Just die quietly: domestic violence and women's vulnerability to HIV in Uganda

Domestic violence increasing the spread of HIV/AIDS in Uganda

Produced by: HRW / Human Rights Watch (HRW) , 2003

This paper argues that women are becoming infected with HIV because the state is failing to protect them from domestic violence. It bases the report on 120 interviews with Ugandan women.

The paper argues that many women are victims of marital rape. Women were also powerless to protect themselves from infection and are unable to access HIV/AIDS services because their husbands physically attacked, threatened, and intimidated them, and did so with impunity. Most women saw domestic violence as innate to marriage, and viewed sex with their husbands as a marital obligation. Despite a rhetorical commitment to women’s rights, the Ugandan government has failed in any meaningful way to criminalise, condemn, or prosecute violence against women in the home.