DPP hosts regional prosecutors' workshop, steps up fight against GBV

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Ingonga says his office is keen to build collaborations in a bid to halt emerging sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) trends in the region.

Ingonga made the assurance in a speech read on his behalf by Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Hassan Abdi at a two-day workshop involving Directors of Public Prosecutions and Inspector Generals in Nairobi.

In attendance were DPP Uganda Lady Justice Jane Frances Abodo,  her Tanzanian and Ugandan counterparts Sylvester Mwakitalu and Mgeni Checha respectively, AND Tanzania’s Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Ramadhan Kingai.

Also present were Kenya Deputy DCI Paul Wachira, his Ugandan counterpart Beata Chelimo, alongside prosecutors from the region and representatives of civil society organizations.

Further, Ingonga explained the measures put in place to address and combat SGBV including creation of specialised units, prosecuting suspects and providing victim support.

“These units have specialised prosecutors who have been trained and continue to receive training on matters related to Technologically Facilitated Gender Based Violence (TFGBV) and trafficking in persons through skills enhancement, best practice approaches in the handling of victims, and enhancement of inter-agency collaboration,” said the DPP.

He added that the office has established child-friendly interview rooms for the examination of vulnerable witnesses, thus ensuring that the best evidence of the victims is taken while avoiding re-traumatization of their vulnerable positions.

The DPP further noted that in the recent past, technology has been weaponized to cause harm thereby calling for a multi-thronged approach from all stakeholders such as education and awareness creation on how users can identify and report these crimes. 

Ingonga added that Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and the Republic of Zanzibar have legal frameworks in place that address tech-related offences, adding that what now needs to be improved on is defining such offences and improving on the penalties taking into consideration the impact it causes.

The DPP Uganda Lady Justice Jane Frances Abodo appreciated GIZ and Lawyers without Borders for initiating the regional roundtable, adding it is timely and good for prosecutors and investigators to have conversations and cascade the resolutions to the grassroots towards addressing the ever-rising cases of SGBV. 

She said: “The region has experienced consistent gender-based violence with cases skyrocketing especially in Uganda.”

The Uganda prosecution chief highlighted how women and girls were used as wives of commanders of the Lord’s Resistance Army, (LRA) a guerrilla group operating in the land-locked country, who treated SGBV as a normal exercise.

She emphasised that prosecutors and investigators play a key role in addressing such crimes and should ensure the decisions they make shape the outcome of such cases. 

“Prosecutors and investigators play a key role in the push to reduce crimes of sexual and gender-based violence.  Perpetrators of such crimes should be made accountable for what they do,” she said.

She identified the breakdown of law and order, using SGBV as a weapon of war, displacement and refugee cases, cultural norms, economic hardships, and limited access to justice as key drivers of SGBV in conflict situations and called for the capacity building of all stakeholders to ensure that survivors are afforded the dignity and support they deserve.

Ulrich Jaenen, Country Component lead, of Police Program Africa commended the Ingonga for the efforts taken by his office in tackling sexual and gender-based violence and called for more such regional roundtables to discuss ways of tackling human trafficking and sexual-based violence. 

He added that GIZ is currently focusing all efforts on addressing sexual and gender-based violence cases.