UGANDA: Take Gender Based Violence Out of Closet

Gender Based Violence (GBV) in all its manifestations remains a critical concern in Uganda. Gender Based Violence implies violating the fundamental rights of an individual largely because of his/her gender.

This violence may include physical, sexual, psychological, child abuse, dowry related violence, female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation.

The violation of the human rights of women in situations of armed conflict, in particular systematic rape, sexual slavery and forced pregnancy, have been documented in virtually all parts of Uganda that have experienced armed conflict.

The Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development in partnership with Uganda's development partners launched a campaign dubbed “16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence in Uganda.” The campaign, which ended on December 10, 2009, was meant to rally everyone who is committed to fighting Gender Based Violence unflinchingly and end the vice.

It is commendable that Government of Uganda ratified the United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) 1325 and 1820 and the Goma Declaration. The UNSCR and Goma Declaration seek to protect women and young girls in conflict zones.

These resolutions were enacted by the UN Security Council with a view to underscoring the role women play in enhancing peace and security in conflict prone areas where perpetrators of violence use rape as a weapon of war.

Gender Based Violence is reportedly more pronounced in third world countries where poverty and poor governance is the norm. In Zimbabwe for example, 60% of criminal cases that are registered in courts of law originate from domestic and Gender Based Violence.

In DR Congo a large number of girls experience rape on a monthly basis with scores of women being sexually abused daily. That is the basis on which the UN Security Council enacted the Goma Declaration, in order to help the multitude of helpless women who are being raped in DR Congo.

Much as the statistics are telling on the situation in Africa and other third world countries, women and girls in the developed countries have not been spared either.

It is reported that in the UK, one woman gets killed, physically assaulted or raped every week. In USA, which is considered the model of the free world, about 12% of females suffer sexual assault annually. Worldwide, at least three in seven women have been raped.

The issue of Gender Based Violence cuts across all social and economic strata. There are scores of elite and well-to-do women in Uganda who are being battered by their husbands, while their plight fails to get public attention.

Such women would rather suffer silently as they get tortured and humiliated by their husbands than come out in the open for fear of getting embarrassed. It is only the former Vice President, Specioza Wandira Kazibwe, who came out to tell the public about the slaps she received from her former husband, a matter that eventually led to their divorce.

The rural poor and illiterate woman, mostly in Africa, is the one who receives the heaviest dose of Gender Based Violence. Men feel it's their prerogative to assault or torture them whenever they feel like it. It is an attitude that is ingrained in the African man's makeup.

This means that all efforts must be geared towards reaching out to the African man with a view to persuading him that battering and mistreating women is a thing of the past.

Eradication of Gender Based Violence requires massive reachout programmes through seminars and workshops especially in rural areas. Unfortunately, most of the seminars and workshops are held in Kampala where elite participants sign for huge allowances while the real victims, the rural women, continue living in inescapable violent relationships.

The rural folk need most of these seminars and workshops. Government and her development partners should devote more funds to addressing the problem. Women should be more empowered economically so that they do not solely depend on their husbands for survival, as it has been observed that the high dependence of women on men's incomes is one of the major causes of Gender Based Violence.