The Effect of Domestic Violence on Male Victims and the Law's Response. A Case Study of Kampala and Kasese Districts

ABSTRACT Physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of men is something that does not get talked about very much. What is worse is that when it is talked about, the discussion is almost always limited to the abuse that men do to women. A lot of people are very emotionally and politically invested in believing that violence is not something that women do. The respondents of this study revealed that when the men who have been victims of women try to speak out, they frequently encounter negative reactions ranging from outright denial to actual accusations that it is their own fault that they were abused. However, according to the 2013 annual report of the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (gender issues of Uganda), the Ministry of Gender acknowledges that domestic violence is real, regardless of the sex of the perpetrator and the victim, and is working out practical ways if reducing gender inequalities and vulnerabilities across social, political and economic spheres. At the national level, gender issues are encompassed under the 2006 Uganda national gender policy. These policies have seen Uganda register some progress in reducing gender inequalities through social protection programs like the Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP). Therefore, it is important to note that even if Ugandan men are purely African, and they are expected the authority over their wives, it is clear that the laws of Uganda still work for all citizens equally, and therefore there is no special treatment for female victims over male victims of domestic violence. It is equally important to note that this study was not just looking at female domestic violence against men, but the general study of male victims of domestic violence. In other words, this study acknowledges that there are men in Uganda who are abused by fellow through different forms which have left hurtful effects on men.