KAMPALA, Aug 13 (AFP) - Human Rights Watch, the US-based group, warned on Wednesday that the failure by Uganda and other African governments to tackle domestic violence against women had increased the spread of HIV/AIDS.
A new report by the non-governmental organisation documents widespread rape and brutal attacks on women by their husbands in Uganda, where there are no domestic violence laws and rape within marriage is not a criminal offence.
"We found that women cannot protect themselves against AIDS because they are not allowed to decide on the use of condoms," said researcher Lisa Karanja.
The 77-page report, entitled "Just Die Quietly: Domestic Violence and Women's Vulnerability to HIV in Uganda", accuses Kampala and other governments of failing to address the issue.
"Numerous sub-Saharan governments are not addressing domestic violence in meaningful ways," Karanja said.
"Any success Uganda has achieved in its fight against HIV/AIDS will be short-lived if the government does not address this urgent problem."
The report highlighted 2001 statistics showing that 41 percent of Ugandan women were victims of domestic violence.
It also quoted a police officer who said complaints of domestic violence had more than doubled the following year.
Karanja said that fear of violent repercussions prevented many Ugandan women from even seeking information on HIV/AIDS, as well as testing, treatment and counselling.
One 35-year-old, an HIV-positive widow living in Uganda's eastern town of Tororo, told Human Rights Watch that she had not sought testing or information on the disease while her husband was still alive because she was afraid he would evict her.
"I wouldn't dare because if I was HIV-positive, he would say I brought the virus into the home," the report quoted her as saying. "I have seen very many women being chased away by their husbands."
Human Rights Watch urged international donors including the United States, the Global Fund for AIDS and the World Bank to target domestic violence -- both within and outside marriage -- as a core element of their AIDS prevention strategies.
It also pressed for new legislation to crack down on domestic violence in Uganda, often hailed as an African success story in the fight against AIDS, with an infection rate that has fallen to 6.1 percent from a high of 32 percent in the early 1990s.
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