sexual and gender based violence rife in Uganda

Among the cases of rape reported in the media in 2009, none of those cases of rape occurred in Northern Uganda according to report prepared by Action aid and UWONET.

The report named the Synopsis of Sexual and Gender Based Violence in the Print Media profiles the different incidents of gender based violence that was reported in print the media in 2009.

The report says the biggest number of rape cases occurred in the Central Region which had 73.1% of the cases reported while both the East and Western region both had 13.3% of the incidences of rape reported.

According to the report it is said that in 2009 3 convictions were reported to have been secured in the media and the victims of all those cases that got successful convictions were women.

The report says the media had only one case of other forms of sexual harassment other than defilement and rape reported.

But it is not clear what percentage of rape cases are actually reported, and what the impact of reporting a case in the media has on rape in general and the raped in particular.

Section 123 of the Penal Code Act defines rape as having unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman or girl without her consent or with her consent if the consent is obtained by force or by means of threats or intimidation of any kind or by fear of bodily harm or by false representations as to the nature of the act, or in case of a married woman by personating her husband.

See more stories on gender violence

By Tiberindwa Zakaria, Ultimate Media