KAMPALA – Forum for Women in Democracy – FOWODE has called for the revision of the Chart of Accounts to introduce a specific budget code where all resources and expenses for Violence against women and girls – VAWG/Gender-based violence – GBV can be tagged.
Speaking to the press ahead of the commemoration of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, Ms Elizabeth Ampaire – the Director of Programs at FOWODE said that the development will greatly improve the ability to plan for and track GBV resources for consistent reporting.
The 16 Days – commemorated between 25th November and 10th December every year with run the theme “Invest to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls.”
Although FOWODE commends the Government for its efforts in establishing a gender-sensitive legal and policy environment, particularly enacting specific laws against Gender-Based Violence, they note that the vice remains a pervasive and deeply rooted issue that disproportionately affects women and girls.
According to the World Bank, 1 in every 3 women is affected by GBV in their lifetime.
In Uganda, 56% of women have experienced physical violence at some point in their lives according to the Uganda Demographic Health Survey of 2016.
Also, the Police Crime Report for 2022 documented a total of 17,698 Domestic Violence cases: 1,623 cases of rape; 8,960 cases of Defilement, and 14,693 sex-related crimes registered in the past year.
Ms Ampaire notes that many cases remain unreported due to stigma, the huge dependence on perpetrators for survival, intimidation, and access to justice challenges among others.
“Violence against women has been heightened across different settings such as the workspace and online spaces. A global study by the Economist Intelligence Unit in 2021 found that 38% of women have had personal experiences of online violence, and 85% of women who spend time online have witnessed digital violence against other women.”
“While these numbers on their own are worrying, more terrifying is the prosecution rates which are a direct indicator of the low access to justice for survivors of GBV. For instance, in 2022, only 1,357 (7.8%) of Domestic Violence cases were taken to court and only 207 (1.1%) cases secured convictions. Only 557 rape suspects (34.3%) of the total cases) were charged in court with a mere 02 (0.12%) convictions secured. Similarly, only 4,725 (52%) of the registered defilement cases ended up in court with only 206 cases securing convictions,” she said.
A United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) study estimated that GBV incidents cost the Ugandan economy about UGX 77 billion annually, while a more recent study by FOWODE (Budgeting for Peace 2021), established that GBV has a colossal cost on families which often result into long- term physical, sexual, financial, and psychological impacts which often deter women and girls from realizing their full potential. Whilst this press conference seeks to remind the Government of Uganda and the country at large of the magnitude of GBV, it is also a reminder of its social and economic cost and the urgent need for increased investment to eliminate GBV in all its manifestations.
The activists also decried less funding of mindset change and combating GBV to ensure full participation of women and girls in development, the structures mandated even when it is a call by NDP-III.
“Unfortunately, there is an over 80% funding gap for the Community Mobilization and Mindset Change (CMMC) Programme (actual allocation compared with NDP-III.”
FOWODE tasked the Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development to prioritize the recruitment of staff under the Community Based Services Departments in Local Governments to at least 70% in the short term (5% above the minimum staffing threshold for Local Governments) to enable Local Governments achieve on the citizen mobilisation mandate to gradually contribute to the reduction of negative cultural practices and attitudes in society.
Also, they seek gradual increase allocations for the Community Mobilisation and Mindset Change function.
Ampaire noted “The glaring gaps in access to justice as contained in the earlier presented statistics point to significant inadequacies in the Justice Law and Order Sector (JLOS). Key institutions such as the Child and Family Protection Unity (CFPU) of Police and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) are severely underfunded, which limits their ability to fulfil their mandate.”
They also asked the government to earmark and allocate an adequate budget for the Child and Family Protection Unit of Police to effectively track, investigate, and assist in the prosecution of GBV-related cases.
“We propose that the Child and Family Protection Unit is integrated into the new Sub-County Based policing system (with CFPU staff present in every Sub County) to ease access to justice for survivors of GBV.”
Former Ethics Minister – Miria Koburunga Matembe noted that the whole issue of Gender-based violence is due to the fight for power which has limited treating women to their full human rights.
According to her, without achieving equality, the nation cannot develop.
The senior citizen (as she refers to herself) also decried the return of early marriages that had earlier been fought against.
Matembe noted that GBV causes emotional stress, and depression but also affects women’s mentality, and strength which calls for serious intervention.
“If women do not take part in decision-making on issues that affect them, then the decisions cannot be effective.”
She, however, wondered that “for the first time, we have women at the top most positions, we have the largest number of women in the political arena where decisions are but this is when the situation is worse.”
“Let’s be humans, let’s come back to humanity,” she appealed to the Ugandans.
Ms. Ngologe Susan – from Ntinda Police Station, Department of Child and Family Protection Unity revealed that physical violence has increased.
She noted that although her office is mandated to harmonize, there is when it is needed for the file to proceed.
“There is a woman with an 8-day-old baby who was recently beaten by her husband. That case has proceeded up to court.”
“Emotional violence is also too much, from January to October, I have registered about 20 cases of domestic violence.”
She says they are largely affected by less funding noting that, “Sometimes we receive cases of defilement but we fail to proceed with investigations due to less funding. The government should help us.”
