The reintegration of female ex-abductees of the Lord's Resistance Army of Northern Uganda : a case of Gulu District

Abstract

ABSTRACT

This thesis focuses on the reintegration of the female ex-abductees of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The aim of Reintegration is to transform and empower these women and girls so that they can help themselves and have a successful future. For more than two decades, the war between the LRA and the government of Uganda, included violations of human rights, abductions of children into child soldiering, sexual abuse and forced marriage of young girls and claimed thousands of lives in northern Uganda. The thesis explores female ex-abductees’ post-conflict challenges in Gulu, an Acholi area, and how these complicate their reintegration into social life. Through empirical data presentation, I provide a lens through which to understand the gendered challenges to the reintegration of female ex-abductees of LRA. It is widely known that women and girls across the world experience discrimination of some kind at the expense of men and boys. But the situation of female ex-abductees of LRA in Northern Uganda is worse. I argue that these females face specific challenges to the extent that one can use the apartheid of gender to understand their situation. The social stigma, rejection and maltreatment they face results in their re-traumatisation in the post-conflict setting. Using a gender analysis, the thesis outlines public policy action or suggestions that could be useful in designing and implementing an appropriate intervention programme for reintegrating female ex-abductees of LRA.