Members of the Northern Uganda Women’s Parliamentary Association have held a series of consultations with northern Ugandan women to gather their views on justice and reconciliation, the third agenda item of the ongoing Juba peace talks. The women, many of them victims of LRA violence, highlighted gender-specific concerns that have often been brushed over in the ongoing justice and reconciliation debates taking place in northern Uganda and the international community. The women stressed that those who testify about war crimes need legal protection to prevent retaliation and intimidation from their accusers. They also emphasized the need for women lawyers to represent women who suffered sexual violence, as many said they would feel uncomfortable confiding in male lawyers. The women also called for victims of violence to be compensated and for children abducted by the LRA to be forgiven for crime they had committed. Read more at ReliefWeb.