The Covid 19 pandemic, which broke out in December 2019, brought the whole world to a stand still. In Uganda, a lock down was imposed in March 2020, which came along with quite a number of challenges, most notably that of gender based violence or domestic violence.
While the full scale of the impact of Covid 19 may not be known until much later, current evidence suggests that the pandemic exposed and execebated the underlying inequalities between men and women.
According to the Senior Superintenden of Police (SSP) Ms. Atuhairwe Maureen, of the Child and Family Protection Department of the Uganda Police, the most challenging of all the forms of gender based violence during the 2020 lock down was the economic one.
SSP Atuhairwe notes that the stay at home measures to curb the spread if Covid-19 combined with increased unemployment and lack of job security with all the looming uncertainty, there was a surge in substance abuse and excessive consumption of alcohol by husbands. This became a perfect recipe for disaster in homes, translating in to serious cases of domestic violence, which, in some incidences were fatal.
“The cases started increasing rapidly, and in May 2020, we realised as police that we needed to act immediately.” she says.
The child and Family Protection Police Department promptly set up a toll free line(0800199195) for all victims to reach out for help. The department also mounted vigorous community policing campaigns right from the grass roots to the national level.
The police embarked on a mass sensitisation campaign reaching out to victims to break the silence and to the perpetrators guidance on how best to handle the situation.
Ms. Atuhairwe says they identified the economic challenges as the most pressing at the time. Thus, they focused on empowerment programs with development partners, encouraging women to form groups through which to pool resources for small businesses that would help them sustain themselves and supplement their husband’s income, which was almost non existent at the time.
Ms. Atuhaire however, identifies a limitation of limited resources to reach out to all victims country wide as some, mostly in rural areas are left out. She adds that there are male victims who still fear to reach out for help and are therefore left behind.
Ms Nakiguli Jane Francis of Kasubi estate in Kampala recalls the hardship she and her children had to endure during the lockdown when her husband was not in position to provide and turned to alcohol for solace which just worsened the situation.
“I was three months pregnant when my husband was laid off due to the lockdown. He was very depressed and started drinking every day. He would turn all his frustration on the children and I until he one day beat me very badly that I had a miscarriage. That is when I decided I had had enough and turned him in.” She narrates.
The pandemic revealed a general lack of preparedness that cut across from the topmost leadership to the grass roots especially at the family level as it exposed gaps in parenting and a general lack of tolerance between spouses.
Police working with other partners through community policing drives concentrated on counseling and guidance for the distraught families.
The aim was to influence change in behavior of husband’s whose actions were based on social norms and practices that disadvantage women.
This behavioral change approach created a great imapct as these abusive men started appreciating the need to respect their spouses.
Findings from a study conducted by the Forum For Women Educationalists Uganda chapter indicate that women were disproportionately affected by Covid 19 and the pandemic laid bare the far reaching effects to women.
It is, therefore, prudent that some of the consequences of Covid 19 be understood within a given context.
According to the Regional Criminal Investigation Department Commander Ssezibwa region, Eastern Buganda Mr. Birungi Milton Beigumana, when the police noticed a surge in domestic violence cases, they engaged the local council leadership and addressed this at village level where the community was rallied to break the silence as well as ending the sterotyping where it is deemed okay for men to assault their wives as per the cultural and social norms. “Women ultimately started reporting the cases as communities also rallied against men who attacked their wives. Subsequently many cases came to light and the bewildered couples were taken through intense counseling and guidance to which some later reconciled but for those who failed to reconcile, the women were taken for rehabilitation working with World Vision Uganda who offered psycho social and economic support” Birungi says.
According to the Uganda police annual report, domestic violence cases surged to 18,872 in 2020 from 13,693 in 2019.
Mr. James Bukiibi a bodaboda rider and father of four of Njeru in Buikwe district narrates of how badly he treated his better half after the lockdown took a toll on him and he left all his moral and financial obligations to her coupled with physical and sexual abuse on almost a daily basis under the influence of alcohol.
“But when the chairman and the peer educators from World Vision came and guided us to respect our spouses, I realised how much my poor wife had endured and I changed my ways. We now work together and have grown together financially but most importantly have become stronger and better as a married couple and parents.” Bukibi bubbles with happinesses.
Birungi explains that these rehabilitation centres have been of tremendous impact to their efforts as daily cases reported in Buikwe district had decreased by over 50% and the communities more alert to look out for each other.
With yet another lockdown, more partners realised the need to take action and have thus come on board. Women’s rights group CEDOVIP together with TERREWODE Women’s Fund are now finding more inventive ways to protect women’s rights and lives during such a restrictive lockdown that has banned virtually all public and private means of transport.
TERREWODE Women’s Fund which operates in Eastern Uganda runs a specialised hospital where they offer free treatment such as fistula surgery while also conducting educational services for women around maternal health and child birth. However while most treatments and procedures have been postponed during lockdown, part of the facility has been converted to shelter for women reaching out to escape abuse.
They arrange for transportation for the victims to the centre which has become virtually impossible due to the transport ban, being a health facility. They are also running a toll free hotline for women to seek advice and support in emergency situations.
CEDOVIP on the other hand has managed to provide select services to women in dire need in Kampala, such as helping them connect with health units and local police. They also run a mass media campaign to deliver violence prevention programming via TV and radio.
CEDOVIP has further reached out to the national level leadership through the health ministry which is at the forefront with a set of recommendations to ensure that critical support services remain operational.
In response to this, during the 2020 lockdown in his national address on May 5th, president Museveni spoke out against the increased violence against women at the time thus putting the issue of domestic violence on the national agenda.
The lockdown may have been a perfect storm for domestic violence, however, the timely reaction of police together with other actors saved people like Nakiguli and Bukiibi from becoming yet another statistic in domestic violence cases that ended in fatality.
