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Speaker of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda : Return Enslaved Ugandan Girls

Speaker of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda : Return Enslaved Ugandan Girls

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This petition has been created by Ekakoro E. and may not represent the views of the Avaaz community.
Ekakoro E.
started this petition to
Speaker of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda
We the Fowode Young Leaders
Alumni Association (FYLAA), Centre For Participatory Research And
Development (CEPARD), Uganda Youth Alliance For Family Planning And Adolescent
Health (UYAFPAH) Students For Global Democracy- Uganda Chapter (SGD), Team7 And
The Youth Consortium For Labour Justice (YOCOLAJ)


having realized
that the
Increasing unemployment and escalating creation of jobs that hardly meet the
International Labour Standards and conditions characterize many Ugandans to a
life of torture, harassment and intimidation among others both domestically and
Internationally

Aware that , a report released in
December 2012 by the parliamentary committee on equal opportunities estimates
that about 5000 girls and boys are stranded overseas. The number could however
be higher given that many of those working overseas are not documented. Some
are victims of human trafficking.

Taking into consideration a
study by the Refugee Documentation Centre of Ireland in 2010 revealed that
revealed that Uganda is a source and destination country for commercial
sexual exploitation.  The report showed that young girls and women were
lured into sex trafficking within East Africa, Europe and Asian countries.
According to the study, Uganda still falls short of its international obligation
to protect her citizens against sexual offences and human trafficking, despite
the State’s efforts to combat this on the legislative front.

 having established the
above challenges, demand that;

1.      Government comes
out and pronounces itself on this matter by telling the public what is going
on, where, when by who and why and we demand that justice for the affected
persons/ returnees be upheld and those responsible be brought to book

2.      a commission of
inquiry be set up to conduct deeper and concrete investigations into the gross
allegations raised by the returnees and affected people and ascertain if there was
misconduct either on the side of the recruitment firms, the recruited and the
employers overseas and this report should be made available within three months
from now to inform further action.

3.      FastTrack
repatriation of the girls and men affected and stranded in the overseas
countries

4.      Institute and
put in place legal and policy labour and employment reforms specifically
especially the national employment and labour policy

5.      a legal team
instituted to examine the current labour and trafficking laws and enact an act
of parliament regulating exportation of labour and that shall subsequently put
in place an employment and labour authority/ commission that shall handle
issues related to employment, labour and oversee/ monitor issues related to
labour in and outside the country and to work closely with private recruitment
firms, Interpol, foreign affairs ministry, ministry of foreign affairs among
others to ensure that the same situation does not repeat itself. The same
authority should be able to handle employment and labour policy reforms issues.

6.      We also demand
for setting up of either an independent rehabilitation center or a sub center
be established in Butabika referral hospital.

7.      Fast track the
implementation of the demands raised in the Youth Manifesto 2016-2021

 WE HOWEVER PROPOSE THE FOLLOWING
ALTERNATIVES TO HELP AVERT THE SITUATION.

a)      Government
should strengthen the relationship between Interpol, Foreign Missions, Ministry
of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development
and the Immigration and departure points such as Entebbe Airport and borders;
Malaba, Busia, Lwakaka, Arua/ Nebbi among others which are used as key exit and
entry pints for human traffickers and the victims.

b)      FastTrack
implementation of local solutions that shall enhance creation of decent jobs,
create favorable working conditions and rehabilitation of victims of
unfavorable work conditions in collaboration with private and civil society
institutions.

c)       There is
need to  put in place stringent checks and balances for advertising of the
overseas jobs since the current mode and  style of advertisement is
persuasive yet not telling the truth about the infidel that is decaying the
foreign labour market

d)     Institute a framework that
enables registration of companies and business names and acquisition of trade
licenses, copyright and patents free for youth led startups and initiatives and
the public in general. This is so because the process of acquisition and
formalization of businesses, copyrights and patents is expensive and tedious
yet most young people do not have that much money, but with brilliant ideas.
Consequently, there is also need to create a three year tax free holiday for
youth led and indigenous ventures and businesses as a way of boosting local
investments and encouraging young people to pursue self-employment and job
creation rather than seeking. This approach shall go a long way in enabling
many companies and businesses to be formalized and hence Uganda Revenue Authority
shall find an advantage to collect taxes when most of these businesses have
grown and expanded. This way, the tax base of the country shall expand and many
jobs shall be created which shall ultimately reduce youth unemployment, improve
social economic livelihoods and standards of the youth and purchasing power
which is currently almost none existent.  If this is implemented, it shall
boost SMEs development which in the case of Singapore was very instrumental in
growing it from a low income country to among the world’s biggest economies.
Therefore, Uganda stands a better chance to achieve vision 2040 and the
sustainable development goals (eradicate poverty, zero hunger, decent work and
economic growth among others)

e)      There is need to
redesign the youth livelihoods programme to cater for individual businesses and
companies and increase the number of beneficiaries with the assessment and
funds acquisition criteria and process shortened and also fast ruck the
implementation of the women’s enterprise fund.  Whilst doing that, the
Community Development Officers should be removed from being signatories to the
bank accounts of the youth groups since they embezzle money or ask for
financial favors before Okaying financial transactions. This cripples decisions
making processes and implementation process for the youth groups which in turn
impedes proper growth of the ventures hence a contributing factor to the
downfall of the ventures. If this is implemented, it will help increase the
number of youth led businesses.

f)       Government
sets aside funds to help private institutions NGO.s and individuals involved in
skills, enterprise and financial literacy and management capacity building so
as to create a multi stakeholder approach to eliminate poverty and curb
unemployment. These funds should not be accessed as conditional funds through
the local government, but accessed through the Ministry of Gender Labor and
Social Development.

g)      Government
institutes checks and balances for the private sector companies and
multinational corporations to establish compliance or none compliance with the
laws and policies relating to employment and labour so as to ensure a conducive
and favorable working conditions and environments within the country which will
also reduce on the tendency of youth flooding out in the hope of finding
well-paying and fast earning jobs specifically, there is need to set aside a
law/ policy that mandates multinational corporations to gazette certain
positions especially at managerial and supervisory levels to indigenous
Ugandans just like it is the case in Rwanda

h)     There is need to
streamline the closer working relationship between Private Sector Foundation,
Uganda Investments Authority, Uganda Exports Promotions Board and Enterprise
Uganda among others to streamline easy management of private sector development
in Uganda

i)       
Enhance sensitization of employees and employers on the policy, rights and
responsibilities of each of them and their legal obligations to each other to
reduce on the violation of the rights of workers and employers.

 







Posted (Updated )