Table 2 Key interview findings by human trafficking stage

Life circumstances pre-trafficking

• Vulnerability stems from financial hardship and abusive home situations

• Vulnerability is often triggered by the death of a caretaker or the family breadwinner

• In situations of financial hardship, school fees become a prohibitive cost causing children to drop out of school

• Abusive home situations are often described in the context of non-blood family members (e.g., caregiver’s new partner)

The situation that was at home was not good at all, we used to lack even just 200 UGX for sauce or just 100 UGX for food. We never used to eat, there was a time when there was no food due to the season and hence we lacked food, because you would reach the garden and in all you had planted, nothing came out. - Sex trafficking, Female, age 20

I didn’t take long period at school, I left school when I was 4 years as the situation at home was not good whereby there was no money, no food, to get clothes and shoes, so hard due to that situation.” Forced labor, Male, age 18

My mother passed on, I have only my father … My stepmother was mistreating me, she used not to give me food. She could abuse me and when I told my father, he never accepted me. Instead, he could take the words of my stepmother. His wife could say, "That girl is lying! She does not want to work". So, I ran away from home.- Sex trafficking, Female, age 15

Recruitment and travel & transit

• There is a general trend in movement from rural villages to the big city

 Recruitment in the village followed by travel and transit

• Recruitment often takes the form of an opportunity that is presented to address financial hardship (e.g., a work opportunity, or an opportunity for caregivers to relieve themselves of the financial burden of caring for a child)

• Victims are recruited by family members, friends, acquaintances, and strangers

Venues where recruitment takes place include funerals, sports tournaments, and dance performances

• Sex trafficking: after an initial sexual trauma, victims either see no other option but to endure, or leave the exploitative situation and end up on the streets

• Debt owed to the recruiter forms a barrier to leaving the exploitative situation

• A minority of victims are recruited and trafficked internationally. The international context increases victims’ isolation and heightens their vulnerability

She brought me from the village and she told me I will have a better life and there was no need to get worried. So, I also accepted to come with her. Reaching at her place, she packed bananas for me to start selling yet I didn’t want. So, I started to sell as well as being mistreated. - Forced labor, Female, age 12

I had a friend of mine who was working from Kampala. She would come back to the village showing us how well off she was. She told me that she was coming back to the city to get for me a job. When I reached this side, I thought she had gotten me a good job. No! It was this work of females, sex working. I also started doing that one. - Sex trafficking, Female, age 21

 Travel and transit followed by recruitment in the city

• Those arriving in the city often have no place to go and end up on the streets

• Low educational attainment and lack of a social network limit access to income generating activities resulting in vulnerability to human trafficking

• Sex trafficking: dependents add to the urgency of securing income for survival resulting in vulnerability to human trafficking

My mother just took me to the bus terminal and paid the transport to the turnboy of the bus and I came alone. I wasn’t even familiar with the place because it was my first time to come this side. I meandered around Kampala town because I didn’t know where to go or what to do. I used to sleep on the streets at night. - Forced labor, Female, age 12

Exploitation

Forced labor:

• Victims are forced to beg, steal, or collect items for their exploiter to sell

• Victims are made to work long days and are given little time off

• Exploitation often occurs by the roadside exposing victims to the risk of road traffic accidents and environmental hazards

• Victims mainly suffer physical abuse from strangers, customers, and employers and psychosocial abuse though less frequently sexual abuse also occurs

• Exploiters/traffickers are often family members on whom victims are highly dependent contributing to ongoing vulnerability

Sex trafficking:

• Victims are often exploited in commercial sex at a bar or lodge

• Victims are exposed to physical abuse from customers and employers. Refusal of sex without a condom and disputes over the price of services are common triggers of violence

• Victims are exposed to (gang) rape resulting in urogenital injuries, pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. A minority of victims report bestiality

• Victims are frequently threatened and verbally abused

• Mental health impacts include flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, depressive symptoms and suicidal ideations and several victims report substance abuse

• Lack of financial means contributes to ongoing vulnerability. Victims require the income from exploitation for their own daily survival and that of their dependents. Other work is usually associated with lower compensation or requires start capital

Barriers and facilitators of seeking help:

• Barriers to seeking help during exploitation include lack of awareness of organizations that can offer help, negative experiences including not being believed and suffering further abuse in interactions with help services, fear, restrictions on movement and communication, and loyalty to and dependency on the trafficker

• Facilitators of help-seeking include awareness of organizations that can offer help, positive prior experiences with seeking help, and having a support network

There was a day when I had refused to sell bananas, she told me that, "You girl, what is making you stubborn? Yet l am not the one who gave birth to you." She locked me inside the house, beat me while strangling my neck. I was pushed on the floor till when I felt so weak, my head was hit and I felt mentally ill. I wanted report her but I feared her. Instead I just kept quiet and I have to act voiceless. - Forced labor, Female, age 12

They told me to sit so that put my hands forward so that people can give me money. By then I was young, but it was so embarrassing. However much I told my aunties that I didn’t like, they never listened. - Forced labor and sex trafficking, Female, age 17

A client can pay a boss, and the boss is the one to give that client instructions that if she refuses do this and this eee…! When I would refuse at times, a boss would tell a client that if she has refused, get hold of her by force and then sleep with her. - Sex trafficking, Female, age 22