The New Vision is today reporting that at least 630 girls were defiled in northern Uganda between January and June of this year. Yet, one can only wonder how many attacks went unreported. Read the article.

A feature story commissioned by Amnesty International brings to light the adversity faced by many women in northern Uganda. The story shares the experiences of women abducted by both the LRA and the Ugandan military forces.

One of the women shared of her experience with the LRA, "When we were given to our husbands we were expected to have sex with them. I was only 10 years old when I was handed over. For days after, I was sexually abused. The first time I felt a lot of pain because he was too big. He told me he was nearly forty years old. I felt so bad because I was still young, but I had to accept to sleep with him. I was afraid that if I refused he would carry out his threat to kill me. I had no love for that man."

Read the full-length story to hear more about how the dynamics of war, AIDS, and poverty can make life very difficult for many women.

Fr. Carlos Rodriguez, a supporter of Uganda-CAN, writes from northern Uganda about the gross and systematic violence against women throughout the warzone. He writes, "Do we know that most of the victims of violence in this brutal war are women?" Read Fr. Carlos' weekly column at The Weekly Observer, a Ugandan national newspaper.

From Maggie Alerotex, communications officer for World Vision in northern Uganda and correspondent for Uganda-CAN on the ground. Contact Maggie at alerotex@yahoo.com. -

While many women in the United States cry for children, young girls in northern Uganda are being made mothers at very tender ages as a result of the war between the Lord’s Resistance Army and the Ugandan Democratic Peoples Forces.

These child mothers are between 12-17 years. They are formerly abducted children, victims of defilement, rape and other sexual abuses, night commuters, IDPs (Internally Displaced People) and girls who live in child-headed households.

The girls’ rights are trampled on, their childhood dreams, ambitions and aspirations shattered, and they are left powerless, marginalised and their story is often untold.

Having lived in captivity for more than ten years and used as sex objects by men who later abandoned them, child mothers are left to fend for themselves. With no land to cultivate, and no place to call home, life becomes extremely difficult.

At the age of 15, Rose is one such child mother. She has two children and is five months pregnant.

On 1 April 1997, men she describes as “scary and ugly” abducted her – she was seven years old at the time. Her older siblings and parents were hacked into pieces for trying to protect her. Their lifeless bodies were set on fire and Lucy and her relatives were forced to eat their remains.

While in captivity, Rose said she was raped by a group of rebels. The constant fevers that came with the pregnancy were the worst moments in her life. “I don’t know who the father of my first child is because they were many. That time I could have killed myself but realized it was useless,” she says tearfully.

As Rose recalls the second time she was raped, her voice falls almost to a whisper as she clasps her hands to her swollen belly. “That man beat me for refusing to sleep with him, then he did it. I thought he would kill me, for weeks I was very ill. That’s how I became pregnant with the second child.”

“I will tell you how I got the one in my womb another time. I don’t want to remember it now; it was the most degrading of all,” she says between uncontrollable tears.

Rose now is faced with the task of raising children she was not ready to have. She is however, grateful for the help she gets from World Vision. “They give us everything we need. Sometimes I feel I should not leave the place. But we will all have to find a place to stay someday. I worry all the time about how I will take care of my children,” she adds.

The World Vision Child Mothers Center in northern Uganda cares for 65 child mothers at present, and has looked after ten thousand others over the years. About 60 per cent come when pregnant and already have at least two children.

Michael Oruni, the World Vision Center Coordinator says more help is needed to help them rebuild their future. “All those of good will should join hands in helping the child mothers. It a responsibility of all because they never chose to end up like this,” he says.

Daniel Wallis of Reuters reports on the constant and atrocious attacks of rape and sexual assault ongoing throughout northern Uganda where more than 90% of people are living in camps. Read the feature, titled "Fear, graft and silence shroud Uganda sex attacks."