Ugandan courts are holding special sessions to help clear a backlog of cases of violence against women and girls.
Thirteen sessions are being held in selected high and chief magistrate courts in 13 districts around the country, with the aim of hearing more than 1,000 cases by the end of the year.
More than 60% of criminal cases are related to sexual and domestic violence.
According to figures published by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics this year, 30% of 15- to 49-year-old girls and women experienced physical or sexual violence from a partner over the previous 12 months. Half of this age group will experience some sort of violence at the hands of a partner in their lifetime.
The Ugandan police crime report recorded 14,985 defilement (sexual assault on a person under 18) and 1,335 rape cases last year. Of the rape cases alone, just 396 cases were taken to court, six ended in conviction and 375 are still pending. More than 600 are still being investigated. A total of 4,651 defilement cases were taken to court, out of which 609 led to convictions, and 3,704 cases were still pending.
Special sessions were successfully piloted by the Uganda Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA Uganda) and ActionAid, and funded by Norway through UNFPA, in November 2016. In just three weeks, 350 cases were heard across 11 districts.
“This intervention demonstrated to the judiciary that this process is doable. We couldn’t be more delighted to see that the judiciary has undertaken to conduct sessions as an institution in a bid to address access to justice processes,” said Mercy Munduru, programme manager of FIDA.
“We believe that this is a good step in the right direction and it will go a long way in addressing access to justice,” she said.
“We still feel that sessions are not enough. We need to institutionalise the concept of special courts by deliberately putting up the requisite infrastructure to address structural issues associated with the justice system (eg specialised personnel, specialised GBV clinics and training curriculums).”
It is hoped that if the project is successful, permanent special courts to handle sexual and gender-based violence cases could be established.
However, Richard Mugenyi, advocacy manager for Reproductive Health Uganda, said more needed to be done to prevent violence in the first place.
“We need to invest in and increase the sensitisation of communities – both male and female – on their human rights and especially the rights of women,” he said.