Africa-Press – Uganda. Close to four years after she was trafficked to Malaysia in search of a job to earn money to return to school, Ms Juliana Mutumingga, 32, is stuck in the Asian country.
Ms Mutumingga, who hails from Mbale District and was born in Mulago, according to a copy of her passport, was trafficked to Malaysia with a promise to “work and earn a lot of money” so that she could return to school.
“She also accepted and went to Malaysia without the consent of her mother. Unfortunately, when she reached, she was left in a room for days,”Ms Miriam Mwiza, a human rights defender, said yesterday.
Ms Mutumingga tried to reach her agent but her phone was off.
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After being released, she started to fend for herself while living in the country illegally. She was arrested for violating Malaysian immigration laws.
It was during that ordeal that Ms Mutumingga, who was now pregnant, gave birth to twins. The alleged father of the babies declined to take responsibility.
Recently when the Malaysian immigration cleared her, she was taken to a camp and the Ugandan embassy in the country informed her that she needs to raise Shs5m to buy tickets to return.
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Efforts to trace the purported agent have been futile with Ms Mutumingga’s helpless mother knocking on all doors for help in vain.
“She has not been in touch with the mother until this year when the embassy informed her [mother] that they are the ones with her daughter with twins and all that was needed are the air tickets. So, Juliana has no phone and any information is from the mother and the embassy in Malaysia,” Ms Mwiza said.
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In an attempt to help Ms Mutumingga, Ms Mwiza said she has engaged authorities at Uganda’s embassy in Malaysia who informed her that without the money to buy the tickets, they cannot do much.
She has also engaged the National Organisation of Trade Unions and the International Organisation for Migration without success.
“Under the consular services such citizens are supposed to be returned home by the embassy but to my surprise, they were not able to do that. I have tried different parties at least for the sake of kids but all in vain,” Ms Mwiza said.
Trafficking report
A US report titled, 2021 trafficking in persons, says the government of Uganda investigated fewer trafficking cases and convicted far fewer alleged perpetrators in 2020 than in 2019.
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The report also says that in 2018, an international organisation estimated that there are between 7,000 and 12,000 children exploited in sex trafficking in Uganda.
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