Mount Elgon Armed Conflict and Violation of Women’s Rights, 2004-2008

Abstract

Since time in memorial, war atrocities have been seen as mass violations of human rights affecting all members of the society, regardless of their gender, age and ethnicity. Women however, are the most vulnerable to all forms of such violations. They are victims of various forms of violence. The aim of the paper is to document violations of human rights directed at women in the Mount Elgon armed conflict of 2004 to 2008. The SLDF-led war in Mount Elgon brought atrocities and massive suffering to the general population of the region. Just like other armed conflicts around the world most of the victims of human rights violations were women. Although some research has been conducted on land conflict in Mount Elgon, emergence of SLDF militia group attacks on members of the Mosop and other communities, and counter forces led by MLDF and finally entry of the military under the operation code, Operation Okoa Maisha, very little has been researched on how all these operations violated women rights. This study argues that the scale of crimes committed against women during Mount Elgon armed conflict still lacks precise and reliable data on exact cases. In this paper, the authors argue that during the Mount Elgon armed conflict innumerable women of all ages, and even children, were subjected to outrages of the worst kind. They were subjected to rape committed by actors, brutal treatment of every sort, mutilations of their body parts, displacement from their socio-economic life and other forms of violations of their rights.