Submitted by crinadmin on
On average, eight out of every ten girls surveyed in these reports are being physically abused by the people who they are supposed to trust most. Almost every girl will be psychologically abused in one way or another. And the majority of girls will be sexually abused (95% in Uganda, 85.2% in Kenya and 68.5% in Ethiopia). Their mothers are tying them up. Their girlfriends are driving them into prostitution. Their teachers are psychologically abusing them. Their boyfriends are forcing them to have sex. Their brothers are kicking them. They witness their loved ones being beaten and even killed. In short, the girls representing the East African countries of Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda are being denied their fundamental right to be a child. The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, which has been ratified by Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, states: “States Parties to the present Charter shall ensure, to the maximum extent possible, the survival, protection and development of the child." (Article 5.2) This convention is given additional weight by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has been ratified by almost all United Nations member states including Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. It sets out the duties of governments to protect children from violence: "States Parties undertake to ensure the child such protection and care as is necessary for his or her wellbeing, taking into account the rights and duties of his or her parents, legal guardians, or other individuals legally responsible for him or her, and, to this end, shall take all appropriate legislative and administrative measures." Even with the adoption of these instruments, violence - physical, psychological and sexual - is still an especially pernicious problem in these East African countries. And this study shows that girls are particularly vulnerable because of physical differences, the influence of traditional values, and tolerance of domestic violence directed at them. In Kenya, 99 per cent of the girls surveyed had experienced physical abuse, with Uganda close behind at 94.2 per cent. Ethiopia, although last at 84 per cent, had the highest reporting rate of all three countries of violent acts against girls under five years old. Three research teams looked at the situation of violence against girls in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. Each research team selected a group of 500 young women in the capital cities of their respective countries. The women represented various social classes with diverging backgrounds and pertaining to different societal groups. The young women were all between the ages of 18 and 24 years old and the surveys questioned them about their lives until they were 18 years old. They found that young girls are overwhelmingly physically, psychologically and sexually being abused in all three countries. Other than the widespread prevalence of violence, some alarming information surfaces about the degree to which girls in the three African countries are physically and psychologically abused by people who are supposed to protect them. In Kenya and Ethiopia girls are primarily beaten by their mother (23.5 per cent and 45.2 per cent respectively) while in Uganda their male teachers (48.5 per cent) as well both of their parents carry out the beatings. Unsurprisingly, sexual assaults are usually perpetrated by boyfriends or occasional sexual partners. But what is astonishing is the prevalence of girlfriends who coerce the girls into prostitution; 48.6 per cent of girls who were forced into prostitution were coerced by a girlfriend. Disturbingly, a large proportion of the girls surveyed considered the physical and humiliating abuse committed against them as acceptable. In Uganda 59 per cent of the girls who were beaten think that the explanation given to them was reasonable. However, the results from Ethiopia are encouraging. Three quarters of the girls there who were beaten, recognised the abuse as excessive and unreasonable. Almost all of the girls in the three African countries are psychologically abused in one way or another (100 per cent in Ethiopia, 99.6 per cent in Uganda, 96.4 per cent in Kenya). They are shouted at and insulted mainly by their mother, though in Kenya their female teacher will also demean them continually. In Uganda their father will be primarily responsible for making sure they feel worthless.