Government condemned for female HIV infection

Human rights activists on Wednesday urged Uganda to enact laws punishing domestic violence, which it said put women at an increased risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Uganda's success in greatly reducing local HIV/AIDS rates could be short-lived if the government failed to protect women whose husbands raped and attacked them. The HRW director of women's rights, Janet Walsh, said in a statement: "Through its inaction, the government contributes to Ugandan women's vulnerability to HIV infection." The group said most married women in Uganda experienced social and cultural pressure to have unprotected sex with their husbands, and lacked economic independence to escape abusive relationships. "The government of Uganda has failed to criminalise or prosecute violence against women in the home," Walsh added.