Trafficking of Karamoja Women and Girls From North-Eastern Uganda into Nairobi, Kenya

This study has examined the trafficking of Karamoja women and girls from North-Eastern Uganda into Nairobi, Kenya. Trafficking in human beings remains a big challenge confronting the international community. The menace remains a global problem with the countries of the Third World bearing the greatest brunt. In spite of the laws and policies enacted by different countries to curb the vice, human trafficking still persists. The Karamoja are a dominant pastoral and agro-pastoral ethnic community residing in the Karamoja sub-region in North Eastern Uganda. The Karamoja have for many years experienced instability and cross border conflict with their Kenyan and South Sudanese neighbors. Desperation created by conflict and poverty have made Karamoja women and girls to be vulnerable to human trafficking into neighboring countries, Kenya included. Thousands of Karamoja women and girls are trafficked each year into Nairobi Kenya to work as domestic servants with some ending up as commercial sex workers. This study has investigated the factors and motivation behind the trafficking of Karamoja women from North Eastern Uganda into Kenya. The forms of labor performed by trafficked Karamoja women and girls in Kenya have been examined. Anchored on the integrated theoretical approach this study argued that the benefits and profits from human trafficking coupled with the low risk of arrest contribute greatly to the prevalence of the vice. The situation is further fuelled by economic and socio-cultural attitudes towards the trafficking of Karamoja women for domestic labor and sexual services. This study adopted an explanatory research design. The study relied on both primary and secondary data. Simple purposive sampling and snow balling sampling techniques were employed to identify informants for the study. Qualitative and quantitative data interpretation and analysis techniques were employed. This study found out that the main causes of the trafficking of Karamoja omen from north eastern Uganda into Kenya included; poverty, war and conflict, culture and gender discrimination, illiteracy and lack of awareness on women rights and high demand for domestic and sexual services in countries of destination. The main forms of labor performed by migrant women and girls were identified as domestic work and sexual labor.