bill to fight defilement of boys in offing

By Hafsah Nabayunga (Source: Daily Monitor)

August 22, 2006: The Sexual Offences Bill that is about to be presented to Parliament will cater for the defiled boys and those forced into homosexuality, said Action for Development chairperson.

Dr Florence Muhanguzi, yesterday said they had been seeking audience from the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to table the bill in Parliament.

She was addressing the press at Acfode House.

Muhanguzi said the penal code and other laws on defilement have ignored some issues that are affecting people at the moment.

“People tend to think that defilement affects only girls yet boys too are affected, but since the law ignored them, they cannot report such cases,” she said.

The chairperson of teachers committee for combating defilement, rape and sexual harrasement in schools, Ms. Lucy okech, said boys are defiled by elder women and they should not be ignored any longer. “Some provisions have to be changed and some have to be added to bridge the gap in the law like the language used by the victims that cannot allow them to express themselves well,” Muhanguzi said.

She said sexual violence is alarmingly high with thousands of girls being defiled and hundreds being raped every year.

“Police headquarters Kampala indicate increasing reported cases of defilement from 34 that were reported daily to 37 cases and 11,012 in 2004 to 12,545 in 2005,” Muhanguzi said.

She said she believes that this law will provide adequate protection for women and children both boys and girls against sexual violence and will help in ensuring a reduction or elimination of sexual violence in Uganda.