This report is the result of collaboration between the Women’s Advocacy Network (WAN) and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs (SPPGA) at the University of British Columbia (UBC), with the support of the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP).

The original research for the report was envisioned to focus on women’s experiences of seeking reparations for sexual violence, funded by the PWIAS, at the University of British Columbia. Through a process of consultations with WAN members, however, the process of child tracing emerged as a social project considered vital to the well-being of children born as the result of forced marriages in wartime.

At the time of writing, child tracing activities were on-going at various stages outlined in the report. Mothers and their children, some now young adults, initiated the process of child tracing on their own. With the assistance of WAN members and networks, community leaders and non-governmental organizations such as JRP and Women’s Initiative for Gender Justice (WIGJ), these informal efforts received wider social support, particular with funding to the initiative from WIGJ between 2016-17.

The report involved a review of secondary data collected by WAN and JRP, including reports, recordings and video-tapes, field notes, and interviews and focus group discussions with WAN members and child tracing team leaders and project officers at JRP and WAN. It is intended to highlight the process and possibilities of child tracing for stakeholders.

It was supported by the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies (PWIAS) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Partnership Grant (SSHRC PG) Conjugal Slavery in War (CSiW): A partnership for the study of enslavement, marriage and masculinities.

Researched and written by: Tinashe Mutsonziwa, Ketty Anyeko & Erin Baines in Vancouver, Canada and Grace Acan & Evelyn Amony in Gulu, Uganda.

Download this report here (Pdf).