Women and girls living in internally displaced people’s camps in Kasese districts are suffering sexual abuse from men, Security teams say. Security teams have consequently asked the government to expedite the closure of these camps to save the girls and their mothers.
At least 4,000 people are still trapped in camps after floods devastated the district in May following the bursting of River Nyamwamba and several other rivers’ banks.
This left properties destroyed and more than 90,000 people displaced into camps.
However, security leaders in the district insist that women and young girls are suffering sexual abuse within the camps. According to the Rwenzori East Regional Police Commander Samuel Asiimwe, the police have received a series of complaints of sexual violence which need to be addressed as a matter of urgency.
Asiimwe who did not give details of figures of cases received, says they are set to carry out a thorough audit and hastens to add that people must be resettled into their homes, to avoid a worst-case scenario.
He also fears that the large concentration of people in camps is breeding a fertile ground for the spread of COVID-19 disease.
Thembo Isaiah the chairperson of Kitoro cell also argued that he has received over 30 cases related to domestic violence from some of the displaced families in his area.
It is also said that mothers in camps have resorted to prostitution in order to fend for their children and that the current state if not controlled, might brew more cases of domestic violence and diseases.
According to Aggrey Muramira Kasese Chief administrative Officer, the district has already started the process of resettling the communities and closing the camps, and they have encouraged relatives of the displaced to accommodate them as the district finds a way to handle those that lost their houses and have nowhere to return to.
Many cases of domestic violence have been reported to police and other human rights bodies since the beginning of COVID-19 lockdown in March this year. Some people, men and women have been killed by their spouses due to unresolved domestic issues.
