Gender-based violence: Speaker Among calls for protection of boys and men
KAMPALA, November 30, 2024 — The Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among has called for the protection of boys and men against gender-based violence [GBV] in homes and society at large.
“Gender-based violence remains a big challenge in society for which we require to concentrate efforts on eliminating it. As I said before, the boy-child is equally endangered and we need to protect them from this vice,” said Among.
Among made the call while reacting to Thursday’s statement presented to the House on the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, by State Minister for Gender and Culture Peace Mutuuzo.
The 16 days of activism against gender-based violence have supported the development of relevant laws and policies aimed at curbing the vice in Uganda. This year’s campaign which commenced on Monday is based on the theme, “Towards 30 years of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action: Unite to end violence against women and girls”.
According to Minister Mutuuzo, laws like the Anti-Female Genital Mutilation [FGM] Act, 2010; the Domestic Violence Act, 2010; the Computer Misuse Act, 2023, the Employment [Amendment] Act, 2023 and the Succession (Amendment) Act 2023 among others, have helped in the prevention of gender-based violence.
“The public awareness of the existence of legal and policy safeguards for human rights protection has generally increased leading to implications on the level of the public seeking for redress where violations have occurred,” said Mutuuzo.
The minister added that awareness has increased the number of gender-based violence cases reported as evidenced in the police annual crime reports.
“In addition to the Sauti 116 helpline, other toll free lines by Police and non -state actors have been instituted, including an online reporting APP called safe pal, as a measure for prevention and response to gender based violence,” Mutuuzo said.
She noted that engagements with cultural institutions under the Council of Traditional Leaders of Africa – Uganda Chapter have made several commitments to ending violence against women and girls.
“Continuous dialogue with religious and cultural institutions has been instrumental in making public pronouncements that castigate violence while calling for peaceful co-existence and respect for human rights,” she said.
Mutuuzo urged legislators to accelerate the action to implement laws and policies aimed at preventing and responding to violence against women and girls.
Speaker Among’s call was reiterated by Abed Bwanika, the Kimaanya-Kabonera Division legislator who urged the Gender Ministry to include the issue of violence against men and boys in its work and reports.
The 16 days of activism campaign commenced on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and is slated to conclude on 10 December 10, 2024 which is the International Human Rights.
In Uganda, GBV is perceived as a critical national problem and a gross violation of fundamental human rights, with severe, longterm negative impacts on the physical, sexual, and mental wellbeing of the survivors, family, and community. According to the Uganda Demographic Health Survey [UDHS] 2011, GBV is perceived as one of the complex social phenomenon especially given the social structures and processes that reinforce its occurrence.
In its complexity, GBV not only occurs amongst intimate relationships, but it can occur in families, communities and workplaces. It further indicates that GBV is still socially acceptable amongst women and men. The survey indicates that 58 percent women and 43.7 percent men aged 15-49, accept that a husband is justified to hit or beat his wife for any one of the reasons such as burning food, arguing with him, going out of home without telling him, neglecting children or refusing him sexual intercourse.
In an earlier survey in 2006, the UDHS indicated that most Ugandans had experienced interpersonal violence in their lives whether of physical, sexual or emotional nature. The survey further indicated that while both women and men experience GBV, women are more likely to suffer every form of Violence [UDHS, 2006] with majority cases of violence against women committed by an intimate partner.
The Uganda Police Annual Crime report 2014 raises a concern over the increase in incidents of violent crimes against persons such as Homicides, Defilements, Robberies and Child related crimes, domestic violence and threatening violence among others. The report indicates that in 2014, a total of 3,006 cases of Domestic Violence were investigated compared to 3,426 cases in 2013. While this represents a decline in GBV occurrences, defilement remained the first of the ten leading crimes in 2013 and 2014.
The prevalence, complexity and the social acceptance of GBV have generated the recognition that the prevention and response to GBV requires broad community participation and particularly the participation of men and boys.
https://thecooperator.news/mglsd-launches-mobile-application-to-fight-gbv-in-serere/
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