The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Mbarara, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Mbarara High Court is set to hear 60 cases related to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence-SBGV in Bushenyi district.
The sessions will be presided over by Lady Justice Joyce Kavuma, the senior Resident Judge for Mbarara High Court Circuit.
Out of the 60 cases, 48 are defilement cases, 8 are rape, 3 murder, and 1 case of aggravated trafficking.
According to court records, the cases were committed in the five districts that form Greater Bushenyi from 2016 to 2022.
The Deputy Registrar of the Mbarara High Court Circuit, Zulaika Nanteza said that the court sessions are in response to the raising cases related to sexual violence against women and young girls.
Faith Amanya Betega, the Senior Probation and Welfare officer Bushenyi district says that she registers a minimum of five SGBV cases a day. She adds that the cases could be high because some are not reported.
She attributes the Sexual Gender Based Violence cases to moral decadency and drug abuse.
Sara Tushabe, a mother of one of the victims appreciated the session noting that her daughter will finally get justice after she was defiled two years ago.
The Sexual Gender Based Violence High Court Special Sessions have so far been held in 48 participating courts across the country since its inception five years ago and has cleared 2,751 cases.
The sessions have been held in the districts of Kapchorwa, Masaka, Gulu, Lira, Iganga, Kampala, Amuria, Mbarara, Bushenyi, Sironko, Iganga, and Mbale among others at both High Court and Chief Magistrates Court levels.
The special sessions are being undertaken as part of the Government of Uganda’s obligation under the Maputo and Kampala Declaration of 2011 which enjoins Uganda to set up a special framework of special sessions, special procedures, and specially trained personnel to dispose of SGBV cases as part of a member state of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).
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