Women's eNews (https://womensenews.org/author/rachel-scheier/)
Uganda signed the Maputo Protocol–a key women’s rights treaty in Africa–in 2003. Since then the landmark treaty has run into religious arguments against Western influence and abortion. Fifth in a series on African women and the rule of law.
When a pregnant woman arrives alone at a clinic in eastern Uganda, she returns home with a “love letter” to her husband or boyfriend inviting him to join her. It’s designed to enlist more men in the African battle on AIDS and maternal mortality.
Abortion has been a non-starter for politicians in Uganda torn between health workers and the church. But as the rest of Africa begins to shift its stance, pro-choice activists are making their mark. First in a series on African women and the rule of law.
A group of HIV-positive mothers in Uganda have banded together to form the “Mama’s Club.” Twice a month they share medical and legal information, but perhaps most important, they remember they are not alone.
A judge in northern Uganda has ordered the army to pay two girls who say they were raped by soldiers in an internally displaced persons’ camp. The decision spotlights rights workers’ charges of rampant rapes in these camps.
Female students in Uganda have long endured demands for sex in exchange for grades from university lecturers. First in a series on higher education in Africa.
Thirteen years ago, two female anti-AIDS activists in Uganda started Straight Talk, a frank and pioneering sex education forum for African teens. Today, while not officially censored, it copes with a sense of being hemmed in.