Foreign Affairs ministry says reports that an envoy was expelled by the UK over human trafficking issues is ‘misleading’
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has refuted media reports that a Ugandan envoy was expelled from the UK over engaging in human trafficking.
This news website on Thursday reported that an envoy in the Uganda Mission in the UK had been sent on a one-way ticket back home but in a statement released in Friday, Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Vincent Bagiire said the information was “misleading”.
“We would like to first and foremost clarify that no Ugandan diplomat has been expelled from the United Kingdom,” PS Bagiire said.
He confirmed that the officials alleged to have been expelled had ended their tour of duty that runs between three and four years and were duly recalled to headquarters for further duty instructions as the practice is in Diplomatic Service.
In its report, this news website indicated that the unnamed envoy had fallen in trouble over allegations of running a human trafficking ring under the guise of diplomatic privileges, smuggling Ugandan women into the UK under the pretext of hiring domestic workers.
The Nile Post had also learnt from the envoy that the domestic worker at the heart of the trouble was attempting to remain in the UK by trying to file for asylum against the envoy’s best intentions.
But PS Bagiire appeared to rule out this aspect fell under human trafficking, which he stressed is defined as the unlawful act of transporting or coercing people in order to benefit from their work or service, typically in the form of forced labour or sexual exploitation.
The envoy, who returned home three weeks ago, has been awaiting redeployment but the dossier containing the allegations of PNG appears to show infighting in the foreign service involding the Mission in the UK.
PS Bagiire said under Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the receiving state may at any time without having to explain its decision declare any member of a diplomatic staff of a sending state persona non grata.
“It is only under that provision that a diplomat is deemed unwelcome in the receiving state that we can use the term expelled,” he said.
However, Mr Bagiire, who was contacted before the article was published but did not respond, has yet to respond to this website’s inquiry on the allegations of infighting related to the dossier that was authored by a member of the Foreign Service.
