Ugandan Women Appeal to U.N. Over Police Violence
source: http://womensenews.org/story/peace/110517/ugandan-women-appeal-un-over-police-violence
Wearing white for peace, a Ugandan women's advocacy group has appealed to the United Nations amid a violent police crackdown on protesters. Ten have been killed, 100 injured and 600 arrested since April, a rights group says.
Rita Achiro, executive director of Uganda Women's Network, an advocacy and lobbying network, says last week's protest march by hundreds of women wasn't aimed at threatening the government.
Instead, she describes it as a peaceful show of the women's demand for the government's accountability.
"This is not a politically motivated march," her group said in a press statement, "and that is why we are dressed in white because white shows peace. We demand strong policy measures to address issues of food security, unemployment, health and education." The women have handed the statement to Margaret Sekaggya, a Ugandan lawyer and current U.N. special rapporteur on human rights defenders, who was at the demonstration last week.
"We have witnessed a series of disturbing events in which we have seen the state and its law enforcement agencies respond in a brutal and often excessive manner to citizens' demand for government action to address increased prices, cost of living, poverty, inequality in distribution of resources, corruption and the apparent disregard of pressing priorities in allocation of government expenditure," reads the Uganda Women's Network's statement, which was circulated before and during the demonstration.
One activist, who declined to give her name for security reasons, says they have no one to turn to for help.
"We call upon the government that women of Uganda are tired of tear gas, violence and we are scared of police," she says. "We cannot run to them when we need help."
Read the full story at Women's eNews:
http://womensenews.org/story/peace/110517/ugandan-women-appeal-un-over-police-vi...
Rita Achiro, executive director of Uganda Women's Network, an advocacy and lobbying network, says last week's protest march by hundreds of women wasn't aimed at threatening the government.
Instead, she describes it as a peaceful show of the women's demand for the government's accountability.
"This is not a politically motivated march," her group said in a press statement, "and that is why we are dressed in white because white shows peace. We demand strong policy measures to address issues of food security, unemployment, health and education." The women have handed the statement to Margaret Sekaggya, a Ugandan lawyer and current U.N. special rapporteur on human rights defenders, who was at the demonstration last week.
"We have witnessed a series of disturbing events in which we have seen the state and its law enforcement agencies respond in a brutal and often excessive manner to citizens' demand for government action to address increased prices, cost of living, poverty, inequality in distribution of resources, corruption and the apparent disregard of pressing priorities in allocation of government expenditure," reads the Uganda Women's Network's statement, which was circulated before and during the demonstration.
One activist, who declined to give her name for security reasons, says they have no one to turn to for help.
"We call upon the government that women of Uganda are tired of tear gas, violence and we are scared of police," she says. "We cannot run to them when we need help."
Read the full story at Women's eNews:
http://womensenews.org/story/peace/110517/ugandan-women-appeal-un-over-police-vi...
