The BBC Africa Eye takes on the responsibility of uncovering harmful practices and injustices in Africa’s troubled underbelly.
The BBC Africa Eye team traveled to Northern Uganda for its latest documentary, which has been plagued by cases of teenage pregnancies, sexual violence, and incest. According to one report, teenage pregnancies in girls aged 10-14 increased by 300% in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. Since the insurgency led by warlord Joseph Kony lasted two decades, the Northern region has seen an increase in sexual violence and internal displacement.
The BBC interviewed Dr. Baifa Arwinyo, Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Gulu Regional General Hospital, about the complexities of underage pregnancies. “According to the last fiscal year’s report, approximately 23% of our pregnancies were teenagers.” If I’m talking about teenage mothers, they’re all defiled.” “Because they are young, their bodies are not developed to handle delivery,” she added. And young mothers account for the lion’s share of those who die as a result of obstructed labor.”
The Africa Eye team also spoke with victims of the region’s decades-long insurgency. It was a bleak story of bereavement, trauma, and helplessness. Akeh Grace told a harrowing story about losing her sister and twin children to the insurgency and raising Eunice, her sister’s daughter as if she were her own child.
The documentary provides a heartbreaking glimpse into the ordeals that women and young girls in these parts of Uganda have been subjected to for more than two decades. How the justice system regards justice as a mere trifle, the security forces complicity, and how victims are unable to pursue justice properly in the face of poverty and intimidation.
It also paints a vivid picture of the difficult task that NGOs face in protecting and caring for these young girls.
Watch the documentary below:
