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Limited financing remains the untackled impediment in addressing the costly vice of gender-based violence (GBV).

According to the collaborated data by the Government and development partners, the country loses about sh77b in an attempt to address crime annually.

According to Elizabeth Ampairwe, a director of programmes at Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE), the Government must collaborate efforts with non-state actors and act keenly in addressing GBV which is not only a threat to the family institution and society, but the national entirely.

“This should be done through earmarking and allocating an adequate budget to the family and child protection unit of the Police to effectively track, investigate, and assist in the prosecution of GBV cases, among other fronts,” she says.

FOWEDE joined other actors to mark this year’s 16 Days of Activism against GBV, a global annual campaign. The campaign which runs from every November 25 to December 10, started during the inauguration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women by the Women’s Global Leadership Institute in 1991.

It is used as an organising strategy by individuals and organisations around the world to call for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls. This year, the day was marked under the theme: Investing to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls.

Addressing journalists in Kampala on Wednesday, Ampairwe noted that GBV persistently cost Uganda in terms of treating survivors of violence and helping in addressing all the other issues that arise due to GBV.

Ampairwe noted that the inadequate funding for GBV and sexual GBV prevention and response is a gap in access to justice where key institutions such as the Child and Family Protection Unit of the Police and Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions are severely underfunded which limits their ability to fulfill their mandate.

“We ask the Government to straighten the mandate of these key institutions responsible for GBV prevention, mitigation, and management, by revising the charter of accounts to introduce a specific budget vote where all resources and expenses for GBV can be tagged which will greatly improve on the ability to plan and track GBV resources but also consistent reporting,” Ampairwe said.

While quoting a World Bank report, she noted that one in every three women has ever faced violence and in Uganda, 56% of women have experienced physical violence at some point in their lives, according to the Uganda Demographic Health Survey of 2016.

Access to justice is still a challenge

Further still the Police report for 2022 documented a total of 17,698 cases of domestic violence 1,623 cases of rape, 8,960 cases of defilement, and 14,693 sex-related crimes in just last year alone.

Ampairwe added that while these numbers on their own are worrying, more terrifying is the prosecution rate which is a direct indicator of low access to justice by survivors of GBV.

“In 2022, only 7.8% of the domestic violence cases were taken to court, and of those only 1.1% secured conviction. So, justice was served to only 1.1%, and of the rape cases that were reported only 36.3% were concluded. Those are cases where the perpetrators were charged in court and conviction secured,” she said.

Ampairwe added that the reduction of negative cultural practices and attitudes is one of the key mandates of the community mobilisation and mindset programmes, largely implemented under the community-based services department at the local government level but unfortunately over 80% of the priorities are unfunded.

“This is a clear testimony to how little the Government values programmes' contributing to national development, we ask the government to gradually increase allocations to the community mobilisation and mindset function because we know violence rises from the culture and also tolerance from the community," she said.

“We want to remind the Government of the magnitude of GBV on its social and economic cost and the agent's need for increased investment to eliminate GBV in all its manifestations,” Ampairwe added.

Suzan Ngolobe, the head of the Child and Family Affairs Unit at Ntinda Police Station, noted that domestic violence is high and that from January to October, Ntinda Police Station recorded about 20 cases of domestic violence.

She added that although they receive those cases, inadequate funds have prohibited the smooth handling of some cases since it requires a lot of funds to proceed to a court of law.

“We receive girls that have gone through defilement, but no funding, which forces us to always get in touch with the NGOs to help us in getting medical forms, go to the field to get evidence, therefore we call upon the government to help and look through the funding so that we can perform our duties," she said.

She noted that although the office of the child and family unit is to reconcile parties there are situations that need the file to proceed to court for justice.

“The victims come stressed and what you can do is to give them time, listen to them, encourage them and restore hope in them, and sometimes put in your own little money and resources through airtime to connect with other stakeholders to see that these ladies are safe,” Ngolobe said.