Made possible by a grant from the Fred J. Hansen Foundation

2005 Women PeaceMakers Biographical Abstracts

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Sr. Pauline Acayo of Uganda

As peacebuilding project officer for Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in Gulu, Sister Pauline Acayo has been instrumental in helping over 2,000 formerly abducted children reintegrate into their communities through the use of mediation, psychosocial trauma counseling and traditional indigenous ceremonies. Through Acayo’s support of women peace committees in internally displaced peoples’ (IDP) camps and encouragement to participate in peace and reconciliation activities, women are gaining influential roles in northern Ugandan society. She trains women task forces and creates community forums for women to voice their views. These task forces also work in coordination with Acayo and CRS to promote reconciliation and forgiveness in communities torn apart by 20 years of war.

Throughout the 2006 presidential and parliamentary election process, Acayo was instrumental in ensuring free and fair election processes. Prior to election day, she conducted civic education sessions and pushed for greater women’s representation in government.Acayo is also making strides in coordinating civil society efforts for peacebuilding in Uganda. With the initiation of peace talks in Juba, Sudan between the government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in 2006, a large number of IDPs and refugees have been returning home. Acayo is engaged with other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in educating the displaced communities on land rights and the land tenure system, hoping to alleviate and prevent land disputes as the people return to their homes.

Together with the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative, Acayo and CRS have formed sub-county and district religious leaders’ peace committees to institutionalize the resolution of conflict through dialogue and mediation. Acayo also coordinated with CRS and the Inter-Religious Council of Churches to develop a peace and reconciliation strategy workshop for senior religious leaders in Uganda and the Great Lakes region, effectively sending the voices of religious leaders to the Juba peace talks. Acayo has been honored with a Voices of Courage Certificate of Recognition from the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children.

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Mary Ann Arnado of the Philippines

As a lawyer and for several years the deputy director of Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID), a regional institution that promotes solidarity among the peoples of Southeast Asia, Mary Ann Arnado coordinated the grassroots peacebuilding and peace advocacy program in Mindanao, with the goal of promoting the participation of women in the peace process between the government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). In that capacity, Arnado organized the successful Bantay Ceasefire monitoring team, worked directly in zones of conflict to educate warring factions on international humanitarian law and human rights and was appointed by the government peace panel to serve as an official advisor on ancestral domain.

Arnado was also the secretary-general of the Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC), a grassroots network of the Bangsamoro, indigenous peoples and Christian settlers, which seeks to promote indigenous peacemaking mechanisms and facilitate dialogue. During the Buliok War of 2003, Arnado helped mobilize over 10,000 IDPs who were demanding an immediate ceasefire between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the MILF, a demand heeded by both sides. She recently participated in the International Women’s Peace and Solidarity Mission to Basilan to investigate the recurrence of violence and the situation of the displaced in the region.

Arnado was instrumental in the success of the Basilan incident fact-finding mission, formed in response to the beheading of 14 members of the AFP, and comprised of representatives from the AFP, MILF and Bantay Ceasefire. Her insistence that the investigators visit the actual site of the incident resulted in the correct identification of the offending party. Arnado’s participation in this mission further articulated the need to openly address issues of sexual violence as a result of conflict. With cultural norms dictating otherwise, Arnado is examining avenues to bring this issue to light in order for true root causes and ramifications of conflict to be incorporated into peace processes.

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Emmaculeta Chiseya of Zimbabwe

Emmaculeta Chiseya, a mother of two from Harare, Zimbabwe has worked to gender-sensitize community development and promote human rights for over 15 years. From 1996 to 2000, Chiseya was responsible for the promotion, protection and defense of human rights under the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association. During an increasingly dangerous period of Zimbabwean history, she has helped pioneer human rights education and civic education curricula in schools throughout the country. As a project officer for the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), Chiseya advocates for democracy and electoral education and serves as an election monitor.

In 2007, ZESN intensified its efforts for democracy through electoral education, election monitoring and observation, research, advocacy and information dissemination. Chiseya is focusing on educating the Zimbabwean citizenry on the principles and responsibilities of democracy through workshops and community training. She is also carrying out trainings-for-trainers to expand the base of qualified democracy education trainers. To date, she has trained 240 people who are carrying out workshops in 120 constituencies throughout the country. Chiseya has produced democracy education publications and is utilizing radio programs tailored to youth and marginalized communities to facilitate their participation in political processes. She is involved in a nationwide campaign to emphasize active citizen participation in view of the forthcoming 2008 presidential and parliamentary elections, encouraging political tolerance during campaigns while seeking greater voter registration.

Chiseya has experience educating police and other security forces to desist from torture practices, and has used theater to encourage greater understanding of human rights. In the current dangerous climate in Zimbabwe, with exorbitant inflation and unemployment rates and a nonexistent health care system, the rights which the constitution grants are challenged; politically motivated violence confronts the citizens who are seeking a return to peace. With the impending 2008 elections, human rights activists and peacemakers must maneuver carefully simply to assemble. Torture practices by police are on the rise. Chiseya is working to help people negotiate these pitfalls in order to move democratic change and human rights forward. She believes in the right of the people to elect a government of their choice without fear.

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Thavory Huot of Cambodia

A survivor of three decades of civil war, genocide and domestic violence, Thavory Huot, from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, is currently affiliated with Brahmavihara, the Cambodia AIDS Project. Prior to this, she was the program manager of the Peace Education and Awareness Unit of the Working Group for Weapons Reduction. The group works to reduce weapons; promote peace and non-violent problem solving; and strengthen the capacity of high school teachers, pedagogical trainers, teachers-in-training and Cambodian civil society to build a peaceful and safe country.

In the 1970s, Huot witnessed the death of most of her family under the brutality of the Khmer Rouge. During those years, she was forced into manual labor, building dams and irrigation channels, and transplanting, plowing and harvesting rice. After the Vietnamese invasion in 1979, Huot survived by teaching in exchange for food for almost a decade. In the 1990s, she became the project coordinator of the Buddhist Association of Nuns and Lay Women, where she worked to empower women on national reconciliation and to heal the wounds of many years of war and genocide. Domestic violence, including assaults with a deadly weapon, is common following years of conflict, and Huot has worked in various projects against such violence since 1998. She is the mother of three adult children, two of her own and an adopted nephew, all of whom she says serve as inspiration for her tireless efforts to make peace in her scarred country. She states, "I would never want my children to suffer the way I did."

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Contact Information:
Erika Lopez, MA
Women PeaceMakers Program
Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice
University of San Diego
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, CA 92110
USA
Fax: 1.619.260.7570
* Alternative fax number: 1.619.260.7809
E-mail: erika.lopez@sandiego.edu