Girls Advocacy Program Plan Uganda

Violence against girls and young women and the denial of their economic rights stand in the way of achieving meaningful gender equality. Serious violations of these human rights are affecting millions of girls and young women. Societies pay a high price for not tackling these issues. Studies have indicated that child marriage is a product of social values, cultural norms and economic motives. In general, there is a strong link between poverty and child marriage. Child marriage is the leading cause of school dropout (31%) and teenage pregnancies for girls in Uganda (83%). Girls who are married early not only jeopardize their future economic security, but also experience social exclusion as they are often separated from their families and friends. In regard to CSEC, one study in Uganda estimated the number of children affected by CSEC in 2011 to be 18,000 with more girls affected than boys. The study identified the key drivers for CSEC as lack of responsible parental care and lack of sustainable opportunities for education . Trafficking (in the UYDEL study mentioned above) was identified as one of the conduits of CSEC with most female victims of trafficking ending up in prostitution. There is little information on the actual number of trafficking victims due to its clandestine nature. However one ILO study revealed that a high number of girls are trafficked at a later age between 15 – 19 years compared to boys who are trafficked at the early age bracket of 10-14 years. This is partly because younger girls are more protected and their movements restricted as compared to boys. A big number of girls who are trafficked end up working as child domestic workers or in CSEC. The main factors that exacerbate the problem of child trafficking are children dropping out of school and lack of professional skills/ training. Children who drop out of school and have no skills often get involved in any activity that could boost their survival and thus easily fall prey to trafficking.