ICT refers to technology/tools that can be used to communicate information between individuals or groups of people. ICTs have been generally categorised as 1. Traditional ICTs (traditional musical instruments, notice board, public address system), 2. Modern ICTs (telephone, computer, cameras, voice recorders, audio CDs, radio) and 3. Social Online Networking Tools (web 2.0 – e.g. blogs, wiki, RSS, skype, Twitter, Face book and flickr etc. ICTs are widely recognised as key tools that can enable the participation of poor women and men in economic and civic life and help them to move out of poverty.

In urban areas, ICTs are easily accessible by most people, however, their application in day-to-day life is sometimes abused. This abuse of ICTs has increased domestic violence which comes inform of physical violence (beating, murder, burning), emotional violence (adultery and verbal abuse) and sexual violence (sexual starvation, defilement, rape).

How are ICTs being abused?

There are a variety of ICTs today; this era can be termed as the” Information age”. These ICTs range from Automated Teller Machines (ATM), computers, mobile phones, Radios and public address systems. Most users of these various ICTs do not usually follow the instructions that come along with the specific application of the tools. They take the rules and guidelines for granted. A case in point is the ATM card, this is manly issued by banks to their clients to carry out activities with the bank, which include; cash withdrawals, deposits, account balance enquires among others. When given an ATM, it is accompanied by a PIN code which must only be known to that account holder. However, most people abuse that condition by sharing the confidential information of the PIN code and sending friends/colleagues or spouses to carry out the bank transactions. This results into suspicion, theft and mistrust which lay ground for violence.

The misuse of mobile phones is another source of violence; the Short message Service (SMS) has caused a lot of violence in homes, it has resulted into broken marriages as result of receiving erotic messages from admirers, extra-marital partners and envious people.

An example of this in Uganda is a Honarable Member of Parliament for Arua Municipality, Godi who is accused of murdering his wife, Rehema Nasur, on December 3, 2008 on Kayunga Road in Mukono district. He reportedly shot her twice using his pistol. Godi complained of having read text messages in his wife’s phone from her lover and the wife had also reported that Godi had on several occasions threatened to kill her through SMS. (The New Vision Monday, June 11, 2009).

Misuse of computers has played the biggest role in causing domestic violence. The abuse ranges from using emails, mailing lists, social online networking tools like skype/blogs/flikr and finally surfing Pornography. Some individuals entrust others with passwords to their email accounts which are supposed be known only to and by them, this is an abuse, because confidential information in your email account can lead to blackmail as a result of impersonation such as sending abusive massages on your behalf and leaking out confidential information which results into violence. Mailing lists and discussion groups (dgroups) can be used as avenues for insulting and humiliating members. Then individuals who misuse the internet by surfing pornography anger their collegues, family members and spouses. This results into verbal abuse, blame, isolation and ex-communication from society.

 What should be done?

Users of ICTs should be careful when using these tools/ technologies in their undertakings. They should not take the instructions for granted because the effects of misusing them are not always immediate. They manifest themselves in the long run and they are usually tragic. Users should therefore avoid such effects early and reduce on the domestic violence.

Human rights and Gender activists should look at the aspect of ICTs and how they cause domestic violence and come up with proper recommendations and best practices in relation to this.

Can ICTs be used to reduce on domestic violence?

Yes, ICTs can be used to reduce on domestic violence: A case in point is the use of the SMS campaign for a certain cause. An example of such a campaign was carried out in Uganda last year during the 16 days of activism against gender based violence. The SMS campaign was run by the GBV Prevention Network and EASSI with technical support from WOUGNET.
The GBV Prevention Network campaign addressed GBV issues in general, while the EASSI campaign focused on GBV issues in Dafur and the DRC.

Examples of the messages were;

GBV: “Sexual violence is about abuse of power, not about sex. How can you start speaking out against this abuse of power”?
EASSI: “Putting an end to war leads to a peaceful life for women”.

Other ways of using ICTs to prevent domestic violence could be through blogs, advocating through mailing list, using the media especially Television and holding radio talk shows.

Conclusion