Disabled women ignored in Uganda
2010-08-26 16:55
Kampala - Disabled women have been largely ignored in war-ravaged northern Uganda, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday.
"One of the untold stories of the war in Northern Uganda and its aftermath is the isolation, neglect and abuse of women and girls with disabilities," Shantha Rau Barriga, the disability rights expert at HRW said in a statement.
Northern Uganda was from the late 1980s devastated by the brutal Lord's Resistance Army rebels, who generally targeted civilians.
While the LRA remains active in several other African nations, Uganda has been generally violence-free since 2006.
HRW said disabled women struggled to access the basic humanitarian services provided in camps created by the government for people displaced by the conflict.
One woman who lived in a camp said others told her she was a waste of food.
"You are useless. You are a waste of food. You should die so that others can eat the food," she said, according to the report.
More than 21 of the 64 disabled women interviewed by HRW said they were victims of sexual and physical abuse, the report said.
At the height of the conflict more than 1.6 million people lived in displaced persons camps, but the United Nations' humanitarian office says almost 90% have now gone home.
HRW called on Uganda to protect severely vulnerable woman as the region attempts to recover from the decades-long conflict.
- SAPA