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PLA (Platform for Labour Action) is a GAATW member in Uganda. Emilia Cebrián from the GAATW Secretariat conducted this interview with Grace Mukwaya Lule, Executive Director, and Hellen Amagoro, Advocacy and Communications Officer, in July 2022 to better understand the organisation’s work and context. 

Emilia Cebrián: Thank you, Grace and Hellen, for taking the time to speak with me. When was your organisation founded and where do you work?

Grace Mukwaya Lule: PLA was formed in 2000 by three female lawyers to advocate for the rights of vulnerable and marginalised workers in Uganda. Initially, it was focused on women working in the informal sectors, including market vendors and domestic workers, and those earning below 60 USD at the time. Gradually, we began advocating for those earnings up to 600 Uganda shillings (about USD 120). We work in three regions:

• Central (Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area, including Mukono, Wakiso and Mpigi districts);
• Eastern (with offices in Iganga, serving border districts between Uganda and Kenya, where a lot of trafficking, child labour and commercial sexual exploitation of children happen);
• Northern (with offices in Lira serving Dokolo and Amolator districts, a post conflict region with significant migration from rural to urban areas and to the Middle East.

Our target group includes children in exploitative forms of labour and those at risk, women and youth in the informal sector, low-income earners, and poor people. We are women-led and many of our services are free.

EC: What are the main issues you work on and the communities you support?

Hellen Amagoro: We advocate for economic and human rights of vulnerable and marginalised persons, mainly workers. Our advocacy aims to bring about policy changes in the employment sector, as well as accountability from different duty bearers to enable access to justice for ordinary people. We also provide legal aid to enable social justice mainly in the world of work and in other areas that affect the economic situation of a person. We raise awareness on different human rights issues including labour, employment, access to land, family and trafficking in persons with the objective of increasing access to information for vulnerable people. In terms of social protection, we know that many workers find it hard to protect themselves during or after employment. We also work with children in different forms of exploitation, so we support both the families and the children with vocational enrolment, or those who are at the risk of child labour because of lack of school materials, food, etc. We engage everyone in the community.

We believe that before intervening in a certain issue or with a target group, it is important to go to the ground and find out what challenges people are facing. Because when you engage them in finding solutions, you are better able to meet their needs.

We also engage different stakeholders who play key roles in the interventions or areas that we work in, from the village to the national and district level. We work with police officers, community members, and people that the community holds in high regard… At the national level, we work with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development and other agencies that are key in bringing change to the lives of the people we are working with. We also do awareness-raising because we know that knowledge is power.

GML: We also do a lot of policy advocacy. We engage with policymakers around human rights and social protections so that the laws and policies they develop are favourable for Ugandans. We were involved, for instance, in the Employment Amendment Bill where many of our recommendations were taken on. We were also involved in the development of Domestic Workers Regulations. We supported the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development in revising them, among many others.

HA: Yes, in the National Social Security Fund Act amendment in 2021, we had proposed that people should not wait for the age of retirement to access their pension, because at a certain age they are more productive and have more ideas. This was adopted and those above 45 that have saved for a period of ten years can access their savings, as well as those with disabilities when they reach 40.

GML: We do a lot of trainings for different stakeholders to understand issues on labour, employment, and safe migration. Uganda has a proactive out-migration policy as one of the measures to curb unemployment and most people who migrate are domestic workers to the Gulf region. So we organise trainings on safe migration and we create awareness about the situation in the region.

HA: When it comes to migration, we also work with immigration authorities, specifically in Busia and Malaba, because we know that many people who are dodging Entebbe airport use the porous border points. We produce information and education materials, such as posters, banners… In this way, when someone is either processing a document or planning to migrate, they have dos and don’ts when seeking work abroad. We know that most people who are travelling are young and they are either university graduates or in vocational institutions, so we partner up with these institutions to make sure that young people are ready for employment and have information on safe migration. Ideally, looking for greener pastures is not a bad thing but we are trying to ensure that they use the correct path.

GML: We also work with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Internal Affairs, and Immigration. I would like to share one of the good outcomes of our advocacy work in the border points. There was a time in 2019 or 2020 when people were travelling to Kenya by bus on their way to Oman. They saw our information billboards at the border points (‘what you need to know before travelling abroad’) and they called to inquire. Then they changed their minds about travelling because they realised that they were being trafficked just from the information they read about.

Executive Director of PLA, domestic worker leaders, the Right Honourable speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, the Chairperson of the Uganda Parliamentary Women Association, and two Hon. Members of Parliament during the presentation of a petition to expedite the Employment Amendment Bill 2019

EC: What are some of the challenges for the people you support? What are the main issues or dynamics around trafficking, migration, and labour in Uganda?

GML: The major challenges faced by workers in Uganda, including those migrating, are poverty, limited employment opportunities in the country, and limited information about migration, including internal migration. One dynamic is that the people who find jobs, these would be traffickers, are family members and relatives, which makes prosecution almost impossible; they would be prosecuting their auntie, uncle, neighbour, family friend….

Also, when people go to the Middle East, mainly Saudi Arabia or Jordan, to lawfully work as domestic workers, many experience abuse and mental health issues. Everyone knows that this happens, but people would rather take a chance because they might succeed, and not everybody is experiencing those issues. At least 80% of migrants get the income they went for, which makes it hard to just ban the sector without any alternatives. The government puts a lot of energy in ensuring protection for migrants, such as requiring licences for recruitment agencies, but even some people who have travelled through licensed recruitment agencies experience abuse in the workplace, because the engagement should go beyond those following proper channels and focus on what can be done in the destination countries. 

Another challenge is the use of technology, especially since COVID-19. We found that traffickers have started to target their victims when they’re already placed in a house to work. They wait until you have followed the proper channels, so you’ve gone to Saudi Arabia to work as a domestic worker, a carer or a nurse, and once you’re there, they bring you out of the legal situation, and they can do whatever they want with you. This is because under the Kafala system you must work for a particular person, and when you leave this person, you become illegal.

HA: In one of our projects, we looked at expediting the Employment Amendment Bill of 2020. It remains in the balance because the President is yet to sign it, so there is limited recognition and protection of certain categories of workers. We are looking at domestic workers, casual workers, which many women and youth are, and there is definitely increased rights abuses and exploitation of such workers because there are no laws to protect them. On top of that, in many areas women still have limited access and control over productive assets, such as land or finances, so women struggle when it comes to being economically independent; they are still dependent on their families or husbands while also taking care of the family in general.

Many problems revolve around poverty, because either you are a single mother or there is no income to support the family, so you are forced by the circumstances to go and find work. Unfortunately, some people are facing challenges like sexual harassment from employers, they get beaten up… We need a law that regulates the domestic workers’ sector. Despite the regulations being developed by the Ministry of Gender, they are yet to go to the cabinet for approval.

GML: Yes, we have an employment law that protects everybody, but we need a specific law for these categories of workers, because of the nature of their work.

Domestic workers during the launch of the women worker for change campaign

EC: How do you incorporate the views of trafficked persons and marginalised workers in your work?

HA: We place a lot of focus on research and knowledge management. When you are creating awareness, you should know people’s specific situations, whether someone is planning on going abroad, is in transition or has come back. At PLA, we have worked with individuals when it comes to pre-departure training, so that they know the dos and don’ts, the simple basics, like how to use a washing machine, how to ask for something. We use this information to produce materials. For example, if you need help from a labour attaché, or if you need help contacting your family or a legal service provider, we can produce that material. We try as much as possible to equip migrant workers as they are going abroad.

GML: All our advocacy is usually led by either survivors of trafficking or domestic workers; they speak on their own behalf. We’ve had many petitions to the Parliament to ensure the regulation, for instance, of the domestic work sector, and survivors say what they need because they know best. Even in the case of children in domestic work or in other exploitative forms of labour, it is still led by them because they understand the situations better. We’ve learnt that their voices matter and once people hear the victims or the survivors themselves, they can connect with them. We’ve learnt that they can articulate the situations better in terms of what happened to them and offer solutions. For instance, when we look at DOWA (Domestic Workers’ Association in Uganda), which was formed with support from GAATW, we find that many of the issues we tackled with them have come from the domestic workers themselves.

HA: We have what we call door-to-door awareness – we train a group of ten leaders of domestic workers on certain topics, and they translate it to other domestic workers. They can’t reach out to all domestic workers, but they are next to them, they’re neighbours, friends, or sisters. They also have regular trainings focused on their rights, where to report cases of abuse, or how to file a case. Even when we go for radio talk shows we take domestic workers with us because when they themselves participate, it makes a big difference.

In the small mutual support groups, they have different leaders and they create awareness, but they also form income-generating activities. For example, in Nakawa we had a group of domestic workers who were keeping chicken and other livestock to supplement their income and be economically independent. So, engaging them and letting them take the lead is key.

The Ministry now doesn’t call PLA to consult on issues affecting domestic workers – they now engage domestic workers directly. I remember the first meeting we had with domestic workers and the government. They were actually shocked that these women would stand up and voice their opinions, and they made many valuable points.

GML: Since our inception, at the institutional level we adopted what we used to call peer education model, whereby the frontline legal aid service providers are community members. In the 11 districts where we have staff – we have offices in three districts and in the remaining eight we have community-based organisations formed by community members – they are the ones who refer cases to us. The frontline services are provided by community members.

EC: Can you tell us more about how the Domestic Workers’ Association (DOWA) was formed?

HA: We had small pockets of domestic workers in different divisions and they all had similar challenges and ideas that they wanted to build together. So we came up with the idea of forming an association – to have leaders from the different divisions to form and run this association. But they also have the beauty of bringing together domestic workers, because as a collective they can bargain for better pay and working conditions. We were definitely part of the conversation, but it was led by them. This is how DOWA started.

GML: Being an already registered NGO, we supported their formation in terms of registration, how to develop a strategic plan, how to have structures and how they are run. Actually, we wanted them to join a trade union, but there were issues with the trade unions. We believe that with the strengthening of trade unions they will be able to join if they see the need.

Executive Leaders of Domestic Workers Association at PLA offices during the inception meeting about the project

EC: What are these issues with trade unions?

GML: The major trade unions are not formed through collective bargaining; they are formed due to the employers’ needs to control trade unions. The largest members of trade unions are hotel workers, but some of them don’t even know they’ re members until they leave their jobs, because employers hire workers through the trade unions so that it’s easier to work with them in management. Another issue is that trade unions are all led by men. A lot of trade unions are not strong enough and there is low awareness of how trade unions work in the rest of the world.

EC: What do you know about traffickers in Uganda? Who are they and how do they operate?

GML: Not much is known. In most cases, the authorities get somebody small within the trafficking chain, but the giants are usually unknown. It can be somebody’s uncle who connected them to a job, and that person was connected by a saloon person, but who is this person receiving money on behalf of, is usually unknown.

HA: Traffickers could also be friends. Sometimes you are pushed into believing that there is a better opportunity for you, for example, because you see a friend living a nice life. But you are not passing through the right channels. And by the time you reach the new place, you are either engaged in prostitution or you’re being trafficked. When it comes to internal trafficking, it’s the parents, but it involves so many people. For example, when you go to a work meeting and you ask ‘How many of you have housemaids in your home?’, everyone puts up their hand. Then, when you ask, ‘How many of you have house help who are above the age of 18?’, that is when you see people looking away or looking down. Because many would say ‘Let her come and babysit my daughter’ or ‘She is my niece’ or ‘he is my nephew’. There is always the guise of family relations, so family is always key when it comes to internal trafficking.

EC: Thank you so much! I don’t have any more questions. Is there anything you would like to add?

GML: We would like to thank GAATW for always giving us opportunities not just to showcase our work but also to support some of the issues we are grappling with in our country.

HA: We are very grateful for GAATW’s support. There are women from the previous projects who are applying for leadership positions and it has gone beyond their expectations, so it’s made a difference in the lives of domestic workers. We are grateful for the opportunity to have this conversation and to be part of the Alliance.