Home

Uganda vs. Tanzania

Transnational Issues

UgandaTanzania
Disputes - international

Uganda is subject to armed fighting among hostile ethnic groups, rebels, armed gangs, militias, and various government forces that extend across its borders; Ugandan refugees as well as members of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) seek shelter in southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Garamba National Park; LRA forces have also attacked Kenyan villages across the border

dispute with Tanzania over the boundary in Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi) and the meandering Songwe River; Malawi contends that the entire lake up to the Tanzanian shoreline is its territory, while Tanzania claims the border is in the center of the lake; the conflict was reignited in 2012 when Malawi awarded a license to a British company for oil exploration in the lake

Refugees and internally displaced personsrefugees (country of origin): 924,835 (South Sudan) (refugees and asylum seekers), 432,390 (Democratic Republic of the Congo), 51,039 (Burundi), 47,581 (Somalia) (refugees and asylum seekers), 17,750 (Rwanda), 17,658 (Eritrea) (2021)refugees (country of origin): 133,029 (Burundi), 79,002 (Democratic Republic of the Congo) (2021)
Trafficking in personscurrent situation: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Uganda, and traffickers exploit victims from Uganda abroad; young Ugandan children are exploited in forced labor in agriculture, fishing, forestry, cattle herding, mining, stone quarrying, brick making, carpentry, steel manufacturing, street vending, bars, restaurants, gold mining, and domestic service; traffickers exploit girls and boys in commercial sex; most are children from the northeastern region and are exploited in forced begging, commercial sex in brothels, or sold in markets; traffickers compel  children from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, and South Sudan into forced agricultural labor and sex trafficking in Uganda; young women most at risk for transnational trafficking seek employment as domestic workers in the Middle East and then are exploited in sex trafficking; traffickers subject Ugandans to forced labor and sex trafficking in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Turkey, Algeria, Malaysia, Thailand, Bahrain, Jordan, China, Kenya, and India; traffickers are often relatives, friends of victims, or religious leaders who receive a fee per worker from recruiters

tier rating: Tier 2 Watch list - Uganda does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so; efforts include investigating allegations of complicit officials, implementing the protection and prevention provisions of the 2009 anti-trafficking act, convicting alleged traffickers, developing a plan for an anti-trafficking department within the police force; however, the government reported the lowest number of investigations in the past five years and a substantial decrease in prosecutions; authorities provided no training for law enforcement and immigration officials and identified fewer victims; the Coordination Office for Prevention of Trafficking in Persons is severely underfunded, stifling efforts to coordinate and combat trafficking; no systematic procedures to refer or assist victims have been developed, and the government provides no resources to NGOs for protective services; Uganda was downgraded to Tier 2 Watch List (2020)
current situation: Tanzania is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking; the exploitation of young girls in domestic servitude continues to be Tanzania's largest human trafficking problem; Tanzanian boys are subject to forced labor mainly on farms but also in mines, in the commercial service sector, in the sex trade, and possibly on small fishing boats; internal trafficking is more prevalent than transnational trafficking and is usually facilitated by friends, family members, or intermediaries offering education or legitimate job opportunities; trafficking victims from Burundi, Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Yemen, and India are forced to work in Tanzania's agricultural, mining, and domestic service sectors or may be sex trafficked; traffickers transported Tanzanian children with physical disabilities to Kenya to work as beggars or in massage parlors; girls forced to donate a kidney to pay for supposed transportation fees to the United Arab Emirates; traffickers subject Tanzanians to forced labor, including in domestic service, and sex trafficking in other African countries, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and the United States

tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Tanzania does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so; efforts were made to  identify and refer victims for care; investigations and convictions of traffickers, training for officials, and public awareness campaigns were increased along with a National Guideline for Safe Houses; however, the government did not amend its law to remove sentencing provisions that allow fines in lieu of imprisonment; fewer prosecutions were initiated; the government did not implement the 2018-2021 national action plan; officials did not fully implement the creation of the anti-trafficking fund nor disperse funds; no formal victim identification and protection was provided (2020)

Source: CIA Factbook