WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY:
PERU

"It's been like a shadow over my life. There is not a single moment in which I can feel happy. I had my first child when I was fifteen. I was on my own and there was no one to help me. I need to see my mother's bones so that I can bury her. Everyone has somewhere to go to say farewell to their dead. I have a right to be happy, too."

Liz Rojas Valdez, whose mother, a single parent, went out one afternoon to buy a sack of potatoes and never returned. 8 April 2002

"My daughter Luz Quesñay studied in La Cantuta University and in 1994 was unjustly accused of belonging to the Shining Path. She was tortured and imprisoned for nearly seven years.

Our hope is resting on the Truth Commission; we want it to recognize that the twenty years of political violence created thousands of victims. We await the final report, which we hope will take a stance on the reparations owed to those affected by the political violence. We have learnt from the experiences of other countries, particularly on the subject of reparations. As part of a Network of Freed Innocent Prisoners we are about to file a collective lawsuit for reparations from the State, for damages and moral harm. "

Gloria Gamarra de Quesñay on the peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission