By. Damba Rogers
Women
leaders from the Greatlakes region convening in Kampala are calling for
unification if they are to better campaign for peace building among member
states.
From South
Sudan is Baziwra Joan Lado who is
the executive director Eve organization for women development and Mercy Wanda Adiro a lawyer from Refugee
law project in Uganda note that despite the existence of national and regional
policies and laws that address sexual violence during time of conflict and post
conflict situations, these instruments are not fully followed which has seen
more increased alarming rates of sexual violence.
The women
now urge fellow females to take up leadership posts in their respective
countries as this is the only way they be able to foster policies that will
lead the region to a meaningful and lasting peaceful situation.
The women
further state that as a result, efforts to prevent sexual violence are inadequate
and find that those who provide services to survivors of sexual violence such
as the police, judicial and health workers are ill equipped to provide the
required support and impunity.
The women
are now calling on governments to prioritise funding and implementation of
progressive national policies on sexual and gender based violence coupled with
a holistic 360 degrees approach to supporting survivors of sexual violence that
address their wellbeing mentally, economically, physically and in accessing
justice.
The three
days meeting is aimed at discussing better ways on how regional women can
engage in peace building processes in the Greatlakes region member states.
END