The Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG) has descried the low rate of prosecution of cases related to Gender Based Violence which has left many victims devastated.

According to Emmanuel Kashaija, a CBSAG member, the situation of GBV has largely remained unchanged saying only a small fraction of victims receive justice to the level of having their cases concluded.

“Out of the 12,700 defilement cases reported in 2023, only 940 convictions were secured.  This can partly be attributed to financing inadequacies in key institutions and interventions that deal with prevention, mitigation and management,” Kashaija said.

Kashaija and other officials from CSBAG appeared before the Committee on Gender, Labour and Social Development, on Tuesday, 14 January 2025Kashaija explained that the Directorate of Public Prosecution and the Child and Family Protection Unit of Police have funding gaps for prosecution of cases seeing which has led to issues like Female Genital Mutilation not decreasing despite existence of the law.

He noted that when victims report cases, the police is not facilitated to traverse communities and assess cases especially those that call for immediate action such as rape or defilement.

“The victims are instead the ones that are asked to facilitate the process, those who require a medical form to confirm rape or defilement are asked to go to the district headquarters or hospitals. In most cases, the victims give up and perpetrators are left free,” Kashaija added.

CSBAG prayed that Parliament allocates adequate funding to the organs involved in the prosecution of GBV cases and asked that at least Shs2.6 billion is earmarked for sensitisation and public education.

Workers MP, Hon. Margret Rwabushaija said that besides funding, there is need to ascertain the judicial system’s failure to handle such cases citing ‘modern slave markets’ for migrant workers in Kyotera and Katakwi Districts which are known to Police.

“In Kyotera, they have a market where they sell girls. There is another in Katakwi; they are for those who do not possess Ugandan passports, so they smuggled to Kenya,” said Rwabushaija adding that, “when I had a talk with the police, they said they know about it, that they are trying but have little power”.

Masindi District Woman MP, Hon. Florence Asiimwe observed that prosecuting GBV related cases has been limited by the low staffing levels.

“Government has created many judicial areas but when we have few state attorneys, the chief magistrates will not have the cases to handle,” said Asiimwe.

Hon. Charles Bakkabulindi (Workers Representative), asked CSBAG to use their discretion and conduct research on labour internalisation, which he said has registered a substantial number of gender based violence reports.