Africa-Press – Uganda. Gender-Based Violence activists (GBV) have asked the government and other development partners to inject more funds into activities and sectors aimed at fighting GBV cases in Uganda.
The UNHCR defines Gender-based violence (GBV) as a serious violation of human rights and a life-threatening health and protection issue.
The 2020 National Survey on violence against women and girls in Uganda conducted by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) revealed that 95 per cent of Ugandan women and girls had experienced physical or sexual violence, or both by partners or non-partners.
In addition, the 2020 National demographical data from UBOS reveals that 56 per cent of married women aged 15-49 reported having suffered physical and/or sexual violence by a partner.
Ms Mercy Grace Munduru, the head of programs at Action Aid Uganda said that despite these glaring statistics, an insignificant proportion of the national budget is directed towards robust responses, including investment in the prevention of GBV hence its prevalence.
“Donor funding towards women’s rights work continues to shrink despite increased momentum and clear evidence of a need. Systems to track and enforce budget allocations for gender equality remain weak and data on national budgets to address violence against women and girls are hardly available,” she said during the official launch of the 16 days of global Activism campaign against GBV on November 27 at Kampala Action Aid offices.
Ms Elizabeth Kemigisha, an advocacy manager at FIDA Uganda, a non-governmental organization that fights for the rights of women and girls, urged the government to strengthen the social protection of health practitioners and other people who have been at the forefront of responding to GBV.
“We still continue to see a problem of the victims having to pay for police form 3 which is a primary evidence in physical and sexual violence cases in most of our criminal justice system. We continue to see that many victims have to look for money between shs25,000 to shs30,000 to be able to have that form filled,” she noted.
Mr Xavier Ejoyi, the ActionAid country Director, also urged activists, women’s movements, community groups, survivors, and all stakeholders to call for an end to GBV.
“GBV is the most extreme form of injustice against women and is one of the leading structural causes of poverty. This is something that concerns everyone because all of us are striving to end poverty and we cannot do so when half of our population endure violence each and every day,” he said.
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