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, 25 November 2024 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 the State Minister for Gender and Culture, Hon. Peace 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.
Mutuuzo made these remarks while presenting a statement on the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence on Thursday, 28 November 2024.
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 has 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 Anita Among made a call for the protection of boys and men against gender-based violence 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.
Her call was reiterated by Hon. Abed Bwanika (NUP, Kimaanya-Kabonera Division) who urged the Ministry of Gender 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 2024 which is the International Human Rights Day.
