Date: July 8th, 2009
Re: Press release about the increased defilement and incest in Mukono
The African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect-ANPPCAN, a leading child rights organization is concerned about the rampant defilement including in cases of incest where biological parents are involved as defilers.
Last week, ANPPCAN Uganda Chapter rescued two girls aged 12 and 15 years from their biological father who was sexually abusing them. A one Mutumba Mugagga, a resident of Busaale village in Nakisanga Sub-county, Mukono district defiled his biological daughters and impregnated the elder one. The child who testified at Seeta Nazigo Police Post insists that she has been defiled four times by her father. Realizing that he had impregnated his daughter, , Mutumba then connived with an LC official in the area and forced the 15 year old daughter to abort mid last year. The suspects together with the area LC1 vice chairperson have since been arrested but the latter was released on bail. Mutumba had stopped his daughters from going to school since last year despite the two girls having passed well to join primary seven.
Mutumba’s case is just a tip of the iceberg and a reflection of the continued sexual abuse of children in the country. In the month of June alone, the police crime report statistics indicate up to 261 defilement cases have been registered across the country down from 344 during the month of May. Last year a total of 8635 defilement cases were reported to the police. Recall that these are some of the few defilement cases that are brought to the limelight.
The act of child sexual abuse has not only violated the law and disfranchised the rights of children but has also resulted into more children contracting HIV/AIDS, and other sexual transmitted diseases, increased child pregnancies, early marriages and high school drop out rates.
We at ANPPCAN condemn these ill practices and call upon the government through the responsible institutions to expedite the process of prosecuting all defilers including parents who have downgraded their parental role and resorted to defiling their children. This will act as a motivation to those who are already frustrated with the justice system for child sexual abuse victims and a deterrent measure who are about to commit a similar crime.
In its concluding remarks on Uganda, UNCRC last year recommended the government of Uganda to appropriate enough human and financial resources to implement child related laws, policies and programs. Despite this important call, the whole justice system remains unfriendly to child sexual abuse victims. Last year, whereas 4,124 cases of defilement were taken to courts, only 333(3.8%) convictions were made. Most Police in most upcountry districts continue to delay investigations partly due to inadequate resources for the investigators to execute their duties is partly to blame for this. This practice is very common in Mukono. Government should allocate adequate financial and human resources to implement the laws, policies and programs to enhance justice for child survivors of sexual abuse.
It is widely believed that it’s only the Police Surgeon who has to carry out a medical examination and prepare a report for evidential purposes yet the Evidence Act (43) clearly spells out that any expert’s opinion can be used for evidential purposes in court. Given that the country has about 10 police surgeons, it has made the examination of the defiled difficult. In some areas where some private medical experts have been allowed to operate, they charge expensively for their services while many others are not willing to testify in courts. In Apac district alone, a private medical doctor who carries out a medical exam and is also willing to testify in court charges between 80,000-100000 Uganda shillings. In Jinja district, without the police surgeon, no examination by any other medical officer is admissible at police. This state of affairs has made the reporting of defilement complex given the fact that majority of the families especially in northern Uganda are living below the poverty line.
We call upon the government to come out clearly on who should carry out a medical examination for child victims of sexual abuse to ensure that defilement victims are examined free-of-charge at government facilities. This will enable the defiled have access to medical examination essential in the prosecution of defilement.
We also realize that sometimes, cases are compromised due to the failure by the victims to produce valid birth notification certificates. We call upon the government to speed up the process of enacting a law on birth registration to ensure that all births are registered and the fee charged for birth certificates scraped. Currently the cost of obtaining a permanent birth certificate is Shs 5000 while for a temporary birth certificate it’s Shs 3,000. Since under Article 18 of the Constitution the state is mandated to register all births, this fee should be scrapped.
Deogratias Yiga
Executive Director |
