HOIMA – Sexual violence is on the increase in the Albertine Graben region and women remain the primary victims.
A United Nations statement revealed that some women are raped and beaten while others who try to resist are pummeled with sticks and cable wires.
Uganda Radio Network on Monday, November 25, reported that many of them are enduring sexual harassment, mistreatment, and domestic violence, restrictions on freedom of movement, segregation, and forced marriage, among others.
UN also added that violence perpetrated against women is as common a cause of death and incapacity for those of reproductive age, like cancer, and a greater cause of ill health than road accidents and malaria combined and that half of the women killed worldwide were killed by their partners or family.
Some of the residents interviewed by URN decried the rapid increase in both physical and sexual abuse.
Ms. Peninah Ruhindo, a resident of Kigaaga in Kabaale Sub County said the ongoing compensation of persons affected by the refinery in Kabaale as one of the triggers of violence in the oil-rich region, as men seek to take control of all the money offered to families by the government.
Other women interviewed by URN also expressed worry over the delay by the Police and courts to dispose of gender-related violence cases. They are now demanding for redress from the government, civil society organizations, the police, and the courts to have women’s rights fully recognized and respected and those behind violations of women’s rights punished accordingly.
Sostin Namanya, the Gender Officer National Association of Professional Environmentalists-NAPE expressed concern about the ongoing feminization of poverty, as well as widening the gender gap in rural areas that she says need to be immediately addressed to protect women in rural areas. She says much needs to be done to the situation of rural women, who disproportionately bear the brunt of poverty and climate change repercussions in the Bunyoro sub-region.
Violence against women is a problem that Uganda has been facing for some time.
According to the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW), domestic violence remains widespread. But not enough is being done, according to HRW.