At least 62 women were killed in domestic violence in 2020 and 2021 in Kitgum District.
Women’s Voice for Development, a local organization working to promote and uphold the rights of women in the district unveiled the figures which were gathered from both the Central Police Station and the Courts.
Jessica Oyella the coordinator of the organization says that the same records indicate that 160 women reported cases of violence against them, 151 were assaulted, and 19 reported rape cases during the same period. She attributes the trend to illiteracy among women and patriarchy.
Oyella argues that due to the high illiteracy rates among the women, many are employed in the agriculture sector where they are subjected to violence because of an unequal share of the proceeds from the harvests by their husbands.
Oyella adds that emotional abuse is also another major type of domestic violence that has resulted in many cases of suicide among women. She says that some men don’t inflict physical injuries on their partners but abuse them with the intent of forcing them out of the relationship, and some end up taking their life.
But Kitgum District Senior Probation Officer Michael Ogweng says that his office was not aware of the statistics, adding that they are yet to analyze the recent data on domestic violence.
The Uganda Health and Demographic Survey 2016, names Kitgum as a district with the highest rate of child marriage because the education of the girl child is unappreciated, which forces girls to drop out of school early and get pregnant or married during their teenage.
In the latest (2014) National Housing and Population Census, Kitgum was ranked the worst place in Uganda to be a woman, with 60 per cent prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence, followed by Kasese with 58 per cent.
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