African duo in Sweden for Right Livelihood ceremony – DW – 2022-11-30
Fartuun Adan and her daughter Ilwad Elman will be featured 2022 Right Livelihood Award in Stockholm on Wednesday evening.
The Swedish-based NGO Right Livelihood announced in September that the Somali duo had won the award for their courage to market peace, demilitarization and human rights in Somalia in the face of terrorism and gender-based violence.
A third African, Dickens Kamugisha, was honored for his courageous work for climate justice and community rights violated by extractive energy projects in Uganda.
“2022 Right Livelihood Award Winner are grassroots actors dedicated to strengthening their communities, says Ole von Uexkull, CEO of Right Livelihood.
Von Uexkull added that their successes show how people can build societies on the principles of justice rather than exploitation.
The Right Livelihood Award (also known as the Alternative Nobel) was established in 1980 and honors and supports courageous people who are solving global problems. The award comes with long-term support to highlight and expand the awardees’ work.
So far, 190 laureates from 74 countries have received the award.
Elman’s devotion to peace
Ilwad Elman, 33, was just 7 years old when her father, Elman Ali Ahmed, a prominent Somali peace activist, was murdered in 1996 in his home country.
When she was 2 years old, civil war broke out in Somalia, forcing her family to seek refuge in neighboring countries before moving to Canada.
Ahmed’s killing was linked to Elman Peace – a non-profit organization that Elman’s mother, Adan, founded with Ahmed in 1990.
At the time, the organization focused on an initiative called “Drop the Gun, Pick Up the Pen,” which supported the disarmament, rehabilitation and reintegration of thousands of young people from clan-based militias in Somalia.
Since the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia and its people have not known peace, and the government is currently battling the al-Shabab extremist group.
Helpless war toys
Armed groups and intelligence agencies often use children as soldiers because more than 60% of Somalia’s population is under the age of 25.
A 2022 UN report states that “serious violations against children committed by all parties to the conflict continue unabated.”
The report also reveals that children are being abused “at staggering levels”.
Strive for purpose
Although safe in Canada, Adan and Elman were restless at the chaos at home.
“Throughout my upbringing, I knew there was more,” Elman said.
“I knew I had a calling and a purpose,” Elman said
Their restlessness grew into discontent, and eventually Adan returned to Somalia in 2006 to continue Elman Peace’s work and her husband’s legacy.
Four years later, Elman went with his mother to Somalia. “At the age of 19, I felt compelled to return to Somalia to see what role I could play in the peaceful transition out of the conflict,” she said.
Desperate for change
But when she returned to the country in 2010, Elman was inspired by the young Somalis who were desperate for change.
“When I came back to Somalia, I was greeted by essentially a nation of children who have also been entangled in conflict all their lives,” she said
She saw an opportunity to influence young, malleable minds desperately searching for peace.
“There were many opportunities to break the cycle.”
Elman chose to stay in Somalia, despite the dangerous context in which she and her mother work.
Forced to act
“I felt compelled and I felt a call to action and I will say that is the moment I decided to stay and continue to fight for peace,” Elman said.
“So I stayed in Somalia because I saw that there is an opportunity for young people to lead.”
Together, the duo has pioneered peace and justice projects in Somalia for which Ahmed was murdered.
The two have also championed climate and security, human rights and protection, gender and equality issues, education, livelihoods and employment-related projects in Somalia.
Combating gender-based violence
According to the United Nations, in 2021 Somalia witnessed an “alarming” 80% increase in sexual violence compared to 2019, often resulting in the death of victims.
Domestic legislation to counter such practices often stalls in Somalia’s fractured political system.
Right Livelihood states that Somalia is witnessing “endemic infanticide, unsafe abortions and an overwhelming number of babies being dumped on the streets of Mogadishu shortly after birth.”
Elman and Adan have provided a safe home for abandoned children to counter these acts of gender-based violence.
Upon their return, Adan and Elman founded Sister Somalia, the first rape crisis center in the country to support survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.
Such centers now exist in eight regions of Somalia. They provide psychosocial counseling, trauma healing and emergency medical care.
Their services include legal aid, shelters and transitional housing for survivors, and the provision of education and livelihoods.
Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration
Ole von Uexkull, executive director at Right Livelihood said Adan and Elman had decided to build peace in Somalia by reintegrating ex-combatants.
“Their intergenerational and holistic work provides a safe haven for many in the midst of instability,” von Uexkull said.
One of Adan and Elman’s most important achievements has been their approach to the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former combatants, including child soldiers.
Their model, with a focus on localization, changes the traditional approach to peacebuilding processes by creating a space for critical thinking and engagement. Their style differs from the typical international and interventionist model.
Focus on mental health
The Somalia-based nonprofit’s rehabilitation work with ex-combatants emphasizes mental health.
Recognizing that traditional psychosocial support was ineffective due to cultural norms, Elman Peace began exploring how to use Somalia’s coastal environment through ocean and surf therapy to address psychological trauma.
The Ocean Therapy projects create an entry point for discourse among ex-combatants and reflect the need to address mental health and trauma caused by prolonged conflict.
Uganda’s Kamugisha: Standing up for the voiceless
Ugandan activist Dickens Kamugisha has resisted threats from governments and corporations as his organization, the Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO), ensures that communities affected by colonialist extractive energy projects can raise their voices at national and international levels.
According to government estimates, Uganda has between 1.8 billion and 2.2 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the country’s northwestern Albertine region.
The main projects include the Tilenga and Kingfisher pipelines, which would supply the oil to the East African Crude Pipeline (EACOP), and the Uganda Oil Refinery, which plans to produce 60,000 barrels per day.
German NGO Urgewald says the Tilenga Pipeline would displace more than 31,000 people and EACOP would displace more than 86,000 in Uganda and Tanzania.
Fighting for women’s rights
In 2012, oil extraction operations expanded in Uganda, and the government and oil companies attempted to displace over 7,000 people, including 3,500 women.
Kamugisha said women in these communities were not allowed to own land, so their husbands tried to get the allowance and use it as they wished without their wives’ involvement.
AFIEGO stopped the unjust act.
“We worked with other partners to ensure that the women also signed the allowance with their husbands so they can see how the money was used,” Kamugisha said.
“Through our business, some of our women were also recognized and they were able to protect their compensation,” he continued. “With that allowance, some of their children could go back to school.”
AFIEGO models a democratic and renewable energy path for African countries by using bottom-up work at the intersection of societal, economic and environmental issues.
Threats and harassment
As a result of their activities to prevent environmental damage and protect the rights of communities, AFIEGO has faced threats and harassment from the authorities.
As a result, their offices have been raided on several occasions and their staff have been arrested and imprisoned.
In a widely condemned move in August 2021, the National Bureau for Non-Governmental Organizations suspended 54 civil society organizations in Uganda, including AFIEGO, indefinitely, allegedly for violating the rules.
The organization has continued to operate since this announcement, albeit under increasing pressure.
This article was first published in September 2022 and has been updated.
Edited by: Chrispin Mwakideu