Bare breasts and the naked face of official brutality

Several armed riot police swooped on Turinawe’s car to stop her from travelling to an opposition rally.

One officer then repeatedly went for her right breast, squeezing it violently as Turinawe screamed and fought him. Eventually, she was yanked out of her car and bundled into a police van.

Until now, police and other security officers who crack down violently on the opposition in Uganda have been promoted.
Indeed, at the height of the Walk to Work protests by the recently banned Activists for Change (A4C), a senior officer who did not violently break up one of the walks was demoted to oversee a decrepit police garage.
The difference this time was that the breast-attack on Turinawe was not just bizarre, but disturbing in a strange sort of way.
The video of the attack that was posted on YouTube sparked notably angry responses.
There are many other stories in this, though. In the 1990s, East Africa witnessed the rise of militant street political activism by women.
Kenya was the epicentre, and the late Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai the poster girl of the movement.
Women’s activism seemed to die down in the mixed democratisation wave that swept the region, but is now on the rise again.
In Kenya, activist Ann Njogu has been flying the new flag. In Uganda, Turinawe is the face of the new feminism.
There is something unnerving about Turinawe. Literally every other month, she is either beaten up by security officers (sometimes badly), or is arrested, or is in court.
She most spends more time in hospital, prison, at rallies, and in court than in her house. No matter how much she is struck down, she will get up and defy power again.
Second, it is reveals a striking pattern in the way East African Men of Power use intimate body parts to terrorise their people.
In West Africa, both rebels and unruly government soldiers like to cut off the genitals of their male opponents and eat them.
Sourced from the East African Newspaper

Today it is Ingrid, but tomorrow it will be you

The word revulsion does not capture the feeling, but it comes quite close to describing my reaction to images of last week’s sexual assault on Ingrid Turinawe, the leader of the FDC Women’s League, which was perpetrated by a Uganda Police officer, acting on behalf of the ruling regime. Most of the world did not have any doubt about what happened to Ms. Turinawe. The television images and still photographs reached us in Toronto, as they did all over the world, within minutes of the attack. Uganda’s image took another beating, made worse by the feeble response of the regime’s spokespersons, who could not bring themselves to call the attack what it was – a crime of sexual assault against a citizen. I choose my words very carefully and deliberately. So I invite you, Tingasiga, to note that I have not said “alleged sexual assault.” The crime committed by the policeman was captured live on video. Only those addicted to self-deception would waste time discussing the nature of the crime that was perpetrated against an innocent woman. I hear that the government spin-masters are claiming that the criminal police officer was a woman as if the gender matters. The only civilized action that the government must take against the policeman is to arrest him and charge him with assault causing bodily harm, sexual assault and other crimes that the learned fraternity is adept at compiling. One hopes that Ms Turinawe herself will launch a case against the policeman, the police and government. 

 http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/MuniiniMulera/-/878676/1396302/-/6ac25jz/-/index.html

The EAC-GIZ-EASSI Gender week in focus

The East African Community Secretariat (EAC) in collaboration with German Agency for International Co-operation (GIZ), East African Sub-Regional Support Initiative (EASSI) and Arusha Municipality have jointly organized a series of activities to mark Gender Week from 5-9 March, 2012 in Arusha, Tanzania. The event coincides with the World International Women’s Day on 8^th March and linked to the United Nation’s Secretary General’s Campaign to End Violence Against Women UNiTE on 9^th March.

This event will bring to focus the critical need to end gender violence, especially against women and children in our region,’’ said the EAC Deputy Secretary General in Charge of Productive and Social Sectors, Jean Claude Nsengivumwa. 

He added: ‘’Domestic violence is a deadly crime, a social menace, and a costly public health problem. Domestic violence can explode anywhere, anytime. We all have to make concerted efforts to avert the violence through increased awareness.’’

International sports icon Ambassador Dr Tegla Loroupe of Kenya, a former two-time world record holder in women’s marathon, will be special guest during the event.

Ambassador Loroupe is well known in the region as a firm activist against women and children violence. She has, among others, reformed a significant number of armed warring cattle rustlers in Northern Kenya, Southern Sudan, North-Eastern Uganda and Ethiopia and is famed for having brought considerable peace to these troubled- areas which has won her numerous regional and international awards.

Among the highlights of the activities is a workshop to sensitize EAC staff on how to mainstream gender in their programmes and activities on Monday(5^th March) at the Snow Crest Hotel.

The GIZ Support to the EAC Integration Process Programme Manager, Bernd Multhaup says:

The equality of women and men is an integral part of GIZ’s corporate culture’’, adding that GIZ has a long-standing tradition of gender mainstreaming, and its constantly updated gender strategy is based on the assumption that development would only be sustainable if women and men benefit equally from political, economic, social and cultural development, and if they fully exploit their potentials. 

Recent ‘EAC Gender Audit’ has acknowledged the EAC –GIZ Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) component as a best- practice for gender mainstreaming in EAC programmes.

When Women Are Seen As Objects, No Girl Can Be Safe In This Society

A report that has revealed that 20 per cent of city students are in the sex trade. Girls down to pre-teens are recruited into transactional sex. This comes on top of the survey published three-and- half years ago which showed that 40,000 girls in upper primary school were defiled annually by their teachers. This information has not caused public uproar and tangible actions to do something about the underlying attitude towards girls and women. . It shows in many ways, the delay of the Domestic Relations Bill is one; many are comfortable with the male dominance and the handling of women as property. When women are seen as objects you can own and use for entertainment, no girl or budding woman can be safe. Why has nobody concerned with the moral status of this country come out strongly in defence of these young people whose only fault is that they belong to the “weak sex”. “Weak”!? Anybody who has seen an African woman at work knows better than talk about her weakness. But so many of them have been indoctrinated in the “African value” of male dominance, that the opposing voices are hard to hear. With the new report referred to in Sunday Monitor, it is safe to say that every 10 minutes on an average, more than one underage girl is sexually molested.

http://www.peacewomen.org/news_article.php?id=4698&type=news

Small Arms will also be regulated by the Arms Trade Treaty

The fourth and last Arms Trade Treaty PrepCom in New York started on a high note with most of the states and civil society organizations represented at this important and historical meeting. The conference hall was filled to capacity but this is not surprising given that the ATT negotiations are on their final leg as the date - 27th July 2012- of signing the treaty draws nigh.

The Global trade in conventional weapons from warships and battle tanks to fighter jets and machine guns remains poorly regulated. No set of internationally agreed standards exist to ensure that arms are only transferred for appropriate use. Many governments have voiced concerns about the absence of globally agreed rules for all states to guard their decisions on arms transfers. This is the basis of negotiating an Arms Trade Treaty.

Delegates are calling up on all states to fully participate in the ATT negotiations.  The guiding principle or slogan is that “we should not disagree until everything is agreed.”

For the first time in the history of ATT Preparation committee meetings, Zimbabwe and USA have joined the rest of the world to support the ATT process.

Another important achievement  is the inclusion of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) and ammunitions (which were previously opposed) among the weapons that the ATT seeks to regulate.  The proposal to include SALW was highlighted in the statement from Uganda which was read by head of the delegation Mr. Ahmed Wafuba, the coordinator of the NFP, Kampala Uganda.

EASSI formed part of the delegation from Uganda and we are pleased to have SALW on the list of arms to be regulated by the treaty. We continue to advocate against illicit proliferation of arms in Eastern Africa and to urge member states not to ignore the gender dimensions of these arms.This, we have done through the establishment of a gender and SALW institute that takes place once every year. The Institute enhances the capacity of participants to implement their programmes with gender lens.

FGM: DID YOU KNOW ..?

That February 6 was unanimously adopted at the International Conference on Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) organized by Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices (IAC) from February 4 to 6, 2003 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. EASSI is one of the organizations that have been fighting FGM in her member countries that practice it. We now have a publication of I-stories of FGM victims, practitioners as well as survivors. Contact us today for your copy at sylvia@eassi.org

In the meantime let your voice be heard in the comments provision below, so what is your take on FGM?

EASSI speaks on VAW and Small Arms at the SOAWR Meeting

Speaking on the intersection between small arms and VAW at Annual General Meeting of the Solidarity for African Women's Rights (SOAWR), EASSI shared that the impact of armed violence on women should not be underestimated. Women are often targets of certain types of violence involving small arms, particularly domestic violence and rape. It is important to make the links between women’s activism and activities to create safer spaces and communities through controls on small arms. Part of this is to build capacity, empower and recognize our own expertise in this field, and promote our work and voices to the wider
disarmament community.

TODAY, we invite all of you to join the Speak Out; Control Arms Now campaign which is a campaign to speak out against gun violence and to promote an Arms Trade Treaty that is sensitive to our needs in the developing countries and as women. The central focus of the campaign is the collection of diverse voices of support for a bulletproof Arms Trade Treaty. By visiting the new campaign website (http://speakout.controlarms.org)  you can not only give your voice in many creative ways, but register events, form groups, and explore and share the submissions of others.