INTRODUCTION

Gender based violence (GBV) can be defined as any harmful acts that are directed at an
individual based on their gender1 and include any acts that results in or is likely to result in
physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women.2 Gender based violence includes
battering, sexual abuse of girls, dowry related violence, rape, female genital mutilation and
other harmful traditional practices, non-spousal violence and violence that is related to
exploitation3, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational
institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women and forced prostitution 4. Gender Based
Violence occurs in private setting such as in the family and in the public such as in the
general community and can also be perpetuated or condoned by the state. 5

Gender based violence is rooted in gender inequalities.6 Violence against women is one of
the mechanisms used to force women into a position of subordination to men 7. Women and
girls are disproportionately affected by GBV and are in most cases the victims while men are
the perpetuators8. Estimates by the World Health Organization indicate that one in every
three women (30%) globally have experienced gender-based violence in their lifetime 9. In
Uganda, more than half of the women have experienced gender-based violence 10. 51% of
the women aged 15-49 in Uganda reported to have experienced physical violence by age 15,
while 56 % of ever-married women have experienced physical and sexual violence by a
spouse/ and or partner.11 Sexual and gender-based violence offences are the most prevalent
offences committed in Uganda and constitute 62% of cases in the High court of Uganda12.
The 2018 Violence against Children Survey indicated that 1 in 3 Ugandan girls suffer sexual
abuse in childhood.13  More recently, the 2020 Violence against Children Survey, indicated
that 35% of Ugandan girls aged 18–24 years, experienced sexual violence before attaining

1
UNHCR: Gender based violence, Available at https://www.unhcr.org/gender-based-violence.html, accessed January 10,
2022.
2
Article 1 of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Available at
https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.21_declaration%20elimination%20vaw.pdf,
accessed January 10, 2022.
3
Article 2 (a) of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against women (Supra).
4
Article 2 (b) of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against women (Supra).
5
Article 2, Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (Supra).
6
UNHCR: Gender based violence (Supra).
7
Preamble to the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against women (Supra).
8
UNHCR: Gender based violence (Supra).
9
World Health Organization: Violence Against Women (Estimates published by the World Health Organization), Available at
https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women, accessed January 10, 2022.
10
World Health Organization: Making health services a safe place for women: Uganda steps up to support women
subjected to violence, Available at https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/making-health-services-a-safe-
place-for-women-uganda-steps-up-to-support-women-subjected-to-violence, accessed January 10 2022.
11
Uganda Bureau of Statistics, Uganda Demographic and Health Survey, 2016 available at
https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR333/FR333.pdf, accessed January 11, 2022.
12
CEHURD: Sexual violence in Uganda, Feb 16 2020, Available at https://www.cehurd.org/rape-and-sexual-assault/,
accessed January 11 2022.
13
Muzungu HE. A Matter of Life and Death: A Case of the Uganda Child Helpline. Kampala: UNICEF Uganda; 2020, available
at: https://www.unicef.org/uganda/stories/matter-life-and-death-case-uganda-child-helpline, accessed January 11, 2022.
18 years,14 while 71% of girls under 18 years in Mityana district alone, experienced sexual
violence or harassment in 2020, down from 95%, in the previous year.15 Although female
genital mutilation (FGM) was outlawed16, UBOS statistics from 2016 showed that FGM was is
prevalent in districts such as Sebei and Karamoja and 50% of women aged between 15 to 49
years have undergone FGM in some sub counties.17 According to UBOS statistics from 2016,
the percentage of women aged between 20 to 24 married before age eighteen was at
34.0%.18 Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic and global lockdowns, 50 girls and women were
trafficked daily from Uganda.19

Gender based violence is a serious violation of fundamental human rights and can have
long-term health and psychological effects on the victims, including infection with HIV and
other STI’s, depression, suicide20 and death21. Efforts to end gender based violence are
supported by a comprehensive set of international, regional and sub-regional frameworks,
including, the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW), International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR), African Union Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on
the Rights of Women in Africa, African Union Solemn Declaration of Gender Equality in
Africa, 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, United Nations Convention of the
Rights of the Child (CRC), the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the
Kampala Protocol on the Suppression and Prevention of Sexual Violence. In addition to
several other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), SDG 5 targets on violence against girls
and women and calls for an end to all forms of discrimination against all women and girls
everywhere, elimination of all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public
and private spheres, and elimination of all harmful practices, such as child abuse, early and
forced marriage and female genital mutilation. Target 16.2, also calls for an “end abuse,
exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against, and torture of, children.”

At the national level, Uganda has taken decisive steps to actualize commitments at the
international level. Despite entrenched patriarchy in all Ugandan communities, the

14
UNICEF, Global Status Report, 2020, p.14.
15
UNICEF, Global Status Report, 2020, p.53.
16
Government of Uganda, Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act 5 of 2010. The Uganda Gazette No.21 Volume CIII
dated 9th April 2010.
17
UNICEF: Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Uganda, Available at https://www.unicef.org/uganda/media/8931/file/FGM
%20Evidence%20from%20Uganda_Policy%20Brief_12%20October%202020.pdf, Accessed January 11, 2022.
18
UNICEF: Mid-term Evaluation of the National Strategy to End child marriage and teenage pregnancy in Uganda 2014
/2015 -2019/2021, Available at https://www.unicef.org/uganda/media/11356/file/Mid%20Term%20Evaluation%20of
%20the%20National%20strategy%20to%20End%20child%20Marriage%20and%20Teenage%20Pregnancy%20in
%20Uganda_LORES.pdf, Accessed January 11, 2022.
19
Simon Masaba, 50 Girls, Women Trafficked Daily-Police, New Vision, July 30, 2018 available at
https://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1482424/girls-women-trafficked-daily-police, Accessed January 12, 2022.
20
World Health Organization: Making health services a safe place for women: Uganda steps up to support women
subjected to violence (Supra)
21
UNHCR: Gender based violence (Supra).
country’s basic norm – the Constitution of Uganda 1995 was drafted, adopted and
promulgated shortly after the NRM took overpower in 1986. Affirmative action in favour of
marginalised groups, including women, was enshrined in Article 32 of the Constitution to
address historical inequalities in the pre and post-colonial era. The plethora of laws that
seek to prevent and punish gender based violence against women and girls include the
Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act, 2009, Children’s Act and the ensuing 2016
amendment, Domestic Violence Act, Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act 5 of 2010,
Penal Code Act and the Penal Code (Amendment) Act. Collectively, these laws proscribe
every conceivable form of gender based violence. A national policy on the Elimination of
Gender Based Violence in Uganda was adopted to prevent GBV and foster a zero-tolerance
environment. And yet, violence against women and girls continues at alarming levels in
private and public spaces.