Legal Aid Clinics Boost Community Action Against Harmful Practices in Karamoja

With support from the European Union, ActionAid International Uganda recently held legal aid clinics in Amudat and Nakapiripirit districts to raise awareness on harmful practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM), child marriage, and gender-based violence (GBV). 

The clinics reached 720 participants, including adolescent girls, duty bearers, and persons with disabilities.

These sessions strengthened community understanding of the dangers of harmful practices and improved local capacity to protect vulnerable groups and uphold human rights. Despite existing laws, many of these practices continue in secrecy. For example, FGM is often performed in hiding or across borders to avoid police surveillance. According to the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (2022), while only 0.2% of women nationally have undergone FGM, the prevalence in Karamoja is2.2%.

Harmful practices remain a major barrier to adolescent rights. Half of the girls in Karamoja are married before the age of 18 (HEJNU), while nationally one in four girls aged 15–19 is already pregnant or has given birth. Many girls drop out of school as a result of early marriage or FGM, and face heightened risks of HIV/AIDS, other STIs, and lifelong trauma.

Through interventions like legal aid clinics, ActionAid is empowering communities to challenge harmful norms, protect adolescent girls, and promote lasting social transformation in the Karamoja sub-region.