Mwiza Marriam:

Taking on Trafficking

Mwiza Marriam works with migrant workers and communities to expose exploitation and prevent trafficking before it happens

Mwiza Marriam is a Ugandan anti-human trafficking activist and founder of Overseas Workers Voices Uganda.

She leads frontline advocacy for migrant workers, champions justice for exploited domestic workers in the Middle East, and has driven landmark cases – including Uganda’s first trafficking conviction. Recognised by the Obama Foundation and featured in the BBC’s Death in Dubai, Mwiza is a leading voice demanding accountability, safer migration, and dignity for every worker.

Marriam is an unsung hero who has helped many girls out of slavery. She does it at the risk of her own life since it is a hard job to dare traffickers.
William Mpaata Otako
Executive Director, End Child Trafficking Uganda
Mwiza is one of the few activists willing to confront traffickers directly. Her work has helped free many girls from slavery, often at great personal risk.
William Mpaata Otako
Executive Director, End Child Trafficking Uganda
She helped me bring back my daughter Joyce Nanyonjo who had been trafficked to Oman. I had given up and all I was waiting for was a death announcement.
Norah Nakalyoowa Mpaata Otako
Mother of a returned survivor

“These girls are not criminals or victims of bad choices. They are victims of deception, poverty, and silence. If we don’t talk honestly about unsafe migration, more families will keep burying daughters they sent abroad for a better life.”

Mwiza Marriam

Stopping Trafficking Before It Starts

Prevention is not theory. It’s practice.

Through Overseas Workers Voices Uganda, Mwiza supports migrant workers facing exploitation abroad. Her future collaboration with the Hope Education Project extends this work upstream, focusing on education and prevention to stop trafficking before it begins.

Advocacy

Overseas Workers Voice Uganda

Overseas Workers Voice Uganda (OWVU) is a non-profit organisation founded in 2022 by Mwiza Marriam to protect the rights and welfare of Ugandan migrant workers. OWVU works to prevent human trafficking, promote safe migration, empower communities, and advocate for policies that uphold the dignity and wellbeing of migrant workers.

Prevention

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Hope Education Project, Uganda

Hope Education Project Uganda is an education-led anti-human trafficking initiative being established by Mwiza Marriam in partnership with Angus Thomas. Building on proven programmes delivered in Ghana, HEP focuses on prevention through early, practical learning with children, girls, and young people. The project works with schools and community groups to deliver education on safe migration, digital safety, children’s rights, and recognising the warning signs of exploitation, adapting all content to the Ugandan context.

Grounded in real cases and real risk, Mwiza’s work confronts trafficking at both the point of exploitation and its source

Mwiza’s work is ongoing, shifting from response to prevention through education, partnership, and community-led action

Explore the work