In a report released by the Human Rights Watch (HRW), thousands of Ugandan women are becoming infected with HIV and will eventually die of AIDS because the government is failing to protect them from domestic violence.

The report reveals that women whose husbands rape or physically attack them are unable to protect themselves from infection or get access to HIV/AIDS services.

The government of Uganda was also blamed for failing to criminalize or prosecute violence against women in the home thus contributing to Uganda women's vulnerability to HIV infection.

The report titled 'Just Die Quickly' features interviews with several Ugandan women who contend with societal pressure to tolerate violence and whose husbands and extended family routinely subject them to coercion and emotional abuse. Many women were victims of marital rape.

The principle researcher of this study Lisa Karanja from the Human rights watch said the primary catalyst for the domestic violence was the lack of protective laws against domestic violence.

She particularly cited the unequal property and inheritance laws in Uganda as a major contributor to women's poverty, which places them at a social disadvantage causing many to remain in abusive homes even at the expense of catching AIDS.

The tradition customary laws on marriage are also questioned in the report, which allow for such as the payment of bride price and polygamy, which allows for the marriage of a man to more than one wife.

Among the Recommendations include the enactment and enforcement of laws specifically prohibiting domestic violence and marital rape and also amendment of the discriminatory marriage and property laws.

For more detail on the HRW report, visit http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/uganda0803/ or email karanjl@hrw.org

For a review of the HRW report that includes reaction from the Government of Uganda, visit Global Challenges - Domestic Violence Contributes to Spread of HIV in Uganda, Human Rights Watch Report Says. The review is by Kaisernetwork.org

Last update: August-16, 2003