By Leilah Bbaale
The Hoima City Woman MP Nyakato Asinansi has called for the protection of young girls against teenage pregnancies and early marriages during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Nyakato has decried the rampant cases of sexual abuses that were and are being meted on young girls within the Bunyoro Sub Region especially due to the restrictions aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus disease in the country.
Among the abuses, she named included teenage pregnancies, early marriages, defilement, rape and assault among others.
She noted that it is the responsibility of everyone to ensure a safe and healthy and violent free environment for young girls instead of abusing them which instead ruins their future and the country at large.
She also urged parents and guardians to offer practical lessons and teach their children life skills at this time when all learning institutions have closed.
The legislator has tasked parents and guardians to closely monitor the movement of their children and provide them with sexual education so that their minds are enriched with sexual literacy and how to always protect themselves against being victimized.
Nyakato explained that several of the culprits are taking advantage of the closure of schools and economic hardships arising from the lockdown to sexually exploit and abuse young girls.
