'Poor law implementation failing justice for sexual violence survivors'

'Poor law implementation failing justice for sexual violence survivors'  

By Jackson Kitara                       

Gulu

Sexual violence survivors in Uganda are failing to access justice because of the poor implementation of laws and policies, a High Court judge has said.

International Crimes Division (ICD) of the High Court of Uganda judge Susan Okalany says there are numerous laws and policies to fight sexual and gender-based violence, but there is a disconnection between the practice and the laws.

Okalany says the judicial justice system also takes a lot of time for the survivors to get justice as most courts prioritise defilement and rape as the major sexual violence cases.

According to her, many Police officers are ignorant of domestic violence laws and that some laws are weak and do not match the crimes inflicted.

“Many survivors of sexual and gender-based violence do not get justice because of the prolonged judicial process, poor investigation system coupled with corrupt Police officers who first want money from the victims to handle and investigate the case,” Okalany says.

She, however, adds that the Justice Law and Order Sector system is implementing special courts for sexual and gender-based violence where the conviction rate is over 80%.

She made the remarks during the third Women Leaders Arise Conference held at Bomah Hotel in Gulu city on Friday. The conference was held under the theme: For Women's Sake, Justice Can't Wait, Prioritising Access to Justice for Sexual Violence Survivors in Uganda.

Former Gulu city legislator Lyandro Komakech said Parliament should pass transitional justice and also protection witness laws to help survivors of sexual and gender violence.

He said the transitional justice law if passed, will help in accountability, reparation and reconciliation.

Transitional justice, according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), covers the full range of processes and mechanisms associated with a society's attempt to come to terms with a legacy of large-scale past conflict, repression, violations and abuses, in order to ensure accountability, serve justice and achieve reconciliation. OHCHR is a United Nations entity in the field of human rights, with a unique mandate to promote and protect all human rights for all people. 

Stella Angel Lanam, a former Lord's Resistance Army abductee and the director of War Victim and Children Networking in northern Uganda, said if the laws are put in place with proper implementation, it will help survivors to get justice as they will have lawyers to represent them in court.

She added that many survivors do not report cases of sexual violence to the Police because of stigma and have no money to pay Police to handle their cases.