State Minister for Gender, Peace Mutuuzo.

The Minister of State for Gender and Culture, Peace Mutuuzo has urged the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region training facility to set up a Centre for stakeholders to tackle sexual violence.

Opening a two day training for judicial, military, medical, police, civil society and journalists this morning, Mutuuzo says this should be  a one stop Centre for the above stakeholders to provide information , help investigators and also the judiciary to tackle sexual violence cases.

Mutuuzo adds that such a Centre would help reduce the huge backlog of cases at the various justice law and order sectoral bodies such as court and police because some of these cases are bogged down by flawed investigations, mishandled files and impunity.

Meanwhile Brigadier Muhanga Kayanja who headed the South Sudan mission in 2013 says though The Human Rights Watch in 2014 reported that some Ugandan soldiers assaulted Somali women and girls, its findings were unfounded.

But he acknowledges that sexual violence is still a widespread phenomenon which is the most traumatic especially in conflict and that it is no longer easy for soldiers to misbehave due to stringent disciplinary systems.

The Gender ministry estimates that 1,000 sexual violence cases are reported monthly whereby out 8000 of the cases were being mentioned in court only 1,200 have been concluded.

The Acting Director of the training facility Nathan Byamukama says it is worrying that 64% of these are defilement cases.