The annual international campaign dubbed, ‘16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV)’, has been launched at Parliament with an appeal to involve men in programmes aimed at eliminating GBV.
Presiding at the launch on Wednesday, 23 November 2022, Speaker Anita Among said that GBV had become ‘a persistent virus’ that calls for an amalgamated effort to defeat it.
She, however, noted that although Parliament has passed legislation aimed at eliminating ‘the virus’, implementation has remained poor due to budgetary constraints.
“As Parliament, we need to ensure that the laws on GBV elimination must be budgeted for, it is one thing to pass a law and another to have it implemented,” said Speaker Among.
The laws include the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act of 2010, the Domestic Violence Act of 2010, and the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act of 2009.
The Speaker was concerned that the population is unaware of the laws addressing GBV and charged the Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development to popularise the existing laws during the campaign.
The campaign is supported by the Uganda Women Parliamentarians Association (UWOPA), UN Women, the United Nations Population Fund, and the embassies of the Netherlands and Sweden.
The Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Hon. Betty Amongi, said the campaign which commences on 25 December 2022, will focus on tackling GBV at the household level cognisant that many cases happen in homes.
“We know fathers, brothers, and other relatives who have defiled their daughters and sisters. We are seeing many in the media. We, therefore, want to start with homes,” said the minister.
She added: “Violent homes can easily affect girls from pursuing education – a girl will be forced to run away from her violent home into early marriage.”
Minister Amongi said there was a growing trend of violence among couples which the campaign hopes to address.
She cited the 2021 Uganda Bureau of Statistics report which puts intimate partner sexual violence prevalence at 36 percent and physical violence among women at 47 percent.
According to her, the Bukedi region leads with the highest intimate partner violence at 48%, followed by Acholi at 47% and Elgon at 33%, while South Buganda registered the lowest rate at 8%.
Legislators during the plenary sitting after the launch, tasked the minister to conduct the campaign activities in rural areas as opposed to the cities, saying GBV cases are more prevalent in rural areas.
“Sensitisation activities seem to be at the upper strata of our society yet GBV is mostly in the rural area, can I be told what activity is there in Dokolo so that I can be part of that rural woman who is being abused, who does not know the legal framework to defend her?” asked Hon. Cecilia Ogwal (FDC, Woman Rep., Dokolo District).
MPs re-emphasized the Speaker’s plea to empower boy children, who they said, have been neglected.
“We are putting much emphasis on girl children and our boys are going astray. If you go to the villages, the roles that men used to play have been relegated to women; its women who pay school fees and take care of homes,” said Hon. Peter Ocen (Ind., Kole South County).
Hon. Godfrey Kayemba (NUP, Bukomansimbi) said: “Boys grow up but they are not empowered and that is why boys have complicated hearts and acts. I have a friend in my constituency who was beaten by his woman and when he went to the Police, they just laughed at him”.
Legislators also want the Judiciary to expeditiously settle GBV cases saying the 2021 Police report indicates a poor conviction rate.
“The action report from the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs shows the conviction rate of rape perpetrators in the last year at five percent, which means it could take almost 20 years to convict a rape perpetrator,” said Hon. Samuel Opio (Ind., Kole North County).
He added: “Many of these cases ‘die’ at the Police station and fail to proceed through the justice system to the prosecution.”
