Kamuli, Namutumba top Busoga in GBV - report

Kamuli and Namutumba districts have topped Busoga Sub-Region in violence cases against women and children during the lockdown, according to call-in records at Nyonga Women’s Shelter, a facility counselling and helping in the mediation of survivors of Gender Based Violence [GBV]. The shelter was constructed in 2017 by Women Rights Initiative [WORI].

The findings are based on calls made between March 17, when President Museveni announced the lockdown and June 4 when public transport was opened up.

Ms Rose Kagere, the WORI team leader, said that during the Covid-19 period, they have received several reports from Kamuli, Iganga, Luuka and Namutumba districts concerning sexual violence against women and children, but Kamuli and Namutumba top the list.

“Overall, the four districts have recorded cases of violence especially during the lockdown and most of the cases have been of sexual violence nature, primarily with young girls,” she said.

Ms Kagere, said because they could not directly interface with the survivors during the lockdown, they set up a call centre whose main objective was to track and support the survivors.

“For Kamuli, we recorded 68 cases, Namutumba 59, Iganga 43 and Luuka 38. All were call-in cases that needed attention,” she said.

A survivor, according to Ms Kagere, is a person who has experienced violence but has, at some point, been able to stand and say, ‘I need support’, and has actually taken a step to report or seek help.

While violence means a situation that makes one fail to enjoy their freedom or rights and can manifest itself physically, emotionally or financially.

“We no longer call them victims because the word ‘victims’ is itself stigmatizing; so by the time they reach us, they are survivors,” she further explained.

Challenges

Ms Kagere noted that they have faced a number of challenges during the lockdown, including being unable to physically interface with the victims due to transport challenges.

“While the few who managed to find their way to the shelter found it had to return due to lockdown and curfew challenges especially when traveling from distant places,” she said.

She added that the facility is funded by contributions from generous individuals who bring items, including food and from their bakery business they are able to pay for utilities.

The shelter has also reached out to partners like World Education/Bantwana for support and at the weekend, they delivered an assortment of items worth Shs4.5m, including soap, cooking oil, sanitizers, facemasks and maize flour among others to help in the rehabilitation of the survivors.

The items were delivered to the shelter by Ms Catherine Kyabwe Muwema, the youth coordinator, and Mr Joseph Akwanget, the case management coordinator.

Mr Akwanget said they decided to come on board and support Nyonga Women’s Shelter so that it continues responding to and supporting survivors of GBV.

“We have been doing a lot in GBV especially. In Jinja, for instance, we have been able to train community structures in Child Protection and GBV to be able to respond to and manage some community cases.

“We have over 174 Para social workers in Jinja alone and 640 in the entire Busoga Sub-region,” Mr Akwanget said.

Ms Diana Kiwanuka, the Jinja City Gender Officer and GBV focal point person, said the Kyabazinga [King] of Busoga, Wilberforce Gabula Nadiope IV, has come up with a GBV taskforce in-charge of ensuring that cultural and gender issues are balanced.

“When lockdown was declared in March, the levels of GBV, especially in Busoga, had escalated, continued to escalate and have actually doubled. As a government, we could not manage the cases and had partners like WORI which came to support us,” Ms Kiwanuka explained.

Over 600 GBV cases in Jinja

According to Ms Kiwanuka, statistics indicate that Jinja City has recorded over 612 cases of GBV from March to-date and these cases are at the police and the probation office.

“Some of the cases have been concluded through counselling and mediation, while for those which have failed to be resolved, survivors are in the shelters or still undergoing rehabilitation with their family members.”

Ms Kiwanuka said the cases were reported through a ‘Sauti’ line, a platform where cases of child and family issues are reported.

“We also have a call centre at the district, funded by Bantwana and Mother to Mother which has been busy during the lockdown; but we also receive data from the police in form of regional data or returns on cases that have been reported and we update the national data. We also have GBV actors who have a direct line published on their Facebook page and lastly, as a district we receive from probation. Those have been all our sources of data,” Ms Kiwanuka said.

Police respond

Mr James Mubi, the Busoga East police spokesperson, under whose jurisdiction Iganga and Namutumba districts fall, said: “Yes we have such cases, but we don’t know where WORI got such figures. However, GBV against women during the lockdown has been high due to poverty.”

Mr Michael Kasadha, the Busoga North Police Spokesman, whose area of operation includes Kamuli and Luuka districts, said GBV has been on the rise during the lockdown because of pressure from home.

According to him, people have not been used to staying at home so there is pressure in the form of demands and where the man is not in position to provide, it brews conflict.

“Those figures (quoted by WORI) are correct and could even be higher by now because some GBV cases are never reported,” Mr Kasadha said.