Church in Uganda backs campaign to stamp out domestic abuse

Church leaders called to preach against violence

The Catholic church in Uganda will join in prayer from November 30^th in a bid to stamp out domestic violence.

In a bid to raise awareness about domestic violence in Uganda, the local Episcopal Conference launched the Christmas campaign.

The campaign, called ‘shared decisions, shared development, shared happiness,’ is in an effort to ‘bring about good behaviour.’

Starting November 30^th, to mark the first Sunday of Advent, the Catholic church will recite prayers at Catholic parishes around Uganda.

'We want to intensify awareness so that we can bring about good behaviour as we get close to the celebration of Christmas and we encourage all church leaders to preach against domestic violence" said His Exc. Mgr. John Baptist Odama, Archbishop of Gulu and President of the Episcopal Conference of Uganda.

The main campaign against domestic violence in Uganda started in 2010, assisted by Irish Aid and Trócaire. According to official statistics,there were 2,793 reported cases of domestic violence with 9,278 victims in 2012.

A recent report, ‘Just Die Quietly:Domestic Violence and Women’s Vulnerability to HIV in Uganda,’ shows that  Ugandan women are very vulnerable to violence. A specific domestic violence law has not been enacted and spousal rape is not criminalised.