Church of Uganda launches campaign against violence and rape

Jul 15, 2017

While signing the commitment board, the Archbishop Stanley Ntagali, said that the campaign has come at the right time

The Church of Uganda has launched a campaign dubbed ‘Thursdays in black' to fight against all forms of violence and rape in the country.

"From a theological perspective, we believe Christians were called to fight injustice. As a church we feel bound and encouraged by this vision of God to speak out for justice. We believe in a world of spiritual enrichment where everyone can live alongside one another in a peaceful and just manner, said Irene Anena, the program officer, gender and social justice at the provincial secretariat.

While making a presentation on gender issues, she noted that the country is getting to a bad state of moral degeneration where alcoholism and drug abuse are the leading causes of gender based injustices.

"It is about time we challenge certain things as a church and say no. we have to rise up and fight bad cultural practices, family breakdown and moral values. We all need freedom, we all need peace and justice why then do we tolerate these injustices?" she stated on Thursday.

According to Anena, this campaign is targeting torture, murder, rape, defilement, human trafficking and kidnap.

Anena quoted media reports indicating that there is an increase in violence and rape despites steps taken to map them out, noting that Kidnap has increased from 72 cases in 2011 to 572 in 2016, defilement from 14, 975 in 2010 to 17,567 in 2016 and rape from 660 in 2010 to 808 in 2016.

She stated that the church needs to put gender justice at the core of its mandate and build capacity of faith based groups such as Mother's Union to advocate against these injustices.

While launching the campaign, she said that it will be a requirement upon everyone to don a black shirt as a show of solidarity against violence and rape every Thursday of the week. The theme of the campaign will be ‘violence free families in Uganda'.

Thursdays in Black campaign began in the 1970s among Argentine mothers whose children disappeared during the war in Argentina. The women began by wearing black sashes in honour of their friends and family members who were disappearing, being raped, and abused.

They would gather every Thursday in silence to protest the loss of loved ones under the military dictatorship, with the aim of raising the government's awareness that these acts of violence were happening in their homeland.

In the 1980s, the campaign became an international human rights campaign supported by the World Council of Churches as a form of peaceful protest against rape and violence, especially taking place during wars and conflicts.

The campaign focuses on ways through which individuals may challenge attitudes that cause rape and violence.

Since then the campaign has been adopted by many organisations, Churches and NGOs.

In Uganda, the campaign was launched Thursday  at Lweza Training Centre, by the church during the last day of the Bishops and Wives retreat which started on Monday this week. It's supported by Diakonia, an international organization.

While signing the commitment board, the Archbishop Stanley Ntagali, said that the campaign has come at the right time but warned the church against fronting the agenda of the support organisations which he noted as hidden.

"These partners of ours might have a different agenda and while we are receiving their money, we have to be very careful not to push their agenda," he said.

Retired Bishop of Mityana diocese, Dunstan Bukenya said that the campaign is timely since this year was declared as the year of the family.

He noted that violence is a result of improper upbringing and therefore, families need to focus on promoting peace and harmony.

Dr. Ruth Ssenyonyi, the president Mother's Union said that they are ready to support any campaign that will bring an end to violence in the country.

"There is a lot of violence in the country and we have to support its end," she said, adding that they have also finalized the church's counseling guide which will help train families on how to live in harmony.

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