Ugandan male police officers wear high heels in campaign to stop gender violence

Dozens of male police officers donned a pair of heels in Kampala, Uganda to raise awareness of gender violence.

The policemen walked the streets of the city as part of a 16-day campaign to end attacks on women.

Francis Ogweng, one of the policemen, decided to wear a pair of black leather stilettos and a red handbag.

Speaking to Gay Star News, Ogweng said, “It’s not easy to walk in the shoes of women. I tried it today, and I have seen myself. It’s hard.”

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The campaign called, ‘Walk a mile in her shoes’ was organised by the Gender Ministry.

In 2013, it was reported that around 70% of women in the country had experienced domestic violence from their partners.

Despite the positive reception towards the campaign, Uganda is considered to be one of the worst places to be LGBT as both male and female homosexuality is illegal.

The pride event was set to take place near the town of Kampala but was reportedly broken up by police after Uganda’s Minister of State for Ethics and Integrity, Simon Lokodo, warned that anyone who attended the event would get arrested. Police raided the event and LGBT people were reportedly beaten, brutalised, arrested and sexually assaulted.

Meanwhile in Chad, citizens have voted to criminalise same-sex sexual activity for both men and women this week. The vote raises the total number of countries around the world in which homosexuality is outlawed to 77.

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