Police is now well-equipped to handle domestic violence

Dec 04, 2002

Since November 27 the whole world has been commemorating 16 days of activism on violence against women

By John Kamya

Since November 27 the whole world has been commemorating 16 days of activism on violence against women.

The period is meant for people to ponder and take action against the long existing and ever increasing incidences of violence against women.

Over time women have suffered discrimination and violence in different spheres of life especially in their homes and places of work. The violence at home, which is the most common, has generally been referred to as domestic violence. It is any potential harmful behaviour or action towards any member of a household. It is an abuse of power in a relationship.

Women in Uganda have suffered physical attacks, beatings, pushing and punches, stabbing, sexual abuse(rape and defilement), psychological abuses, etc. Others have been killed.

This violence has been caused by several factors some of which are historical such as bride wealth. Others include economic hardships and alcoholism.

It so happens that our statute books do not carry an offence termed “domestic violence.” Cases of domestic violence, which usually manifest themselves into cases of common assault, bodily harm or grievous harm, rape, defilement, neglect, murder, are the ones that the police can handle to address this vice.

In an effort to end violence against women, the Uganda Police recognised the fact that the traditional police officer is also subject to the prejudices surrounding violence in homes, thereby likely to handle the matter softly.

A specially trained police unit called the Childcare and Family Protection Unit was created therefore, to handle among others, issues of domestic violence.

Officers of this unit acquire training in handling victims of abuse, handling children, counselling, human rights, law, and so on. They have then been posted to almost all major police stations and efforts are underway to train more officers.

These officers do nothing but to handle cases pertaining to children and the family and to sensitise different members of the community on such matters. The unit has trained over 500 police officers on how to handle such issues.

Domestic violence is, however worsening because many victims never report it to authorities because of several factors ranging from fear of further violence, hopelessness, self-blame, low self esteem, lack of trust, lack of economic resources and lack of legal support.

However, the police would like the existence of this unit to be known so that victims of domestic violence can have their cases handled with sensitivity. Victims should not hesitate to report their cases to the police.

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