this is bbc news. the latest news headlines follow at the top of the hour after this programme. about 23% of our pregnancies were teenagers. all of them are defiant. my name is paul, and i'm a ugandanjournalist based in london. as a father and a citizen of this country, i've been horrified by the stories

of sexual violence and incest involving young girls in northern uganda. it was very tough because some of these things i had not experienced. a father having sexual intercourse with a daughter. granddaughter. there's nobody who can really support the person who has been raped. to me, i look at thisjustice, it's a weakjustice. this region suffered a 20 year hideous insurgency, about 55 dead bodies myself. about 55 dead bodies myself. i describe it as the war was fought in the body of the woman and the woman became the battlefield. the war ended about 15 years ago. but is the post—conflict legacyjust as horrific as the war itself? i was born in uganda, and most

of the early part of my life was spent in uganda. after the recent lockdown due to the covid pandemic, there were these horrific tales that came. out of this country about an increase in teenage pregnancy. but there seemed to be even more tales that were coming from northern uganda, particularly about abuse of young girls. and i was interested in finding out what exactly was happening here in the underbelly of this society. that is why i came to northern uganda. the population of this region isjust over 2 million. and with close to 70% of people living in poverty, it's one of the poorest regions in the country. this city, roughly 330

kilometres from the capital, kampala, is the commercial and administrative city of the north. i'm starting here at the regional general hospital's antenatal ward. good girl. cha cha cha cha, baby. all cha cha. from the last financial year report, about 23% of our pregnancies were teenagers. if i'm talking of teenage mothers, all of them are defiled. they are teenagers. they are not supposed to be pregnant. in uganda, defilement means unlawful sexual intercourse

with a girl below the age of 18, which is the age of consent here. so a quarter of the babies this team helped deliver safely are born to child mothers. teenage pregnancies is a challenge in our system. a young mother alone is a complication in itself. she has been in labour since yesterday. if a girl is under 14 or her abuser is a carer or hiv positive, or a repeat offender, it becomes aggravated defilement. incest is a separate crime under the penal code. because they are young, their body is not developed to handle a delivery, a pregnancy and all. and you'll find that young mothers are the highest proportion of those dying in labour. the younger the mother, the more the complication.

a harrowing report published during the pandemic reflected a 300% increase in girls agedio to 14 giving birth in uganda as a whole. the figures are highest in rural areas. i am heading out of the city to a regional district. it is a sunday morning and the joyous sound of the church service emanates across the countryside. i'm meeting a group of women who have gone of women who have met through the church and have joined forces to help their community. praise the lord!

grace is visiting a little girl who is eight months pregnant and living alone. they think she is 11 or 12 years old. this child's parents' cassava business failed, so they returned to their village far away to farm to try to provide something for theirfamily.

no—one knows who the father is, or what happened here. we are only allowed to film here with the local community leader's support. david is in loco parentis, and wants to raise awareness of the sexual violence happening here. she was left here, because it's nearer to the school. but the unfortunate part, the next room here, is where people drink and are exposed to a lot of challenges. when she looks at other fellow girls who were not

pregnant, she cries. that is her lifestyle. in a week, we always have, like, three cases of defilement. sometimes we have to tie them with ropes and escort them. them to the police. but they don't bother to follow it up, there is no one who can support the person who has been raped. to me, i look at thisjustice system, weakjustice. it's odd to be in this place, even heartbreaking. her parents have left her here, ostensibly for her to be able to get a better education.

but here she is, pregnant, alone. frightened. i'm utterly disgusted and appalled. but also it gives me a sense of helplessness. what does it mean for the next generation? is this really the new normal? i grew up in the south, and in many ways it was another world. a war and insurgency ravaged this region for 20 years, known in the west as coney�*s war. this man led the resistance

army, a rebel group which wanted to overthrow the government. the rebels in northern uganda have been active... there have been about 25 dead bodies... he was infamous for his inhumane treatment of those he abducted, maiming, cutting off limbs, forcing people through fear. it is estimated that 40,000 children were abducted and 1.7 million people were internally displaced, created by the government. in theory, to keep people safe. it wasn't until 2008 that the war came to an end, though the perpetrator�*s whereabouts are still unknown. the war here is a highly relevant context.

this woman runs an organisation working with the community post—war. living within a toxic minefield environment had long—term effect on the community. people were used to seeing dead bodies, people begin to think that sexual and gender—based abuse seems to be not the highest level of abuse. sexual abuse was used as a military strategy. i describe it as the war was fought in the body of the woman, and the woman became the battlefield. one woman described the situation where she was abducted with her three sons and two daughters. and they say, "we want your son to sleep with you, or else we shall shoot you now."

but the son said no. "0ver my dead body, i cannot sleep with my mother in front of you." but the mother begged the son and said, "please, you need to do this and you need to stay alive." the war brought further challenge for the thousands of abductees who returned, many children born in captivity simply don't know their parents and may have been born across the border. in the ugandan constitution, they are considered stateless, they don't exist on paper. pamela's organisation works with returnees. they miss out on opportunities. so we did skilling of these girls, some of them decided to choose a baking academy and learned many skills in baking.

and now they are using it as a business for their own empowerment. eunice�*s mother and aunt were abducted when they were teenagers. both women bore children in captivity. her mother died at their hands, but her aunt, who had twins, took eunice as her own child, too.

after a decade in captivity, they were released to a fractured community. it took years for eunice to know her true story, which has taken a toll.

eunice�*s baby is living elsewhere with another aunt. we're told there are too many children here to look after properly. but a small hope lies in her baking business. it's over 15 years ago that the lra were formally driven out of northern uganda.

but after—effects of the insurgency continue to ripple through the society. the stories that i've heard from these two women are heartbreaking. i cannot imagine how eunice copes with the multiple layers of loss and rejection. she is one of so many with scars that are incomprehensible and the lack of anyjustice only goes redress to seems a threat to society. whilst we have been in the community, i have been put in touch with a lawyer from the ngo. just like pamela, her experience has defined her career path. growing up here, i saw so many children gets defiled and most of those parents did not have the resources to pursue the justice

that their children deserved. with these sexual offences, perpetrators are always known to the victims, in most cases it is a relative. it was very tough, because some of these things i had not experienced them. a father having sexual intercourse with a daughter, granddaughter, it was very traumatic for me. and i think here and there, i would literally break down. eunice is alerted to some of the cases of defilement and gender—based violence that do get reported to the police. today, she is taking us with her as she visits the family of one of the most acute cases of sexual violence and incest she's been dealing with over the years. we're going to visit a family of a child who was defiled

when she was about three years. yes, when she was defiled. she was defiled by her stepfather�*s brother. the mother didn't notice until her walking style and things changed and when she asked her about it, she finally disclosed the person who had sexual intercourse with her. in most cases, the family tries to make sure the issue is handled within the family, without having to seek recourse at police or take legal action.

even when a case is taken up by the police, justice here seems to come at a price. you have to literally pay your way to get justice. you have to pay money for fuel to have the suspect apprehended. you're supposed to provide feeding for them while they are still at the police station, because at the police station they don't have provisions for feeding. when you go to the health

centres, medical people don't allow you to fill police forms without being paid. when you look at the community that i am in, the poverty level is very high, so it's a big challenge. medical and police reports confirm the abuse, and on top of everything, this little girl was infected with a sexually transmitted disease. a tragic piece of evidence in this case. the suspect was held for six months, but because of some legal due process wasn't followed correctly, he was released on bail. this mother simply hasn't the means to keep pursuing.

this particular case is not the only case of defilement being done on a very young girl, and she doesn't get the justice that she deserves. we have a number of them. i think it says a lot why most people don't have trust in the justice system. because if a four—year—old doesn't get the justice that they deserve, what happens to a 16—year—old? what happens if you don't have money? there is a lot of corruption, people don't feel... if you get money, you get out, that is what's happening, that is what happens. not one of the instances of sexual abuse i've seen here have been successfully prosecuted.

and hearing that the victims must pay police and supply the alleged perpetrators meals in custody, beggars belief. the head of the police force here agreed to meet with me. now, with the corruption, it has been a perception that police is corrupt. but not all are corrupt. just like any other institution. we have good ones and bad ones. we are not supposed to ask a victim to pay for our services. but sometimes you have to accept that we can run out of fuel. because we are given per month. so there is that possibility, that maybe at the time when the crime has been committed, the police officer at a particular station has run out of fuel.

if the police really have no fuel to arrest child abusers and hold victims to ransom, what hope forjustice here? perhaps this region's minister of state for justice can shed light. i can't deny corruption, corruption is there. it is at all levels, even at ministries level. we have lots on defilement, lots on incest, but somehow, again, peoplejust go behind the law and bribe police there are cases which have been prosecuted but the number is not high. from the cases which were reported, only 6% reached court, that's what they told me. defilement has a consequence.

imprisonment and fine, imprisonment of 20 years. but it's difficult to enforce. somehow. i don't know whether to be grateful for the honesty, or horrified at the acceptance of the hideous status quo. we have been unable to get confirmation of whether any case of defilement has actually been successfully prosecuted, recently. it seems this area has become a preying ground where abusers are on top of the law. those who can pay, win.

i hold some optimism that women like the mothers, pamela, eunice, the doctor, will help many caught in the hideous web. but is it a drop in the ocean? surely, it's time the government woke up to what is happening here, if the future of girls here is ever going to be bright. hello. on saturday, the temperature reached 20 degrees celsius in a few locations across the uk. but in northern england and parts of scotland, it felt chilly. sunday will feel a little warmer in these areas, but we are expecting some showers. and if we have a look at the satellite picture, there's a lot of cloud lurking around the uk. you can see it here, particularly around western areas. but the air is coming

in from the south. it's a relatively mild air mass. this is what that yellow colour is indicating. so a milder current of air all the way from the southern climes. here's the forecast then for the early hours, an extensive cloud with showers right from the word go, not necessarily in east anglia and the south—east here. we will have had clear spells overnight. it's also a little colder in london and norwich, around 4, 5, 6 degrees, but plenty of cloud and showers through the morning into the afternoon. let's have a look at a snapshot at 2pm. so across scotland, you can see where the showers are in the western isles, some in central scotland, a few in the lowlands. thunderstorms possible in the afternoon across northern ireland, even some downpours, showers around merseyside, into lancashire, parts of wales, the south—west of england and one or two showers brewing elsewhere. but notice the extreme south—east, east anglia and lincolnshire, actually some sunshine here, a dry day, the highest temperatures, too. and look how much warmer it's going to be across northern england and parts of scotland. the lower temperatures will actually be out

towards the west and the south—west here where we will have extensive cloud, and the showers and that cloud lingers into sunday evening. let's have a look at bank holiday monday now. so through the night into monday, weather fronts across the uk, but we are fairly close to high pressure out towards the south—west here. so a pretty decent day. we could have some showers in the south—east on bank holiday monday. also notice that the wind arrowss, air is coming in from the north across the far north of scotland. so really chilly in lerwick, six degrees, around eight degrees in stornoway, but in glasgow it's 15, in the midlands around 16 degrees celsius. so all in all, not a bad bank holiday monday on the way and then midweek, high pressure is close by and that basically means settled dry weather and that's reflected in the outlook. you can see wednesday and thursday there, sunny skies for cardiff and also for london. that's it for me. have a great sunday.

live from london, this is bbc news. sudan's army is preparing to launch a major attack and khartoum as it attempts to retake areas held by the rebel militia. it widens the search for a government suspected of killing five people in texas. president biden calls for the release of detained journalists around the world during the white house correspondence dinner in washington. and just a week to go until the coronation, the british public will be asked to swear allegiance to king charles.

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