The time is finally here! On the 12th of March 2014, the Women’s Advocacy Network (WAN) will present a petition to the Uganda Women Parliamentarian’s Association (UWOPA) at Parliament in Kampala to call for national policies which will address the needs of war-affected women in the region.
This is the first time the challenges facing war-affected women will be presented at national level.
We’ll be updating our blog with details about the petition.
On the 23rd of August 2013, 73 members of the Women’s Advocacy Network submitted a petition on behalf of war affected women to the Gulu District Local Government. In the petition, the members of the grass-roots organisation, supported by the Justice and Reconciliation Project, request the Local Government representatives to appeal to the Government of Uganda to initiate policies which will address the needs of war-affected women in the region, many of whom were abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army during its twenty year conflict with the Government of Uganda, and their children.
Specifically, the petition calls for action for the special needs of the children of war-affected women, some of whom were born in captivity, and who have continued to suffer the brunt of stigmatisation in their communities, despite the end of armed conflict. They are also often deprived of education and psycho-social support and, in some cases, do not know the identity of their paternal relatives.
The petition also requests that a reparations policy be adopted by the Government of Uganda to address the socio-economic needs of war-affected women, to help build their capacity to support themselves and to compensate them for the losses they suffered during the war. The women also request that accountability processes for the atrocities that took place during the war be effected in order to aid reconciliation and healing within communities and throughout the country.
The petition was put on the agenda to be tabled on Tuesday, September 10th 2013 at the Gulu District Local Government District Council Hall.
Read the petition below:
On Saturday 27 July, war-affected women from different parts of northern Uganda came together to share their experiences and highlight the way forward for transitional justice advocacy in the region.
Representatives of victims groups in Teso, Acholi, West Nile, Lango and Luweero spoke passionately about what challenges women face today. Guided by the theme ‘together we can’ (which was translated into Lugbara, Acholi, Iteso and Lango different languages), the meeting also served as an opportunity for war affected women to discuss ways in which they can work together to achieve their collective objectives towards justice and reconciliation.
Below are pictures of the event.
[AFG_gallery id=’50’]
One year after the official launch of the Women’s Advocacy Network (WAN), the Justice and Reconciliation Project hosted a stakeholders’ dialogue at Churchill Courts in Gulu to celebrate the first anniversary of the grassroots advocacy initiative and to further highlight the issues that continue to face war-affected women in northern Uganda. Invited guests included representatives of local government, civil society members, the media and members of WAN.
Six representatives of the Network held a panel discussion on their personal experiences as well as the challenges that form the basis of the advocacy points that WAN seeks to address. In particular, they emphasised the experiences of children born in captivity, education, health issues, land inheritance, inadequate amnesty packages, as well need for the creation of more income generating activities that will help to support women and children affected by the war were. They also made a call for more outreaches to be made at community level to sensitise community members on the acceptance of women and children that have returned from captivity.
One representative also discussed the importance of apology. For community members to reconcile and to come to terms with the past, a simple apology by political leaders and former rebel leaders would go a long way, she said, since after all, “we are Acholi and we are Ugandans.”
The event also served to launch Adyebo: The Wild Plant – a book which documents the experiences of war-affected women during and after the conflict in northern Uganda up the formation of the WAN. Download the book here (pdf).
About WAN
WAN brings together war affected women in a forum where they come together to advocate for justice, acknowledgement and accountability for gender based violations inflicted upon them during the war in northern Uganda.
Adyebo is a compilation of stories told at a ‘storytelling’ session organised by the Justice and Reconciliation Project, an NGO based in Gulu, northern Uganda. It is the story of women of different ages and backgrounds in northern Uganda that were abducted during the height of the Lord’s Resistance Army conflict in the region. Starting at the beginnning of their journey from Uganda to Sudan and back home, their stories illustrate the unique challenges faced by women during and after conflict.
Download here: Adyebo The Wild Plant (pdf)
Last Friday, JRP’s Gender Justice Project Officer, Nancy Apiyo, was awarded with the Volunteer Action Network (VAC-NET) Women 4 Peace Awards for her contribution to peace and reconciliation and her work with women, particularly the Women’s Advocacy Network. Citing her mother as her greatest inspiration, Nancy promised to push on with the fight for equality and fair treatment to all, regardless of gender.
Nancy is known for her great passion for women’s issues. “If you want to cross her path just mention something demeaning about formerly abducted women,” Gender Justice Team Leader, Kasiva Mulli remarked.
During the award ceremony, she humbly attributed the award to the women she worked with, many of whom found themselves returning to a society that has not fully recovered but tirelessly set themselves to work in it to promote justice and reconciliation. The women, she said, were the real recipients of the Women 4 Peace Award.
See photos from the Award Ceremony below:
[AFG_gallery id=’45’]
It is five months since the Women’s Advocacy Network (WAN) was officially launched. Since then the Network has been involved in a number of advocacy activities which include community outreach meetings, holding meetings with various stakeholders to advocate for our issues, holding regular radio talk shows to create awareness on the challenges we face among other things. We have also visited similar groups in other part of Northern Uganda to share our experiences and to learn from them.
I am proud of WAN and what we have set to achieve. I am a victim of this war and I have experienced firsthand what war does to women. War breaks our spirits, our hopes, our lives and aspirations. I have also seen the strength of the women as they work towards rebuilding their lives and that of their communities. We have realized that if we do not come together, speak out about our issues and seek solutions to our problems then no one will do it on our behalf. We have made a resolution to break our silence and become advocates of our own cause.
This is why WAN is important to us. It gives us a platform to advocate for our rights as victims as well as be agents of peace and post conflict reconstruction. As WAN, women who shared similar experiences during the conflict are able to come together, discuss issues central to us and work around solutions to these issues. We have realized the satisfaction that comes from pulling each other up, knocking a door of opportunity, sharing our joys and tears together. We feel that through this platform we are strengthened and we can achieve what we set ourselves to do.
The road has not been smooth sailing, we continue to face challenges. Our members are still going through difficult times coping with re-integration challenges which include stigmatization, supporting our children born in captivity, land inheritance, health problems among others. However, we have also received unlikely support from our communities and stakeholders due to our continued creation of awareness through community outreach and radio talk shows. Other challenges that we continue to face is communication barriers since most of us can only speak in Acholi and social economic empowerment for most of our members.
But one wise man said, the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Till we get there its aluta continua!
Evelyn Amony is the chairperson of the Women’s Advocacy Network.
We are pleased to introduce the Women’s Advocacy Network (WAN), an initiative of the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP), which was officially launched May 25th in Gulu, northern Uganda.
The WAN is a forum where war-affected women come together to advocate for justice, acknowledgment and accountability for gender-based violations inflicted upon them during war in northern Uganda. It was formed in May 2011 by JRP with the aim of empowering women survivors to participate in post-conflict policy debates and to engage grassroots communities in gendered discussions on reintegration and reconciliation.
JRP’s field observations since 2006 have explored the unique challenges facing women in northern Uganda and the need for the inclusion of their voices in ongoing developments in transitional justice. A group of war-affected women, who were engaged in a storytelling project at JRP, proposed the establishment of an advocacy group to serve as a platform through which female leaders would be empowered to engage in advocacy for justice and peace. The WAN was created with the goal of bridging the existing gaps in gender justice.
To learn more about the Women’s Advocacy Network (WAN) at JRP, please see the attached brochure or contact the JRP Gender Justice department at +256(0)471433008 or email info@justiceandreconciliation.
This year, as we join the world in celebration of International Women’s Day, the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) wishes to emphasize the unique peace, justice and reconciliation challenges faces women survivors of armed conflict. In line with this year’s theme, “Connecting girls, inspiring futures,” a member of the Women’s Advocacy Network (WAN)—a JRP-supported forum for conflict-affected women to undertake gender justice advocacy—has prepared a poem that highlights some of the issues facing formerly-abducted women and the need for stakeholders and communities to listen to women’s calls for justice.
To view the poem, titled “Oduru” or alarm, click here.
Members of the WAN will be performing the poem at today’s district celebrations in Gulu. Pictures are coming soon!