Absence of GBV safe shelter causes A woman her life
May 3, 2021
Story
A safe shelter could have saved a woman GBV survivor. Unfortunately this was not the case for this woman (Patricia (not real name )). Uganda still has very few GBV Safe shelters. Patricia was abused/beaten by her husband and decided to seek redress and treatment within the available GBV referral services (police and clinic. She reported the case to police since its a requirement for a police form 4 for a victim to get treatment. After receiving treatment, Patricia the survivor had no where to go but go back to her abusive husbands home. However, she found her husband angry that she had filed a case in police accusing him of assault/torture, he hacked her to death.
It is therefore important to balance available the services available for GBV survivors . Giving information about why we must report GBV cases and seek treatment is important but the security of the survivor is very critical. We need more safe shelters for GBV survivors and so GBV programming must prioritize safe shelters.