Child Protection

Every child has the right to be protected from violence and live free from distress, abandonment, abuse and exploitation. Yet more than half of children in Uganda experience some form of ferocity. Most children (68% of boys and 59% of girls) have experienced physical violence, while one in three girls and one in six boys suffer sexual abuse. The wounds can last a lifetime and often result in mental health issues and emotional agony during adulthood.

i. Popularising laws
Effective child protection needs strong laws and policies in place. Uganda has relatively done well in enacting good laws but on paper. Some people remain ignorant of such laws because of lack of initiatives to popularise the laws. These laws are drafted in the official language which is English but the reality on ground is that over 40% of Ugandan population is not able to read, comprehend and understand English – for example there is a national strategy to end violence against children in school, and child marriage, corporal punishment and other forms of abuse are illegal; but in reality these laws are rarely enforced or resourced. Many people and officials are unaware of them. Perpetrators often go unpunished. In Need Home advocates for effective implementation and enforcement of children laws in slums where gross child rights abuse and exploitation have been reported. In Need Home continues its effort to make the relevant laws popular, understandable and more accessible to communities.

ii. Strengthening child protection systems
An effective and well-funded child protection system for a country is vital to ensure that we can prevent and respond to violence against children. But in Uganda the system is disjointed and feeble – the referral system is not well coordinated, services for survivors of children violence are scarce and no recovery mechanism in place; children are not well empowered to speak out and report abuse, and traditional beliefs often do aggravate certain forms of violence. Hidden expenses in reporting and prosecuting the perpetrators of child abuse and exploitation eliminate some and thus victims prefer not to report cases of children violence. Because of poverty some parents and guardians of children connive with perpetrators (in the case of sexual violence) We therefore popularise at local level government led initiatives such as the 24 hour 116 toll free national Child help line and work with local councils (LC1) and Police to strengthen reporting and response mechanism among the children living in slums.

iii. Ending child labour in slums
More than 2 million children in Uganda are reportedly engaged in child labour. The best place for the child during the day is school but in most cases children in slums are subjected to fending for their families (some wakeup early to go and collect scrap, hawk vegetables and fruits, some engage in selling alcohol while others start prostitution at a tender age) such practices force children out of education. We are working with businesses, communities and authorities to end the practice – by holding people to account for exploiting children, and urging different entities to sign and adhere to the global Child Rights and Business Principles.

iv. Offering individual support to Victims of Violence
Children ought to live a life free from violence and are given freedom to exercise and experience their childhood in a safe and secure way. Contrary, most children in slums in Uganda are subjected to violence especially sexual violence. 6 out of 10 children living in slums have reported having been subjected to sexual violence and never reported the incident to parents or police and never thought any medical attention. In such situations, some have contracted HIV/Aids at tender age even when they would have been helped through Pre-exposure prophylaxis (or PrEP). Stakeholders who would help sexual violence survivors, lack best practices to help in recovery of the survivors. This is common in media reporting of such instances; parents and relatives of the sexual violence survivor put a blame on her and in most cases excommunicate her. This further traumatises the child. At In Need Home we intervene at an early time to promote a promotive and positive environment for the affected child to quickly recover from the trauma.