By IPS Correspondents
NAIROBI, Oct 23 2003 (IPS)

Rights campaigners in Uganda are demanding a law to protect women from domestic violence, which has been blamed for the high prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS among them.

The campaigners, mostly women’s groups, have argued that lack of such legislation would water down efforts to fight the pandemic. The East African nation has been hailed for its progress in fighting the disease, as demonstrated by the declining HIV prevalence rates from about 18 percent in 1992 to 6.5 in 2002. The groups maintain that the proposed Domestic Relations Bill, which is supposed to tackle the domestic violence, does not sufficiently address it. "If we pull domestic violence out of the Bill and let it stand alone as a separate law, we can make some headway in reducing the risk of contracting the disease among women," Evas Ruhindi, acting executive director of Uganda Gender Resource Centre, told IPS in a telephone interview from the capital, Kampala. "Domestic Relations Bill is too general and contains components which are controversial and, therefore, is not the right tool to weed out domestic violence," she says. Campaigners argue that in the absence of a law to prosecute perpetrators of domestic violence against women, the rate of HIV/AIDS is bound to escalate. "If there is nothing to scare away men and show them that domestic violence is wrong, then women and ultimately children will continue carrying the burden of AIDS," observes Florence Mahoro of AIDS Information Centre (AIC) in Kampala. Statistics availed by the Uganda HIV/AIDS Partnership, a coalition of civil society, international organisations and government bodies on responding to the HIV crisis in the country, says over one million Ugandans are infected with the disease.

Uganda has around two million AIDS orphans. The issue of domestic violence, contributing to spread of HIV/AIDS among women, has also emerged in a recent research carried out by AIC in Uganda. Titled ‘Non Disclosure of HIV Sero-Status by Female to Male Partners as a Challenge to Prevention’, the study shows that 60 percent of women did not reveal their HIV status to their spouses for fear of being battered. As a result, there are increasing cases of HIV infection and re-infection. "This is a hurdle to HIV/AIDS prevention efforts," remarks Mahoro. Rights groups have urged the government to double its efforts to protect women from domestic violence. "The Ugandan government’s failure to address domestic violence is costing women their lives. Any success Uganda has experienced in its fight against HIV/AIDS will be short-lived if the government does not address this urgent problem," said LaShawn Jefferson, executive director of Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, a U.S.-based rights watchdog. The organisation’s recent report, ‘Just Die Quietly: Domestic Violence and Women’s Vulnerability to HIV in Uganda’, discusses widespread rape and brutal attacks on women by their husbands. Last week, the Human Rights Watch wrote to U.S. President George W. Bush to urge his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni to enact legislation that would outlaw domestic violence, including marital rape.

Uganda is included among 14 countries slated to receive five years of AIDS programme support from the United States. The exact amount of U.S. aid that Uganda will ultimately receive remains unclear.

In February, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria signed a grant worth over 36 million U.S. dollars to support Uganda’s ongoing fight against HIV/AIDS. Human Rights Watch urged the Global Fund, the U.S. government, the World Bank, and other donors to ensure that AIDS-prevention programmes specifically target domestic violence, including sexual violence in marriage, as core components of their strategies.

Women legislators in Uganda are also urging the government to table the shelved ‘Domestic Relations Bill’ for debate in the house. But government officials have maintained that all issues relating to husband and wife are efficiently addressed under the Bill, which, they say, is a few stages away from being passed. "The Bill mentions all aspects of relations between man and woman and it is still going through various machinery of parliament," Onapito Ekomoloit, Special Presidential Press Assistant told IPS in an interview. "It is not that the government has turned a blind eye to what is happening. Our Bill is comprehensive and it will be enacted anytime," he said. "The government is on track in addressing the issue. Human rights organisations may be impatient, but the government is doing all it can." Uganda is not alone. Its neighbour, Kenya has also been accused of lacking legislation to protect women from domestic violence, including marital rape.

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