes willingly. At times, it becomes even hard to save somebody who is soon to fall prey to human trafficking because they keep saying those who want to help them are blocking their chances and opportunities for scholarships and of going abroad,” Musingwire added.

According to Rukunda Memory, in the prevention in trafficking in persons’ office the first step in child or learner safety is empowering the children to know their rights so as to be protected from trafficking.

“Children ae supposed to know that trafficking in persons is a crime. As we are communicating to them, they are supposed to know where they should report Some of the incidences of human trafficking. In the key massages as you are telling them about these things, they are supposed to know that traffickers are people that we know,” he said.

Rukunda, further says that it is very unfortunate that sometimes even relatives end up as traffickers knowingly or unknowingly.

“Yes, they are supposed to trust their parents, they are supposed to trust their aunties but most times we have seen that it is these aunties that stay in the towns and cities who go to their villages and ask their brothers and sisters to be given children to come with to the city and when they reach the city, these children that they are supposed to be protecting become house girls and house boys within the city” Rukunda added.

Rukunda Memory, (prevention in trafficking in persons’ office-Min. of Internal affairs).

Meanwhile, Bako Alima Caroline, the head teacher Jiako primary school in Arua city notes that there has been an information gap in advocating for protection of the children in school against trafficking.

“Child trafficking is actually a vice that we have been living with. In our homes, villages and even in schools. It is very rampant and we have been reluctant in sensitizing school children and people around us about child trafficking. Many children get lost on their way to school. Now that we are getting awareness, we need to get back as school administrators to go and sensitize our children,” Caroline suggested.

On his part, Ekodribo Ronald, a teacher from St. Joseph’s College Ombaci, appeals to administrators of learning institutions to be keen of behavior of learners to identify challenges related to trafficking.

“In schools, students have suffered in the hands of traffickers. After completing a certain level like S.4, students have a target of at least getting some money for themselves. And because if this, they fall victims of circumstance to persons who are either known or unknown. Some are taken to work in farms and end up not being paid which is a form of trafficking,” he said.

According to him, schools need to have proper intervention strategies at school level that can allow them identify learners who have challenges when they report to school.

“My appeal to the school administrators is that they need to have keen attention to students because when these learners come to school, they come with various problems. Let them not rush to punish students who exhibit rare behaviors but find out what exactly they are undergoing and once that is done, they should take them for better guidance and counselling,” Ekodribo.

Human trafficking is considered a serious violation of human rights and a form of modern slavery. Efforts to combat human trafficking involve international laws, national policies, and non-governmental organizations.