Prostitution in Uganda
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Prostitution in Uganda is illegal{{cite web|title=Sex Work Law - Countries|url=http://spl.ids.ac.uk/sexworklaw/countries|website=Sexuality, Poverty and Law|access-date=17 January 2018|language=en}} according to Uganda's 1950 Penal Code,{{cite web|last1=Guyson|first1=Nangayi|title=Sex trade becomes easy source of income for urban Ugandans. - Alleastafrica|url=https://www.alleastafrica.com/2017/05/02/sex-trade-becomes-easy-source-of-income-for-urban-ugandans/|website=All East Africa|access-date=18 January 2018|date=2 May 2017}} but is widespread despite this.{{cite web|title=The Legal Status of Prostitution by Country|url=http://chartsbin.com/view/snb|website=ChartsBin|access-date=17 January 2018}}{{cite web|last1=Mabel|first1=Winnie|title=Kenyan prostitutes take over Kampala, Ugandans are not happy|url=https://www.tuko.co.ke/138090-kenyan-prostitutes-take-kampala-ugandans-not-happy.html|website=Tuko - Kenya news.|access-date=18 January 2018|date=8 June 2016}} Many turn to prostitution because of poverty and lack of other opportunities. A study of Kampala teachers in 2008 showed that teachers were turning to prostitution to increase their income. A sex worker can earn around USh.1.5 million/= (£439 sterling) per month, whereas this would be a yearly wage for a secondary school teacher.[http://allafrica.com/stories/200804281488.html Uganda: Teachers Turn to Prostitution] There are many Kenyan prostitutes in the country.
Sex trafficking, HIV, and child prostitution{{cite web| last1=Oloya|first1=Opiyo|last2=Businge|first2=Constance |
title=12,000 child prostitutes in Uganda |work=New Vision | url=https://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1158808/-child-prostitutes-uganda |access-date=18 January 2018 |date=17 August 2007}} are problems in the country. In 2017, the Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC), estimated that 570 females aged between 15 and 24 contract HIV infections every week, an average of more than 81 daily.{{cite web| work=The Observer (Uganda) |url=https://observer.ug/news/headlines/56130-prostitution-heartbreak-and-disease-at-karuma-dam.html | title=Prostitution, heartbreak and disease at Karuma dam |date=24 November 2017 |author=The Observer Uganda |access-date=13 October 2023 |location=Kampala, Uganda}}
Overview
In 2003, Ugandan authorities ordered sex workers to pay a tax of USh.9,000/= (£2.63 stg) in order to operate in Malaba.Odeke, Abraham. (2003-07-22) [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3084969.stm Tax for Uganda sex workers]. BBC News. Retrieved on 2011-06-04. Also in 2003 Ugandan MPs met sex workers who were concerned about "police harassment" and claiming that it was unfair that police officers were arresting sex workers while they (sex workers) waited for clients.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3019510.stm Uganda MPs to meet sex workers]. BBC News (2003-06-25). Retrieved on 2011-06-04.
Prostitutes operate in Kampala city centre.{{cite news|title= It is not just violent clients who hurt sex workers|publisher= Guardian|date=2010-12-15|url= https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/dec/15/not-just-violent-clients-hurt-sex-workers|access-date=2010-12-15|location=London|first=Audacia|last=Ray}}[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7098031.stm Uganda sets up red-light district]. BBC News (2007-11-16). Retrieved on 2011-06-04. Ahead of the 2007 CHOGM Conference in the city, the prostitutes were moved out of the city centre to designated zones in the suburbs.
Violence erupted in Kampala in 2016 between Ugandan and Kenyan prostitutes. The Kenyan prostitutes were charging a low price, and the Ugandans were angry that the Kenyans were taking all their trade. Local leaders intervened to stop the fighting, and the Kenyans agreed to charge the same price as the Ugandans. Two Kenyans were injured. In an attempt to stop the influx of Kenyan prostitutes, the authorities planned to charge a registration fee.
With 6,000 construction workers building the new Hydroelectric Power Station fuelling demand, there are many prostitutes in the Karuma area.
Lyantonde is a truck-stop town and the main stop-over on the main highway from Kampala to Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda. There are many prostitutes in the town to service the truck drivers needs. The area has the highest rate of HIV in the country, nearly twice the national average.{{cite web| title=Meeting the Truck Stop Prostitutes of Uganda's HIV Capital |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/ugandas-truck-stop-prostitutes-are-in-the-countrys-aids-epicenter/ | work=Vice.com |date=8 April 2014 |author=Sam Mednick |
access-date=18 January 2018}}
HIV
{{see also|HIV/AIDS in Uganda}}
Uganda is in the top 10 of countries with the highest HIV prevalence rates.{{cite web|title=CIA world factbook - country comparison|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/rankorderguide.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090610080911/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/rankorderguide.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 10, 2009}} Sex workers are a high risk group. In 2013 they had a 34.2 percent prevalence rate.{{cite web|title=Uganda 2016 Country factsheet |work=UNAIDS | url=http://www.unaids.org/en/regionscountries/countries/uganda|access-date=18 January 2018}} Even in Kampala, where HIV infection is the highest in the country, clients are reluctant to use condoms and will offer many times the usual rate for unprotected sex.
Sex trafficking
{{see also|Human trafficking in Uganda}}
Uganda is a source, transit, and destination country for women, and children subjected to sex trafficking. Ugandan girls and boys are exploited in prostitution. Recruiters target girls and women aged 13–24 years for domestic sex trafficking, especially near sports tournaments and road construction projects. An international organisation reported that most internal trafficking victims are Ugandans.{{cite web|title=Uganda 2017 Trafficking in Persons Report|url=https://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/countries/2017/271305.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703181544/https://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/countries/2017/271305.htm|url-status=dead |archive-date=3 July 2017|website=U.S. Department of State|access-date=18 January 2018}}{{PD-notice}}
During the reporting period, Ugandan victims were identified in neighboring countries, including Kenya, South Sudan, and the DRC. Children from the DRC, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, and South Sudan are exploited in prostitution in Uganda. South Sudanese children in refugee settlements in northern Uganda are vulnerable to trafficking.
Young women remained the most vulnerable to transnational trafficking, usually seeking employment as domestic workers in the Middle East; at times Ugandan women were fraudulently recruited for employment and then exploited in forced prostitution. Ugandan migrant workers are subjected to sex trafficking in United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Turkey, and Algeria. Despite the government's complete ban in 2016 on Ugandans’ travel abroad for domestic work, some licensed and unlicensed agencies circumvented this ban by sending Ugandans through Kenya and Tanzania. Traffickers, who appear to be increasingly organized, are frequently relatives or friends of victims, or may pose as wealthy women or labor recruiters promising vulnerable Ugandans well-paid jobs abroad or in Uganda's metropolitan areas. Some traffickers threatened to harm the victims’ family or confiscated travel documents.
The United States Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons ranks Uganda as a 'Tier 2' country.