Former child soldier in Lord's Resistance Army receives peace award

A former child soldier who was sexually assaulted and forced into Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) will be awarded for her role in peace building in Uganda this week.

Angela Atim Lakor will receive the Marsh Award for Peace-making and Peace building from the prestigious Wilton Park in London after she co-founded the Watye Ki Gen charity, which translates as 'we have hope'.

Angela Atim Lakor will be awarded the peace prize in London this week. World Vision

The group supports females who have returned from the LRA and their children and aims to help women fight the stigma associated with being a LRA survivor. When they return to their villages the association with LRA affects every area of their lives from employment to their children's education.

After she escaped the infamous LRA Angela was supported by World Vision's Children of War Reintegration Centre which has helped reintegrate nearly 15,000 former child soldiers and children born in captivity in the past decade.

Erica Hall, World Vision UK's Technical Policy Lead on Child Protection, said: 'Children are vulnerable in the face of conflict. Recent UN figures show that there were at least 14,500 grave violations against children in armed conflict last year, including recruitment, sexual violence and abductions.'

News
EU mission to review Pakistan’s human rights record
EU mission to review Pakistan’s human rights record

Rights activists urged the European Union to investigate widespread human rights violations in Pakistan, including persecution of religious minorities, ahead of a review starting Monday by a key EU mission monitoring the country’s eligibility for preferential trade terms.

Government urged to support nation's historic churches
Government urged to support nation's historic churches

The Church of England is urging the government to step up financial support for historic churches and cathedrals after a new poll by Savanta found that many people use and appreciate them. 

The decades long exodus of Anglican clergy into Catholicism
The decades long exodus of Anglican clergy into Catholicism

Women priests and a papal visit in 2010 all helped ease the path to Rome.

VAT may crush struggling churches
VAT may crush struggling churches

Having already managed to close down at least 50 private schools via VAT, concerns are mounting that a similar financial assault will take its toll on the nation’s churches.