Rising cases of domestic violence worry authorities
The minister of state for Gender, Peace Mutuuzo, has revealed that 3,280 cases of gender-based violence have been reported to Police during this lockdown.
She attributed the rise to a number of factors ranging from inability to access income to support the family to staying together, poor communication, patriarchal tendencies among others.
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Her comments come a time when Uganda joins the rest of the world to observe the International Day of the Family today under the theme; “A Harmonious Family: A Key to Sustainable Peace and Development”.
"The cases of violence against children were 1,967 compared to 3,037 in 2019. This is almost 60% of last year’s cases. Of these cases girls (1,148) were the most affected compared to boys (766), others were 53,"she said.
While addressing the media at Uganda Media Centre, Mutuuzo said Wakiso had the highest number of 934 cases,followed by Kampala district with 578 cases among others.
"I am concerned about such huge figures. Some members of the family have died due to intolerance at home. This is unacceptable,"she said.
She stressed that the degrading treatment of people is not in line with the cultural values of love, respect, and dignity between the married couples and family members.
"I call upon all the duty bearers in the GBV prevention and response pathway to ensure that the perpetuators of these vices are dealt with decisively and in a timely manner in accordance with the law,"she added.
She said the government will continue to stand in solidarity with the families that have been affected differently by the Covid-19 pandemic.
