Gulu, Uganda | URN | West Nile women rights activists have renewed calls for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence to seek for justice amidst barriers like cultural and religious believes that continue hindering them from reporting to the authorities.
The call follows concerns that many survivors suffer in silence as they fail to report cases to police, fearing the alleged impact of violating cultural believes like ‘aruba’ in Lugbara which hinders reporting of relatives in formal justice systems.
According to West Nile Regional Police Spokesperson, SSP Josephine Angucia, many gender-based violence and domestic violence cases remain unreported in the region, despite the safe spaces created under the police structures.
Angucia emphasized that reporting such cases enables the authorities to help couples and survivors through counselling and offering justice to affected persons in the community especially when the cases are reported earlier.
Some women who talked to Uganda Radio Network -URN cited shame to family, fear of opening-up and financial challenges to facilitate processs in following the cases when reported to authorities, factors that they said discouraged them and accept to suffer rather than reporting to the authorities.
Loyce Candiru, a resident of Arua City, expressed disappointment that some women still struggle to access justice after domestic and sexual violence, because on these factors which needs urgent intervention by stakeholders.
As an intervention, some local governments have now passed ordinances and policies to help survivors. Arua City Council recently passed the Sexual and Gender-Based Violence ordinance as an intervention. The council speaker, Yako Teddy Gloria, encouraged other local governments to follow-suite.
However, the West Nile Regional Secretary at Uganda Muslim Supreme Council, Habib Aluma, appeals for empowerment of the male gender beside females to help in preventing violence cases as they will be equipped with knowledge of protection and ending violence.
The 2025 Police Annual Crime report indicates that a total of 12,606 cases of Sexual Related Offences were reported while 12,361 cases of domestic violence cases were reported in the same year across the country.
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