Ugandan human rights leader to deliver Soffa Lecture

Ruth Ojiambo Ochieng, a human rights leader, peace activist and director of Isis-Women’s International Cross-Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE), will be this year’s J. Jobe Soffa and Marguerite Jacqmin Soffa Distinguished International Visitor.

Sponsored by the UW–Madison Division of International Studies, Ochieng will deliver the annual Soffa Lecture at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27 at the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street. Ochieng will speak on “Women as Peacemakers in Africa: Lessons from Uganda.” The event is free and open to the public.

Ochieng has devoted her life to fighting sexual violence against women in societies torn apart by war and civil strife. Whether it is in countries such as the former Yugoslavia or contemporary Sudan and Uganda, systematic rape and often the transmission of the HIV/AIDS virus is a “standard weapon” in warfare.

In the wake of this violence, there is extreme physical and psychological damage, with women often too afraid to speak out against their violators, some of whom continue to live unpunished in neighborhoods and villages.

“Women’s bodies have actually become battle grounds, not only to the rebels who are fighting government, but even the government soldiers are violating women and targeting their sexuality. The violation is all about destroying the inbuilt strength of a woman to build a community, so both warring factions are targeting the woman’s body to make sure that they destroy that community through this woman,” Ochieng says.

At Isis-WICCE, an international women’s organization founded in Geneva in 1974 but based in Kampala since 1993, Ms. Ochieng works to empower women who are victims of violence, to document the violations, and encourage governments to prosecute the criminals. The international women’s organization, named after the Egyptian goddess of wisdom, has been honored for its work researching women’s experiences in Uganda during one of the African continent’s longest civil conflicts.

The UW–Madison Division of International Studies’ J. Jobe Soffa and Marguerite Jacqmin Soffa Distinguished International Visitor Fund provides a regular public lecture on contemporary issues of global significance.