The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), in partnership with Human Trafficking Institute (HTI) and Liberty Shared, launched Uganda’s first live and publicly available data visualization dashboard for human trafficking cases.
In June 2021, the ODPP entered a partnership with HTI and Liberty Shared to develop Uganda’s first database for collecting and sharing data from human trafficking investigations and prosecutions. ‘Trafficking in Persons Mobile App Platform (TIPMAP)’.
Speaking at the launch on Friday, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Justice Jane Frances Abodo said, “I expect that the ODPP TIPMAP website will be key to providing vital information to the different stakeholders in the anti-trafficking space and the public at large. It is my hope that this data will contribute to the tireless efforts in preventing and protecting Ugandans and non-Ugandans from trafficking.”
The CEO and Founder of the Human Trafficking Institute, Victor Boutros appreciated the ODPP and Police for their continued partnership and their excellent efforts in combatting human trafficking. He noted that “when enforcement increases, prevalence decreases. As the ODPP shares data highlighting its successful prosecutions and convictions of traffickers, Uganda gives the world tangible hope that together we can decimate human trafficking and protect victims.”
TIPMAP is a mobile-friendly case reporting platform developed specifically for ODPP Prosecutors working on Trafficking in Persons (TIP) cases. It provides up-to-date and consistent information on investigations and prosecutions occurring in all 19 ODPP regions of Uganda.
To inform public discourse and highlight the efforts to eradicate human trafficking, the ODPP is availing the data recorded on the TIPMAP platform to the public through data visualization and analysis dashboards accessible through the ODPP website (https://www.dpp.go.ug/).
The website will provide several dashboards highlighting trends, challenges, and achievements of the ODPP whilst highlighting case numbers, convictions, types of exploitation, victims and traffickers across the 19 ODPP regions.
The sharing of case data across regions will provide opportunities for collaboration across departments to track information on suspected and convicted traffickers and trends in TIP crimes.
Notably, effective record-keeping and information-sharing infrastructure in conjunction with improved investigative and prosecution techniques are crucial for criminal justice stakeholders to function better and improve efforts to eliminate human trafficking.
Meanwhile, the Human Trafficking Institute exists to decimate human trafficking at its source by empowering police and prosecutors to stop traffickers. Working inside criminal justice systems, HTI provides the embedded experts, world-class training, investigative resources, and evidence-based research necessary to free victims.
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