Activists pin oil firms for violating human rights

Women and girls continue suffering at the hands of corporations in unequal and distinct ways, a report by the National Association for Women's Action in Development. (NAWAD) has revealed.

NAWAD is a voluntary non-governmental women's organization that was initiated by a group of women in 2009.

The report which was conducted last year revealed a string of human rights violations, including delayed payments, land grabbing, sexual harassment and destroying the environment.

In 2018, NAWAD received a petition from residents about numerous allegations of human rights violations in the refinery area of Amuru and Nwoya.

These included irregularities in the valuation and disclosure of compensation rates, the pressure of the affected residents to accept unfair compensation rates and delayed payments, among others.

The report stated that the activities of mining in the national parks which are being carried on by big cooperate companies have threatened animals and in return, the animals invade families that neighbour the national parks leaving some women dead and crops destroyed. 

"This has forced families to migrate to urban centres which subjects them to poor living conditions. This is worsened where compensation policies are poor," the report notes.

On destroying the environment, the report said the activists received a lot of complaints from women in oil camps. They mentioned a Chinese Company and two Ugandan big oil companies guilty of committing these crimes.

"Zhongmei, the Chinese Company constructing Olwiyo - Gulu Road is under criticism from residents of Nwoya district for polluting open their three water sources through the disposal of sludge that is used by more than 600 residents for domestic purposes," reads the report.

Speaking to New Vision, Sylvia Kyohairwe Bohibwa, a policy and Advocacy officer at NAWAD, said that women who are often on the frontlines of defending their bodies, land and territories in the face of powerful corporation face stigma, discrimination and even death.

"Women who lost land can no longer grow crops and feed their children, and those who had small businesses lost their clients. Women have had to reduce the number of meals they feed their families from three to one per day. Uncertainty and displacements have prevented women from making sound economic decisions about their future," said Bohibwa.

During the online workshop, Martha Tukahirwa, a regional advocacy and communications officer, at Strategic Initiative for women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA Network), said as women activists, they are going to work with over 1500 Ugandans to promote the adoption of feminist livelihoods and energy alternatives in communities affected by land-intensive industries.

"Our goal is to mobilise over 5000 women in the next 2years to be part of the vibrant eco-feminist movement so that we influence decision making in national development processes," Tukahirwa said.

In her speech, Patience Muramuzi, the executive director of NAWAD, said that they are going to start up a programme to train women to become actively engaged in all hope-giving sources of livelihood, steady to defend their rights all the time.

"Land grabbing directly impacts on the livelihood of women and girls who are the primary users of the land. However, the national government is more concerned with attracting investors as opposed to defending the rights of her citizens, as feminists we are convinced that the binding treaty would address the concerns of not only Ugandan women whose rights are not respected but all women all over the world who are victims of these human rights abuses," Muramuzi said.

Women speak

"Some of us who are in albertain areas, when the men get the money for the compensation they leave the home and find other women who will not ask them for the money, we cannot go to court because they are costs to meet yet we do not have the money that is how we end up homeless with our children," Jennifer from Nwoya district said.

"Life is very challenging for us, we struggle to get what to do and when we get work, our husbands who spend most of their time drinking come and forcefully ask for our hard-earned money. This has left us in poverty year in and year out," Said Fauza, from Mbarara.