The United States Ambassador to Uganda HE Natalie E Brown has called
upon cultural leaders and other stakeholders to commit themselves and
form a collective effort to eliminate all violence against women and
girls in Uganda. Speaking during her visit to Gender based Violence
shelter in Bwaise, HE Natalie said that concerted efforts are very
important because during the COVID-19 pandemic Gender based violence
rates soared all over the world and its incumbent upon all citizens in
Uganda to participate in the elimination of GBV.
She noted that 77% of the girls and women received gender based
violence services from PEPFAR during this period, a number that might
be underestimated given the fact that some women and girls who
experience such violence do not report such cases to police, legal
officers among others. In Uganda there are daily reports of women
living in abusive situations whereby some girls and women are raped
and defiled as they travel to and from school or from fetching water
for their families and many become infected with HIV/AIDS and other
infectious diseases says Ambassador Natalie Brown.
According to the state minister for Gender and Culture Peace Regis
Mutuuzo, statistics reveals that 56% of women in intimate
relationships have experienced violence whether physical, sexual or
emotional which requires a sexual harassment policy to curb such
cases.
In her remarks presented by Naomo Juliana Director Gender to mark
16days against GBV, Mutuuzo said that whereas physical violence
against women has reduced from 51% to 45% in 2021, sexual violence has
instead increased from 22% in 2016 to 36% in 2021. Additionally
violence against children below 12yrs equally remains very high in the
past twelve months with physical violence against boys standing at 68%
and girls at 73%, emotional violence for boys stands at 57%,61% for
girls, sexual violence for boys is at 4% and 7% which indicates that
girls and women continue to be disproportionately affected. Mutuuzo
said that child marriage is still very high in Uganda, 34% of women
aged 20-24yrs were married before the age of 16, meanwhile for the
ages of 18 there were those at 7% who were married before that age,
therefore teenage pregnancy and child marriages have far reaching
implications to our girls and society as a whole.
