TOTYA PLATFORM CALLS FOR NOV 18 TO BE WORLD DAY TO END SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN

On the 18 Nov, with support from Together for Girls, Totya Platform, the communities we serve in Mpigi District, other CSOs and representatives from Mpigi local government joined the global movement of survivors and allies in calling for establishing November 18, 2021, as the First Annual “World Day for Prevention, Healing and Justice to End Sexual Violence Against Children & Adolescents”.

Totya Platform along with Kaleke Kasome Foundation, Mutera Foundation, Jangu Tusome, Girls on a Mission and Mpigi district local government joined individuals and organisations from over 55 countries to acknowledge the magnitude of the global crisis of sexual violence against children and adolescents, press for systemic change to address this crisis, and call for long-term, sustained funding for organisations focused on prevention, healing, and justice – so that programs reach all children everywhere.

Based on a survey released in 2020 by Together for Girls it is noted that; more than one in three of girls experienced sexual violence in childhood, 1/5 said their first experience of sexual intercourse was physically forced or coerced, 28% of girls who experienced physically forced or coerced sex before age 18 became pregnant and 1 in 6 boys experienced sexual violence in childhood. To draw our government and other stakeholders’ attention to the issue of sexual violence in children and adolescents, we organised a sensitization drive for 47km from Kayabwe Town Council to Mpigi District HQ, via Buwama Town Council with the collective aim of putting an end to sexual violence against children and adolescents. The event was attended by the member of Parliament representing women in Mpigi District, Hon. Teddy Nambooze, the Officer in Charge of the SGBV Unit of Mpigi Police and the Senior Probation and Social Welfare Officer, Mpigi District

We continue to strive towards our vision for a community where every individual has a right to a fair and just life, free from sexual violence traumas by providing the healing needed, advocating for justice and prevention of sexual violence for all individuals (children and adolescents too)