Uganda hosts the most refugees of any country in Africa, nearing 2 million. Our research found that in its refugee settlements, nearly half of all children have experienced some form of violence. Sexual violence affected over 19% of girls and nearly 10% of boys.
Yet, over 12 months, in two primary schools in a refugee settlement, only 16 cases were reported. Then researchers started asking one deliberate question to school children.
Within five months, they identified 653 cases in those same two schools — a vast increase that revealed the true scope of a crisis hiding in silence.