Tag Archives: TJ Policy

What Became of Reparations?

ICTJ JRP Reparations Dialogue 25Aug2011
JRP's Lino Owor Ogora gives leads the stocktaking exercise at the reparations dialogue

The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), in collaboration with the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) and the Soroti Development Association & NGOs Network (SODANN), held a one-day dialogue on reparations for victims of conflict in northern Uganda on Thursday, August 25, 2011, at Landmark Hotel in Soroti. The event was attended by 25 participants from across the greater North, including Teso, Lango, Acholi, Karamoja and West Nile sub-regions. Facilitators shared presentations on a range of topics relating to reparations, including a conceptual overview of reparations programmes, engendering reparations, international and domestic legal frameworks for reparations, stocktaking in the represented sub-regions, victims’ perspectives, the Kenyan experience, the relationship between reparations and development projects and building consensus and a way forward. Throughout the event, there were also opportunities for participants to share their views and experiences and ask questions or provide comments on the facilitators’ presentations. The majority of participant feedback is captured in the five Discussion sections of this report.

To access the full report, click here.

“Targets or Captives? Obama’s LRA Challenge,” CIC, 19 Oct. 2011

“Targets or Captives? Obama’s LRA Challenge,” CIC, 19 Oct. 2011
http://www.opencanada.org/features/targets-or-captives-obama%e2%80%99s-lra-challenge/#.Tpydk0dlwRk.facebook

By Erin Baines

Last week in Gulu, northern Uganda, in what might seem like a rather ordinary event, something remarkable happened: Grace gave birth, surrounded by her female friends.  After more than thirty hours of hard labour and an emergency caesarean section, Grace’s tiny baby girl was placed into her arms. The bringing of new life into this world is always special, but this time it represented a moment in which a group of friends that had suffered through decades of war, each having lost family members, opportunities to study and their own childhood, could hope again.

The women were all once abductees of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). They have all lived, grown up, and borne children inside the confines of the rebel group’s camps.  Grace herself was abducted by the rebels at the age of 14 and forced to marry a rebel commander.  The birth of her daughter amongst so much love is the promise of new life.

The women now work in a small project in northern Uganda, the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP), to help victims of the war tell their story, to heal and to seek social change. I have worked with this group since they began in 2005 and watched them come together as a family that loves and cares for each other, helping each other rebuild their own lives as well as that of others who lost. They are a stark reminder that, while the rebel leader Joseph Kony remains free and continues to commit atrocities, he is surrounded by literally hundreds of people who were forced into, and now find home in his confines.

Today U.S. President Barack Obama announced he is deploying 100 “combat-equipped” troops to Uganda to help efforts to arrest or eradicate rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) – rebels responsible for the suffering of millions of people in Uganda and neighbouring countries. The U.S. troops will work with the Ugandan military to root out the rebels and put an end to their more than two decades of terror. The LRA is one of the cruellest, most brutal rebel groups known, abducting tens of thousands of children like Grace and forcing them to fight in a war, or to be wives to commanders. In addition to abduction, the rebel signature is the murder, mutilation, rape and plunder of civilians.

Originally operational in Uganda and later Sudan, the LRA’s numbers and strength have dwindled in recent years. In 2003 a Ugandan-led military operation against LRA bases in Sudan led to the escape or release of many captives, including Grace, and the capture of commanders. But the leadership, including enigmatic spirit leader Joseph Kony and military war criminals like Okot Odhiambo remain at large, and continue to abduct, kill and maim civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and in South Sudan, where they operate across borders in small mobile groups. Indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2005, these are men everyone wants to see stopped and held accountable.

Obama’s decision to send troops seems like a positive step. The countries affected support the military action to end human suffering and welcome the troops to defeat a small rebel group that has caused so much damage. Certainly the young activists who have long demanded Obama, and before him George W. Bush, to do something –  anything – to end the atrocities of the LRA are cheering.  Human rights activists in the U.S. and around the globe have done everything in their power to direct attention to the suffering of abducted children and communities affected by the LRA. Groups like Resolve, Invisible Children and Enough have tried a range of advocacy tactics from holding house parties to raise awareness of American youth, abducting themselves until local politicians or notables agreed to help, talking to Oprah and more conventional tactics like mobilizing massive numbers of students to lobby their state representatives to push a bill on the LRA through Congress.

One of the most impressive strategies to date has been the creation of the LRA tracker, which creates a visual database of all LRA atrocities – each attack, abduction or murder – they currently commit as they move through north eastern Congo today, made possible by working with local organizations working on the ground to solidify communication and protection networks. Surely Obama, whom leaders of these young activists have met, was inspired by their own courage to do something too.

Grace and others who were abducted and escaped during the campaign against the rebels in Sudan, however, worry. Over the years I have worked with JRP in northern Uganda, I have witnessed the team learn when someone had escaped and arrived at the reception centre, only to rush there to console the person now safe and to assure that life can begin anew. Once those who reach safety are healthy – for many return with varying states of malnutrition, disease and wounds of war – Grace and the team work to help them reunite with their families, to find housing and employment, and to soothe them through periods of mourning for those they lost. They tell stories of the days with the rebels, the difficulties of life on the battlefield being chased by the Ugandan army. Some women gave birth without any medical attention under a tree as bullets were exchanged.  Others described the moment they realized their child had been hit by a bullet, how there was no time to do anything but lie the child down and continue to flee.  Grace knows these painful stories more than anyone else; her five-year-old son, born of forced marriage, was killed when a military bomb was dropped on him in 2004.

So while the military action is a triumph of years of activists and victims calling for the world to intervene and to stop this campaign of violence, I am reminded by the birth of that baby girl that LRA commanders surround themselves with those they have abducted, with innocent women, men and children, who have nothing to do with this war but who suffer as their captives.

The LRA has always been unique in this manner. For years they moved with mothers and children as they fought, refusing to release them. The commanders surround themselves with child soldiers (girls and boys who form the front line). But the LRA is also unique in that some of the commanders themselves are victims. For instance, one of the most wanted commanders, ICC indicted Dominic Ongwen, was captured around 1990 when he was about ten years old.  At some undefined point, the international community decided that Ongwen no longer deserved the right to be rescued by the international community, but to be hunted down and held accountable for this war.

The abduction of children and birth of children into the LRA complicates questions of justice and humanitarian intervention in what, at first blush, seems like an easy victory for Obama’s foreign policy team. But as those hundred U.S. soldiers arrive to shore up the Ugandan military’s effort, will they know how to differentiate a rebel from a child who is captive? Will bombs land only on the commanders responsible, sparing the lives of the children? I would feel much more relief if I was reassured that their tracking technologies are equipped to help those being held against their will – some who have been there for decades, others only months – to find their way home. The chance for new life for babies born into love after so much suffering and death depends on the wisdom of Obama and others who join them to end this war, to know the difference. In addition to a military operation to capture Joseph Kony, this must also be a humanitarian mission to free those whose lives he has tried to destroy.

Erin Baines is co-founder of the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) in Gulu, Uganda.

Photo by Lara Rosenoff-Gauvin: Beatrice in Padibe IDP Camp, Kitgum District, Northern Uganda 2007. Beatrice was abducted by the LRA when she was 12 and served 2 years before escaping. 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 3 boys have been abducted at some point by the LRA to serve as ‘child soldiers’ in Northern Uganda. www.hernameisbeatrice.com

“Amnesty is the price northern Uganda paid for peace in the region,” Daily Monitor, 4 Oct 2011

“Amnesty is the price northern Uganda paid for peace in the region,” Daily Monitor, 4 Oct 2011
http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Letters/-/806314/1247450/-/10tmcoj/-/index.html

By Lino Owor Ogora

On September 22, the Constitutional Court ruled that ex- LRA commander Thomas Kwoyelo, was entitled to amnesty in line with Uganda’s Amnesty Act 2000. This ruling attracted mixed reactions from various sections of the public.

The question of whether or not to offer war criminals amnesty has always been controversial. It is a question that peacemakers around the world have had to grapple with. Many peace processes have been successful because of amnesty offered to perpetrators. In South Africa for example, amnesty was pivotal in ensuring that the leaders of the apartheid regime negotiated with and eventually handed over power to the African National Congress. It also encouraged many perpetrators who had committed war crimes to confess, which in some instances even led to the recovery of human remains which had been secretly buried. In West Nile, amnesty proved a critical factor in determining the surrender of the West Nile Bank Front II.

Likewise, in northern Uganda, amnesty is the price we have had to pay for peace. Amnesty in northern Uganda was so effective that it led to the surrender of many top commanders. According to the Amnesty Commission’s records, over 10,000 LRA combatants abandoned rebellion and were granted amnesty. Amnesty was even more critical given that the majority of the LRA army was composed of children abducted and turned into rebels. Kwoyelo falls into this category, having been abducted when he was only 15 years old.

But for many people, this part of Kwoyelo’s history does not matter. They feel he has to be punished for what he is now. While I agree that Kwoyelo must be held accountable, we should also keep in mind the circumstances surrounding him. The case of Kwoyelo is critical in ensuring that not all LRA fighters are viewed as a homogenous group of killers, which will enable us devise means of handling them on a case by case basis, a factor which was missing in Kwoyelo’s trial.

If it were not for amnesty, millions of people would still be living within IDP camps. Thousands more children would have been abducted, and even the Juba peace talks which ushered in the prevailing peace in northern Uganda would not have taken place.

It is not surprising that most of the people baying for Kwoyelo’s blood are those who live in comfort and safety outside northern Uganda. While such people may sympathise with victims, they do not understand the situation on the ground. If you lived in northern Uganda during the period of the insurgency, you would understand and appreciate the prioritisation of ‘peace first justice later’. It is because of this prioritisation that northern Ugandans were at the forefront of advocating amnesty as a crucial factor in ending the conflict.

Lino Owor Ogora,
Justice & Reconciliation Project, Gulu District

JRP-IJR Policy Briefs on TJ in Northern Uganda

From November 2010 to February 2011, the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP), in collaboration with the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR), organized a series of consultations with victims of conflict in Northern Uganda, entitled ‘Enhancing Grassroots Involvement in Transitional Justice Debates.’ The consultations, held in the Acholi/Lango, Teso, and West Nile sub‐regions, focused on truth‐telling, traditional justice, reparations and gender justice within the context of Uganda’s transitional justice processes.

Based on views from grassroots communities, we have released a series of policy briefs that elaborate on these four areas and provide a series of recommendations to the Government of Uganda, cultural institutions, the International Criminal Court and other stakeholders.

To read more about each of the briefs, visit the links below:

Traditional Justice and War Crimes in Northern Uganda
JRP-IJR Policy Brief No. 1
By Lino Owor Ogora and Tim Murithi

Pay Us so We Can Forget: Reparations for Victims and Affected Communities in Northern Uganda
JRP-IJR Policy Brief No. 2
By Lindsay McClain and Allan Ngari

Missing Stories: Truth-seeking Processes in Northern Uganda
JRP-IJR Policy Brief No. 3
By Roza Freriks and Lino Owor Ogora

Gender Justice and Reconciliation in Northern Uganda
JRP-IJR Policy Brief No. 4
By Sylvia Opinia and Friederike Bubenzer

We will be officially launching these policy briefs in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more details on dates and locations.

Note: IJR has posted the same briefs on their blog here.

Gender Justice and Reconciliation in Northern Uganda, Policy Brief No. 4

By Sylvia Opinia and Friederike Bubenzer

JRP-IJR Policy Brief No. 4

This policy brief assesses the gender‐specific transitional justice (TJ) needs of survivors of gender‐based violence in Northern Uganda.

From November 2010 to February 2011, the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP), in collaboration with the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR), organized a series of consultations with victims of conflict in Northern Uganda, entitled ‘Enhancing Grassroots Involvement in Transitional Justice Debates.’ The consultations, held in the Acholi/Lango, Teso, and West Nile sub‐regions, focused on truth‐telling, traditional justice, reparations and gender justice within the context of Uganda’s transitional justice processes.2 As part of the consultations, a separate session was held on the topic of gender justice and the extent to which it does / does not presently feature in Uganda’s transitional justice framework. Discussions at the consultations highlighted the need for Uganda’s unique gender relations and dynamics to be closely scrutinized and taken into consideration by policy‐makers in the development of transitional justice mechanisms.

The Justice Law and Order Sector (JLOS) is currently developing and implementing an accountability and reconciliation framework to deal with the legacies of conflict in Uganda. With the progress in the establishment of the International Crimes Division (ICD) of the High Court, JLOS has undertaken a series of consultations in order to propose law and policy reforms in line with its mandate. This process presents an excellent opportunity to critically examine and document the widespread occurrence of gender‐based violence in Northern Uganda and the vast implications on individuals and communities.

This policy brief describes gender‐based violence, its occurrence and effects on local communities during and after the conflict in Northern Uganda, as well as the needs of the victims as expressed during the JRP‐IJR consultations. It concludes with a series of recommendations to the Government of Uganda through the Justice Law and Order Sector.

To download the full brief, click here.

Missing Stories: Truth-seeking Processes in Northern Uganda, Policy Brief No. 3

By Roza Freriks and Lino Owor Ogora

JRP-IJR Policy Brief No. 3

This policy brief explores the continued relevance of truth‐seeking as an instrument of transitional justice and peace building in Northern Uganda. Over two years after the dissolution of the Juba Peace Talks in November 2008, several questions remain unanswered regarding how truth‐seeking might promote accountability and reconciliation in Northern Uganda.

From November 2010 to February 2011, the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP), in collaboration with the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR), organized a series of consultations with victims of conflict in Northern Uganda, entitled ‘Enhancing Grassroots Involvement in Transitional Justice Debates.’ The consultations, held in the Acholi/Lango, Teso, and West Nile sub‐regions, focused on truth‐telling, traditional justice, reparations and gender justice within the context of Uganda’s transitional justice processes.

This policy brief captures victims’ views on truth‐seeking in Northern Uganda. During the consultations it became evident that victims across Northern Uganda want to understand what exactly took place during the conflict and why. They insist that only after learning the truth will they be able to forgive and reconcile with the perpetrators. This policy brief is intended to inform relevant stakeholders of the need for a truth‐telling process in Uganda, the challenges such a process presents, and propose a way forward for the Ugandan truth‐telling process.

To download the full brief, click here.

Pay Us so We Can Forget: Reparations for Victims and Affected Communities in Northern Uganda, Policy Brief No. 2

By Lindsay McClain and Allan Ngari

JRP-IJR Policy Brief No. 2

After more than two decades of conflict, victims, the Government and civil society in Uganda are grappling with how to implement effective transitional justice (TJ) mechanisms in the country. Informed by widespread consultations with victims across the greater northern region of Uganda, this policy brief focuses specifically on the right to reparations and aims to highlight the most pressing reparations needs identified by victims. The briefing concludes with specific recommendations to concerned parties, namely the imperative need for a national framework to guide reparations processes in Uganda.

From November 2010 to February 2011, the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP), in collaboration with the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR), organized a series of consultations with victims of the conflict in Northern Uganda, entitled ‘Enhancing Grassroots Involvement in Transitional Justice Debates.’ The consultations, held in the Acholi/Lango, Teso and West Nile sub‐regions, focused on truth‐telling, traditional justice, reparations and gender justice within the context of Uganda’s transitional justice processes.

The purpose of this briefing is to share the consultations’ findings on reparations and inform stakeholders on specific policy and programming needs which will best assist victims and their families. By highlighting the issues identified by victims and making specific recommendations to concerned parties, unique insight is provided into the right to reparations and the specific reparations mechanisms needed to support efforts for sustainable peace and reconciliation in Northern Uganda.

The title of this policy brief is derived from an emotional response of a participant at the West Nile regional consultation (held 24-25 November 2010) when discussing the topic of reparations. Although compensation forms one part of the reparations process, this phraseology reflects the state of mind of many victims and affected communities in Northern Uganda. They view compensation as a key component of justice.

To download the full brief, click here.

Traditional Justice and War Crimes in Northern Uganda, Policy Brief No. 1

By Lino Owor Ogora and Tim Murithi

JRP-IJR Policy Brief No. 1

This policy brief assesses the continuing relevance of traditional justice in Northern Uganda. Over two years after the dissolution of the Juba peace negotiations in November 2008, several questions continue to remain unanswered regarding how traditional justice mechanisms can be utilized to promote accountability and reconciliation. More specifically, questions persist as to whether traditional justice can be utilized to address war crimes and crimes against humanity. There is still uncertainty in the field as to how traditional approaches can complement the wider national and international processes of transitional justice.

Between November 2010 and February 2011, the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP), in collaboration with the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR), organized a series of consultations with victims of conflict in Northern Uganda, entitled ‘Enhancing Grassroots Involvement in Transitional Justice Debates.’ The consultations, held in the Acholi/Lango, Teso and West Nile sub‐regions, focused on truth‐telling, traditional justice, reparations and gender justice within the context of Uganda’ s transitional justice processes. Based on views from grassroots communities, this policy brief notes that traditional mechanisms are still considered by many in Northern Uganda as mechanisms that can promote reconciliation and healing within war‐affected communities. It concludes with a series of recommendations to the Government of Uganda, cultural institutions and the International Criminal Court.

To download the full brief, click here.

Col. Thomas Kwoyelo makes his first public appearance before the ICD in Gulu

Updates on the Trial of Col. Thomas Kwoyelo

Col. Thomas Kwoyelo makes his first public appearance before the ICD in Gulu
Col. Thomas Kwoyelo makes his first public appearance before the ICD in Gulu

Finally, after several months of delays and postponements, the long awaited trial of Col. Thomas Kwoyelo kicked off in the International Crimes Division (ICD), which held its first landmark session in the High Court of Gulu on Monday, July 11, 2011.

The much anticipated trial attracted visitors from all over the globe, in addition to many of the local nationals who flocked the High Court and crammed it to capacity. In attendance were civil society organizations, members of the district local government, the media, victims and the public at large. The trial started with an inspection of the guard of honour by Hon. Justice Akiiki Kiiza, the head of the ICD. Other Judges in attendance were Hon. Justice Elizabeth Ibanda Nahamya, Hon. Justice Alphonse Owiny Dollo, in addition to the Principal Judge Hon. Justice Yorokamu Bamwine. The prosecution team was led by state attorney Joan Kagezi and backed by Mr. George William Byansi and Mr. Anguzu Lino. The defence was led by Mr. Alaka Caleb, and his colleague Mr. Onyango John Francis.

This brief provides an overview of the opening.

To access the brief, click here.

Kwoyelo Trial Opening, 11 July 2011

[AFG_gallery id=’31’]

Finally, after several months of delays and postponements, the long awaited trial of Col. Thomas Kwoyelo kicked off in the International Crimes Division (ICD), which held its first landmark session in the High Court of Gulu. The much anticipated trial attracted visitors from all over the globe, in addition to many of the local nationals who flocked the High Court and crammed it to capacity. In attendance were civil society organizations, members of the district local government, the media, victims and the public at large. The trial started with an inspection of the guard of honour by Hon. Justice Akiiki Kiiza, the head of the ICD. Other Judges in attendance were Hon. Justice Elizabeth Ibanda Nahamya, Hon. Justice Alphonse Owiny Dollo, in addition to the Principal Judge Hon. Justice Yorokamu Bamwine. The prosecution team was led by state attorney Joan Kagezi and backed by Mr. George William Byansi and Mr. Anguzu Lino. The defence was led by Mr. Alaka Caleb, and his colleague Mr. Onyango John Francis.