Sixteen days of activism: Everyone must hold GBV offenders to account

Nov 26, 2022

Global statistics indicate that one in three women will experience sexual or physical violence in their lifetime. 

Sixteen days of activism: Everyone must hold GBV offenders to account

Jacky Achan
Journalist @New Vision

On the streets, and in neighbourhoods across the world women and girls have been exposed to catcalling, whistling and sexually obvious comments from men and boys. 

 Some of the men have gone as far as groping women and girls and seem not to be bothered by their actions.   

 The catcalling, whistling, and groping is an unpleasant experiences and amount to sexual harassment that is a form of Gender Based Violence (GBV) Lucky Kobugabe the Technical Manager of GBV Prevention Network under Raising Voices says. 

 GBV refers to harmful acts directed at an individual based on their gender. It is rooted in gender inequality, the abuse of power and harmful norms. According to different findings, it is the most prevalent yet least visible human rights violation in the world.  

GBV includes physical, sexual, mental or economic harm inflicted on a person because of socially attributed power imbalances between males and females. It also includes the threat of violence, coercion and deprivation of liberty, be it in public or private. 

Gender-based violence takes numerous forms: Intimate partner violence, sexual violence, child marriage, female genital mutilation, trafficking for sexual exploitation, female infanticide, and ‘honour’ crimes are common – with intimate partner violence occurring at staggering rates in every country. 

According to gender experts, women and girls especially adolescents face the greatest risk. In all societies, women and girls have less power than men over their bodies, decisions and resources. 

In addition, social norms condone men’s use of violence as a form of discipline and control and it reinforces gender inequality and perpetuates GBV that can occur at any point in a person’s life, whether it is in times of peace or instability. However, in crisis settings, GBV soars. 

Global statistics indicate that one in three women will experience sexual or physical violence in their lifetime. 

The dark times 

With the coronavirus lockdown measures, countries around the world, including Uganda, saw an alarming rise in reporting on violence against women, especially domestic violence that had been referred to globally as a shadow pandemic. 

The National Gender Based Violence Database (NGBVD) recorded 1258 cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) from January to May 2020, 1,006 (80%) of those affected were female.  

Data was captured from a GBV incident report form from 45 Districts. This is not even half the number of districts in the country which stands at 135 districts. 

Cases of GBV could have been higher

During lockdowns, sexual and domestic violence spiked. Women bore the brunt. Why? because they relied on their partners to provide for the family. The pandemic has exacerbated gender inequalities and violence against women, and girls. 

Eight hundred (800) cases of sexual abuse were reported on Sauti an online platform operated by the Uganda Adolescent Health Forum. 

A total of 4,442 cases of defilement were reported between January and April 2020 alone. 

Violence against women including denial of resources, opportunities and services surged across the country from the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. 

In 2020, 193 women and girls were killed as a result of domestic violence across the country. This was 32 more murders at home compared to the previous year (2019), the police 2020 annual Crime Report indicated. 

Murder as a result of domestic violence alone increased by 16.1% from 360 cases reported in 2019 to 418 cases reported last year.

 Overall domestic violence cases reported increased by 29%, from 13,693 reported in 2019 to 17,664 cases last year. A total of 18,872 people were victims of domestic violence, of whom 13,145 were women and 1,186 were girls. 

Before the pandemic hit, globally, 243 million women and girls were being abused by their intimate partners in the past year. 

“GBV prevailed even before the lockdown brought about by the coronavirus pandemic in 2019, Kobugabe says. 

“The cases only escalated because women and girls were locked at home with their abusers. They were trapped. 

“They could not escape and find safe places with their loving mothers, sisters, loving family or shelters away from their abusers,” Kobugabe says. 

Movement was curtailed

“Not the victims nor the staff of GBV shelters could move. It was difficult to respond to cases of GBV, so the situation blew out of proportion,” she says. 

Even most of the funding at the time was channelled to the response to the pandemic and not GBV. 

“It was a very difficult period for women and girls in abusive homes. They were expected to undertake the homecare work even amidst abuse. Women shoulder the burden of unpaid home care work. 

“Even during the pandemic women were expected to care for everyone under the difficult lockdown, especially those in salaried work, according to findings. The women found it hard to balance the care work and their jobs and succeed during the lockdown. 

“The coronavirus pandemic only exposed how prevalent GBV is against women and girls. It showed that it’s time we started creating a safe world for women and girls,” Kobubage says. 

Uniting to end GBV against women and girls 

Everyone has a role to play by holding individuals who perpetuate violence against women and girls to account. 

GBV comes among other information of sexual abuse, rape, and jokes that encourage GBV, kobugabe says. 

“Even educated men make these jokes at the expense of their partners, and siblings, normalizing violence. 

“If each one can challenge these jokes, the catcalling, whistling, groping, it amounts to powerful action. If a workmate is a type to beat their wife, he should be punished and face the repercussions that abuse will not be tolerated. 

“Market vendor’s associations must hold their members (men) accountable if they engage in catcalling, groping and harassing women and girls who come in the markets. Communities too must shun these habits but the country has a bigger responsibility to end GBV against women and girls,” kobugabe says. 

The successes 

At least now a girl can attend school even if they are pregnant, they can also go back to school after giving birth, kobugabe says. 

But she says there is a need for mental health support for women and girls who have been physically, economically and emotionally abused to ease the suffering they go through. 

“Government must create structures and stronger policies that the women and girls can come back to, to get justice and support. 

“For example, some teachers at school abuse girls and instead of getting punished and dismissed, they are transferred to another school where they continue exploiting and abusing girls. 

“There are also women and girls abused by their relatives at home and do not know where to find support and justice. 

“Government must invest in shelters for women and girls subjected to GBV. Currently, there is no shelter set up and sponsored by the government. We need government shelters where the women and girls subjected to GBV can go to, feel safe and get support,” kobugabe said. 

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