Our young women leaders under the Tuwezeshe Akina Dada project met with the Committee using the opportunity to push for the passing of the Sexual offences Bill and for the creation of safe spaces within institutions of learning. The young women recommended that gender responsive institutional level sexual harassment policies and regulations are developed and implemented and that data collection systems on sexual violence are strengthened to establish prevalence of Sexual and Gender Based Violence and effectively curb the vice.
One of the key outcome’s of the meeting is that the young women leaders were invited to the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament to make a submission on the Sexual Offences Bill. It is however regrettable that when issues affecting our sisters in the LBQ community were raised, one of the members moved for the submission to be expunged from the record. Unless the rights of all women in Uganda and Africa are respected, we shall not scale down Sexual and Gender Based Violence.
Nonetheless, here’s to young African women influencing policies and governance!
Read the Full Submission here: Submission to Committee On Inquiry into Allegations of Sexual Violence in Institutions of Learning in Uganda
Anna Adeke Ebaju is a Ugandan lawyer and politician. She is the elected Member of Parliament representing the National Female Youth Constituency in the 10th parliament and an alumna of the African Women’s Leadership Institute (AWLI).