Gender-based violence (GBV) remains high in Arua City despite years of interventions, with authorities now pointing to harmful cultural norms and peer influence as the leading drivers of the crisis.
Speaking during the launch of the 16 Days of Activism campaign on Saturday, November 22, the Arua City Community Development Officer, Ms Judith Drate, said the situation has become increasingly worrying, especially where long-held cultural practices openly enable some forms of violence against women and girls.
‘From our surveys and studies within the city, we have realized that our biggest cause of GBV escalation is the negative cultural attitudes within our communities,’ Ms Drate said. ‘If this girl is below 18 years and the parents are planning to marry her off forcefully and the culture is very okay with it, that causes a lot of concern for us.’
She added that such practices are often normalized because ‘the neighbor will continue with the same,’ making it difficult for authorities to uproot the patterns of abuse.
According to statistics from the city leadership, 168 GBV cases have been registered since January this year. The most prevalent include teenage pregnancy, defilement and early marriage.
Mr Emmanuel Angudubo, the Assistant Town Clerk of Arua City, noted that cultural systems continue to place women and girls at a severe disadvantage.
‘You very well know that in our culture, even when the government has pronounced itself very well on issues of gender equality, because of the patriarchal nature of our society, women and girls continue to face violence, stigma, they continue to be discriminated against from all forms of life,’ Mr Angudubo said.
He added that women’s voices are routinely sidelined in household decision-making, including land distribution, where priority is often given exclusively to male children.
This year’s 16 Days of Activism campaign is being marked under the theme ‘Unite to end digital violence against women and girls.’
Ms Genevieve Avako, the Head of Programs at Feminature Uganda, said the theme reflects growing concern over the rise of technology-facilitated GBV.
‘This year’s campaign comes at a critical time when we witness that online spaces that were once avenues for empowerment, connection and learning now become sites for harassment, abuse, disinformation and exploitation targeting women and girls,’ she said.
Digital violence tactics increasingly used against women include non-consensual sharing of intimate images (commonly referred to as revenge porn or leaked nudes), cyberbullying, trolling, and online threats.
The Global 16 Days Campaign is an international initiative aimed at ending violence against women and girls. It runs annually from November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, to December 10.
According to UN Women, violence affects one in every three women worldwide – a human rights emergency that requires urgent and sustained action.