GAPS IN PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN UGANDA

International Women's Day is celebrated in many countries around the world. It is a day when women are recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political. International Women's Day first emerged from the activities of labour movements at the turn of the twentieth century in North America and across Europe.

Since those early years, International Women's Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. The growing international women's movement, which has been strengthened by four global United Nations women's conferences, has helped make the commemoration a rallying point to build support for women's rights and participation in the political and economic arenas.

The UN and Gender Equality; the Charter of the United Nations, signed in 1945, was the first international agreement to affirm the principle of equality between women and men. Since then, the UN has helped create a historic legacy of internationally-agreed strategies, standards, programmes and goals to advance the status of women worldwide.

Over the years, the UN and its technical agencies have promoted the participation of women as equal partners with men in achieving sustainable development, peace, security, and full respect for human rights. The empowerment of women continues to be a central feature of the UN's efforts to address social, economic and political challenges across the globe.

 Eagles Youth Development Initiative will be joining other agencies to commemorate 2018 International Women’s Day and this call for individual, organizational and government reflection on gaps in prevention of violence against women in Uganda. These gaps and facts are cited as below;

According to the Uganda Police Force’s annual crime report, gender-based violence cases that were reported and investigated increased by 4% (from 38,651 to 40,258 cases) between 2015 and 2016. Defilement cases alone rose by 34 percent, from 13,118 in 2015 to 17,567 in 2016; defilement is the act of having sex with girls under 18. Rape cases increased, from 1,419 to 1,572.

Uganda Demographic and Health Survey(2016) indicates that 22% of women aged 15 to 49 in the country had experienced some form of sexual violence, annually, 13% of women aged 15 to 49 report experiencing sexual violence. This translates to more than 1 million women exposed to sexual violence every year in Uganda.

Police report shows that Child and Family Protection Unit of the Uganda Police Force has only 645 police officers to cover 112 districts. This makes it hard for the police to respond to the numerous reported cases. Police also lack the requisite skills and financial support to investigate VAW cases worst of all in rural areas. Justice is frustrated by an inadequate number of critical facilities, like shelters where VAW victims can be accommodated and receive counseling and other support before returning home, as well as an absence of specialized courts where it is safe for women to report their cases.

Laws like the Penal Code (Amendment) Act 2007, the Domestic Violence Act 2010, do not cover cohabiting partners, while the 2004 amendment to the Land Act of 1998 requires spousal consent to sex, but does not recognize co-ownership of land between spouses. The Land Act also fails to require customary land tenure systems to permit women to act as co-owners/managers of customary land, and creates weak protections for widows who seek to inherit their husband’s land, says Mr. Musoke Twahah (Executive Director-Eagles Youth Development Initiative).

Also the Employment Act, 2006 restricts punitive action in sexual harassment cases at work to an employer or his representative, saying nothing of physical, sexual and verbal abuse by coworkers.

Funding: In 2016 and 2017 the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development budgeted to spend UGX 1.68 billion ($450,000) on VAW programmes and It’s not sustainable according to Ms. Mutavati. Therefore dependency on external financing does not create sustainable ground sectors to mainstream this work. What happens if the donors pull out?”  This cripples VAW activities.

The launching of a National Gender Based Violence (GBV) policy, specifying the roles each sector is supposed to play to ensure the prevention of and response to VAW was a good initiative by government of Uganda but its implementation is in bedridden status.

Economic empowerment: the government through MGLSD under Ugandan Women Entrepreneurship Programme (UWEP) to improve women’s access to financial services and equip them with entrepreneurial skills this is still far reached objective because of the process and paper work required to benefit from the programme.

Although reports from UWEP’s national programme indicates that more than 43,602 women assisted throughout the country these women are better off than the project desired target that is the would be beneficiaries are not reached due to various social, political and economic factors.

 A study by Action Aid (Northern Uganda) indicates that 70% of Ugandan women over 15 years of age had experienced physical or sexual violence. This report also found that in 2013 up to 360 deaths were due to domestic violence and out of the 1,042 rape cases reported, only 365 suspects were arrested. Because there is little support available for survivors of violence, they often feel trapped and alone.

These forms of violence are widely accepted as normal by both women and men in Uganda. Traditional attitudes and cultural beliefs make it hard for survivors to seek justice and the right to live a life free from violence.  There is need for collective effort engage young men in prevention of VAW, women supported and empowered to rebuild their lives so as to find and restore hope for a new future.

According to EYDI/BICP 2017 Baseline survey in Bussi Island, Wakiso District findings indicated that 72% of mothers do take the responsibility of meeting the needs for their children compared to fathers; school fees and provide money for food and clothing.

“Our husbands just resort to drinking alcohol. When children fall sick, it’s the responsibility of mothers to take them to the hospital or buy medicine”. One of the mothers said.

 Also 75 % of female parents are staying and raising the children, compared to male parents (25%). These single mothers are constrained to take care of their children compared to the fathers, due to the economic pressure on them to meet all their children’s needs, thus negatively impacting on the children upbringing, and this is challenged by poor households status because Many of the parents are subsistence farmers, others are engaged in fishing and many are unemployed with a sizeable number in commercial sex and petty work; early engagement into sex by the older men and community is not responsive, enforcement weak.

 Also 2/3 of the females and ¾ of the males aged 6-15 years had experienced physical violence prior to 18 years. Almost 5/10 of the respondents revealed that they had experienced violence in the 12 months preceding the survey. Parent’s Figures; 50.9% of the children respondents, experienced physical violence perpetrated by their fathers, and 49.1% perpetrated by their mothers. Such physical violence has led to many children dropping out of school.

 According to media reports more 23 women reported to have been killed since May under mysterious and gruesome circumstances on the fringes of Kampala, the growing capital of rapidly urbanizing Uganda. The murders have sparked terror in local communities, raised questions about the country’s commitment to protecting women and heightened scrutiny of the police force. The victims have all been women ranging from 19 to 38 years old. Police continuously blame many of the murders on practitioners of witchcraft who use human sacrifice to try to generate financial wealth. Others, they say, are a result of domestic violence, drug-addled and unemployed youths, land disputes and single women not taking proper precautions.

 As we commemorate 2018 Women’s Day; “this calls for collective action to reverse the trend continuous killings of women country wide especially in Wakiso District through community vigilance, increased funding for VAW programming, networking and collaboration to strengthen community empowerment interventions and challenging social and cultural norms to address the gaps highlighted.

 

Written by

Musoke Twahah

Executive Director
Eagles Youth Development Initiative
Email:sebikejetwh@gmail.com
Website: www.eydi.org