Tyler Dunman, the Institute’s Special Counsel in Uganda, recently assisted in getting a Uganda Peoples’ Defence Force (UPDF) officer properly charged with the first-ever Aggravated Trafficking in Children charge to be filed in Kabale District.

In mid-June, the UPDF officer was arrested and charged after abducting and sexually exploiting a 16-year-old girl in this western Uganda district. The victim was rescued from a room at the Highland Hotel in Kabale Municipality and reunited safely with her family.

The alleged trafficker first connected with the child via a cell phone he provided her without her parents’ knowledge. The trafficker then allegedly abducted and held the child while sexually exploiting her. Dunman assisted in getting the suspect properly charged under Uganda’s Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act. In Uganda, a person who is convicted of Aggravated Trafficking in Children is liable to suffer the death penalty.

Ugandan media outlet New Vision reported on this case on June 17.