A push for more gender-friendly laws

May 19, 2013

Ugandan women legislators are not happy with most existing laws, which they say have not been gender-friendly.

By Eddie Ssejjoba                           

KAMPALA - Ugandan women legislators are not happy with most existing laws, which they say have not been gender-friendly.

They have advocated for the amendment of most clauses in the Constitution so that laws help to protect the rights and dignity of women and enable them access justice.

“We particularly want magistrates and judges to be more gender-sensitive by allowing defilement and rape victims testify in closed courts as opposed to the open courts where many shy away and end up losing cases against their tormentors,”  said Lukia Nakadama, the state minister for gender.

She was on Friday speaking at a two-day gender sensitive legislation training for Members of Parliament at Hotel Africana, organized by Plan Uganda.

The minister noted that some courts demand that rape victims give evidence of exactly what took place during their encounter with their alleged rapists, and on failure to describe in graphic detail, the case is dismissed.

Other women, according to her, fear reporting rape cases to police to avoid tough questions and interrogations, which she said violated their rights and denied them justice.

Justice David Wangutusi, one of the facilitators, however said Parliament is to blame for failure to amend clauses in the Ugandan laws that have been pointed out and declared unconstitutional by the courts of law.

He said that there had been some effort by the judiciary to train judicial officers to be more gender sensitive when handling issues involving women.

Plan Uganda looks to continue working with the Uganda Women Parliamentary Association (UWOPA) to ensure they enact laws that protect and promote the rights of young girls and women.

“Our mission is to enhance the skills of MPs in legal interpretation of the existing laws using a gender perspective and support legal reforms,” explained Fikru Abebe, the organization’s country director.

UWOPA chairperson, Rosemary Nyakikongoro said there were still several gaps within the current laws that allow violation, discrimination and battering of women and children.

“Some of the laws were formulated during the colonial days. We need to amend them and get laws that can protect the rights of women and girls.”

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