Community response towards sexual violence against refugee children in Uganda

Abstract

Sexual violence is one of the most widespread human rights abuses in the world. Globally, children are abused in all forms and sexual violence constitutes one of them. Though girls are overwhelmingly the targets of sexual violence in most cases, boys can also be subject to such human rights violations. Sexual abuse against children takes place worldwide in homes, workplaces, schools and communities, and in refugee camps/settlements, the situation is worse. This study was designed to establish the community-based approaches used in responding and preventing sexual violence against children in a refugee setting and it specifically sought to cover three specific objectives including the social-cultural factors that perpetuate sexual violence and the constraints encountered in addressing and preventing sexual violence in Kyangwali refugee settlement situated in Hoima district in western Uganda. The study was informed by Social Ecological Model that was advanced by (Ryan, 2001) and it indicates how violence is caused and the effective prevention strategies that can be used by a community to address the problem. The study design was cross-sectional and applied both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis. A total of 112 respondents were involved in the study through administering a questionnaire, 25 children, 4 FGDs and 15 key informants participated in the whole study. Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires, interviews, FGDs and collected data was coded, sorted and transcribed, and was analyzed using SPSS as well as analyzing it qualitatively. Study results indicated that various interventions are being used to respond to sexual violence against children and these include parenting, sensitization program, awareness creation, community policing, home visitation, community empowerment among others. Results further revealed that refugees in Kyangwali believe that girls are mostly abused (81%) by defiling them. Issues of sexual violence against boys were not much common and rarely heard of in Kyangwali refugee settlement. The major factors that are believed to be accelerating for sexual violence against children are mainly related to alcoholism 95% as well as family breakdown. The study recommends prioritizing prevention of sexual violence against children in refugee settlement by addressing its underlying causes. Just as resources devoted to intervening after sexual violence has occurred are essential, UNHCR, NGOs supporting refugees and OPM office in Kyangwali should allocate adequate resources to address risk factors and prevent violence before it occurs. Prevention and intervention programmes being implemented by NGOs and UNHCR should be scaled up using SEM in order to prevent abuses rather than addressing abuses against children when they have already occurred