Launch of gender justice film on the LRA in the Central African Republic

Today, the Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice launches a gender justice advocacy video Our Plea: Women and Girls from the Central African Republic turn to the ICC for justice. The video, screened today for the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, features testimonies of young women who were abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in South-Eastern Central African Republic (CAR).
 
The 9 minute film calls on the ICC to open enquiries into the activities of the LRA in CAR including investigations into the gender-based crimes allegedly committed by this group and also requests support from the CAR government for assistance, medical treatment,  counselling and economic opportunities for victims/survivors of LRA crimes.  Those taken by the militia group also call on the government to provide assistance for them to be able to complete their education which was interrupted by their abduction and enslavement by the LRA
 
Filmed by one of the Women's Initiatives' partners in the CAR, Jeunesse Unie pour la Protection de l'Environnement et le Développement Communautaire (JUPEDEC), Our Plea is a part of a larger video advocacy initiative launched in 2010 between the Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice and WITNESS. The project will produce six gender justice films highlighting sexual and gender-based violence and other gender issues in armed conflicts, fragile states and post-conflict environments.
 
Five of the six documentary countries selected for the project currently have situations under investigation by the ICC. They are also countries where the Women’s Initiatives has extensive domestic peace and justice programmes and well established partnerships with a large number of grassroots women’s rights and peace networks and organizations. All of the videos were filmed and co-edited by the Women’s Initiatives’ local partners in each of the conflict and post-conflict settings.
 
Videos in this series include No Longer Silent (Northern Uganda) and Our Voices Matter (DRC). The documentaries on Kenya and Kyrgyzstan are currently in production. The films will soon be available on our website.

Follow the launch of Our Plea live on Twitter @4GenderJustice

Read the press release of the launch of Our Plea