For every child, protection

Evidence from the 2015 Violence Against Children survey and Uganda Bureau of Statistics reports has revealed the severity and widespread nature of gender-based violence (GBV) and violence against children (VAC) in Uganda. 

Some 35 per cent of girls and 17 per cent of boys have experienced sexual violence, 59 per cent of girls and 68 per cent of boys experienced physical violence during their childhoods (2015 Violence Against Children survey). This persists into adulthood as 56 per cent of ever married women and 44 per cent of ever married men have experienced physical, sexual or emotional violence by their spouse or partner. 

Although, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) affects only 0.3 per cent of the population in Uganda, in the districts and sub-counties where it is practiced in eastern Uganda, the prevalence goes up to 53 per cent in some districts like Moroto.

UNICEF’s approach contributes to United Nations Joint Programme to end FGM and our focus is to strengthen the government protection system that can prevent and respond to protection risks of women and children, such as abuse, violence, abandonment, exploitation, neglect and harmful practices. 

This involves the Government of Uganda taking the lead in strengthening policies, legislation, and regulations; strengthening and functionalizing existing protection structures (national to community levels); strengthening timeliness and quality of the continuum of care and services for victims of FGM; as well as data and information for decision making and advocacy for public financing by government for FGM and other forms of violence against women and children.

Sustained efforts to stop child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) have had effect: child marriage declined from 48 to 40 per cent (2011-2016) and FGM declined from 1.4 per cent to 0.3 per cent over the same period. Despite progress, child marriage and teenage pregnancy remain common: before the age of 18, 40.4 per cent of women are married and 25 per cent of teenage girls started childbearing (Uganda Demographic Health Survey 2016).