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JRP and IJR have embarked on a partnership to collect victims’ views on justice

Enhancing Grassroots Involvement in TJ Debates

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JRP and IJR have embarked on a partnership to collect victims’ views on justiceToday the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP), in partnership with the South Africa-based Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR), commenced a series of grassroots consultations in northern Uganda to explore local perspectives on transitional justice.

These consultations are part of a larger JRP/IJR project, titled “Enhancing Grassroots Participation in

Transitional Justice Debates,” which aims to intensify local advocacy and consultation of victims in northern Uganda around issues of transitional justice ahead of the 2011 presidential and parliamentary elections. Over the next three months, JRP/IJR will hold extensive consultations with a broad range of stakeholders, including grassroots communities, JLOS (Justice, Law and Order Sector), CSOs and local government leaders to gain a clearer sense of how justice needs can be met.

To download the full press release, click here.

“Arua- Enhancing grassroots involvement in transitional justice debates,” JRP, 23 November 2010

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 23, 2010

Enhancing grassroots involvement in transitional justice debates

GULU / ARUA / SOROTI— Today the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP), in partnership with the South Africa-based Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR), commences a series of grassroots consultations in northern Uganda to explore local perspectives on transitional justice.

The first consultation, to be held November 24-25 at Slumberland Hotel in Arua Town, will engage local-level, grassroots persons directly affected by conflict to ensure that their opinions are not left out of the wider discussions. Thirty participants, comprising primarily of victims and victims’ groups and religious and cultural leaders from across the sub-region, will convene to share views on truth-seeking, traditional justice, community reparations and gender justice.

Subsequent consultations will be held in Gulu/Lango from December 1-2 and Teso sub-region from December 8-9. The findings will be presented at a regional meeting early next year and will work to influence policy recommendations for the implementation of key transitional justice mechanisms in the region.

These consultations are part of a larger JRP/IJR project, titled “Enhancing Grassroots Participation in Transitional Justice Debates,” which aims to intensify local advocacy and consultation of victims in northern Uganda around issues of transitional justice ahead of the 2011 presidential and parliamentary elections. Over the next three months, JRP/IJR will hold extensive consultations with a broad range of stakeholders, including grassroots communities, JLOS (Justice, Law and Order Sector), CSOs and local government leaders to gain a clearer sense of how justice needs can be met.

Media are invited to attend the opening and closing sessions of each of the regional consultations. For more information, email info@justiceandreconciliation.com or call Lindsay McClain, JRP Communications Officer, at +256 (0)471433008 or +256 (0)783300103. Or, visit us on the web at www.justiceandreconciliation.com or www.ijr.org.za.

 

About JRP

The Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) promotes locally sensitive and sustainable peace in Africa’s Great Lakes region by focusing on the active involvement of grassroots communities in local-level transitional justice. They are based in Gulu, northern Uganda.

About IJR

The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) promotes for reconciliation and socio-economic justice in Africa through strategic partnerships and carefully constructed interventions. They are based in Cape Town, South Africa.

To download this press release, click here.

TJ Election Campaign Press Conference, 16 November 2010

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The 2011 Ugandan elections need candidates and parties who commit themselves to sustainable peace in Uganda. This requires not only forward-looking planning and development, but also stakeholders who address past abuses and feelings of injustice. Today, the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) officially launches an advocacy campaign titled, “Casting the Ballot to Address Victimhood: A Call to Put Transitional Justice on the Election Agenda,” to engage war-affected communities and candidates into bringing transitional justice (TJ) issues to the forefront of the elections.

Kick-starting the campaign to put TJ on the election agenda

Press Conference/Release Notice: Casting Election Ballots to Address Victimhood

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Kick-starting the campaign to put TJ on the election agenda

On Tuesday, November 16, JRP held a press conference at our Gulu office to officially launch our new advocacy campaign to put transitional justice on the election agenda.

This campaign, “Casting the Ballot to Address Victimhood: A Call to Put Transitional Justice on the Election Agenda,” will stress six action points and implore a strategic plan to disseminate information and mobilise communities through diverse mechanisms, including direct community engagement, newspapers, handouts, radio, and music. By mobilizing war-affected communities to demand their grievances be addressed and acknowledged, we are providing communities and the country at large a space for reflection, debate, and analysis of the issues.

Thanks to all who joined us from 10-11am as we shared details of the campaign and read a statement on TJ issues facing communities in transition.

To download the press release, click here. To access campaign materials, click here.

“Casting election ballots to address victimhood,” JRP, 16 November 2010

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 16, 2010

Casting election ballots to address victimhood

 

GULU— The 2011 Ugandan elections need candidates and parties who commit themselves to sustainable peace in Uganda. This requires not only forward-looking planning and development, but also stakeholders who address past abuses and feelings of injustice. Today, the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) officially launches an advocacy campaign titled, “Casting the Ballot to Address Victimhood: A Call to Put Transitional Justice on the Election Agenda,” to engage war-affected communities and candidates into bringing transitional justice (TJ) issues to the forefront of the elections.

As Uganda enters election season, we see an immense opportunity for war-affected communities to influence the direction that the justice and reconciliation debate takes in this country, whilst informing aspiring politicians of the political and social value of prioritizing transitional justice. Internationally, transitional justice, or TJ, is increasingly recognized as an important tool in resolving post-conflict instability. However, in many circles, especially among politicians and policy-makers, TJ still remains underestimated and largely misunderstood. In a country like Uganda, with a history of violence, citizens and leaders informed of the merits of TJ mechanisms are vital to healing the wounds of war and ensuring the sustainability of peace—locally, regionally, and nationally.

In order to ensure that victim’s voices and interests are at the forefront of contestants’ minds in the upcoming elections, transitional justice must be prioritized on the election agenda. War-affected communities can prioritize TJ by using their votes wisely and voting only for candidates and parties who address and acknowledge their concerns.

According to the communities in which we work, votes this election should be in favour of contestants and parties who commit to:

  1. Accountability for past abuses: That they support a fair, transparent and balanced national transitional justice system that includes judicial investigations and prosecutions and traditional justice mechanisms, so those responsible for human rights violations are held accountable.
  2. National reconciliation through truth-telling: That they support provisions for truth-telling both at the national and community-levels, so that forgiveness, healing and reconciliation can take place in Uganda.
  3. Reparations for war victims: That they support a national reparations policy to fairly administer reparations to war victims in Uganda. There is need for coordination of all compensation efforts to ensure that reparations schemes across the country are consistent and that victims are consulted throughout the process.
  4. Memorialization: That they commit to undertake symbolic measures to promote remembrance, healing and closure nationally and among their constituencies.
  5. Gender justice: That they support efforts that challenge impunity for sexual and gender-based violence and ensure women and children’s equal access to redress of human rights violations.
  6. Structural reforms: That they support efforts that transform state institutions from instruments of repression and corruption to instruments of public service delivery and integrity, with a transparent and independent military, police and judiciary.

This strategy to encourage voters to hold candidates accountable matches our general approach to community involvement: the most successful activities will engage and empower communities to act for themselves. By reminding voters to ask their candidates where TJ is in their manifestos and then offering six general action points to guide their advocacy, we frame these communities’ arguments into a unifying demand that provides strength in numbers.

Throughout the region, and unfortunately much of the world, there is still a profound lack of understanding of how transitional justice can be effectively implemented. But by mobilizing war-affected communities to demand their grievances be addressed and acknowledged, we are providing communities and the country at large a space for reflection, debate, and analysis of the issues.

Knowledge on effective (and ineffective) TJ measures in these complex environments can greatly combat prevailing cycles of violence and contribute to lasting, sustainable peace in northern Uganda and elsewhere. Putting TJ on the election agenda is crucial to prioritizing the issues, meeting victims’ and survivors’ needs, and constructively ending impunity for past abuses and moving forward as a peaceful Uganda.

For more information on this campaign, email info@justiceandreconciliation.com or call Lindsay McClain, Communications Officer, at +256 (0)471433008. Or, visit us on the web at www.justiceandreconciliation.com.

 

ABOUT JRP

The Justice and Reconciliation Project promotes locally sensitive and sustainable peace in Africa’s Great Lakes region by focusing on the active involvement of grassroots communities in local-level transitional justice. Formerly a partnership of the Gulu District NGO Forum and the Liu Institute for Global Issues, University of British Columbia, Canada, JRP has played a key role in transitional justice in Uganda since 2005, through seeking to understand and explain the interests, needs, concerns and views of the communities affected by war between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and Government of Uganda (GOU). JRP became an independent NGO in 2010 with support from the Royal Norwegian Embassy, Kampala.

To download this press release, click here

Mukura Documentation, 2010

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From September 6-10, members of JRP’s documentation team visited Mukura sub-county, Kumi district, Teso sub-region, to meet with members of the community and document the 1989 Mukura massacre.

During this time, we interviewed members of civil society, government officials, survivors of the massacre, and victims’ families, allowing us to gain insight into many perspectives on the massacre.

According to our findings, on July 11, 1989, the 106th Battalion of the NRA (former name of the national army) rounded-up 300 men suspected of being rebel collaborators against the NRA regime and incarcerated them in a train wagon.

There is little evidence to suggest that most of these men were anything other than innocent civilians. By the time they were released, 87 had suffocated to death. (This figure and some other details are highly contested, showing the need for a credible truth-seeking process into the event).

On June 10, Ugandan Finance Minister Syda Bumba announced that families of victims of the Mukura massacre would receive a total of 200 million Ugandan shillings, as set aside in the 2010/11 national budget.

This information and more gathered during our September visit to Mukura will be compiled into an upcoming report to document the massacre.

“Letter to presidential candidates,” Daily Monitor, 8 November 2010

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“Letter to presidential candidates,” Daily Monitor, 8 November 2010

http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Letters/-/806314/1048938/-/yqhoey/-/index.html

By Lino Owor Ogora

 

The time has come when the country is caught up in the election frenzy; when election campaign convoys paint the streets in all the colours of the rainbow depending on what party one belongs to; when accusations are traded left and right and all candidates believe they are the best for the job; when candidates make all sorts of promises.

Most candidates are promising the usual things that appeal to the ears of the common man: economic revitalisation and an end to poverty; modernisation of agriculture and loans to the rural poor; infrastructure development and good roads; support to the health sector; free education for all and creation of jobs for the youth. The humour in all these election promises is that most of them are hardly kept and are forgotten the moment the election passes. Even political parties that will lose the elections will focus more on demonising the incumbent regime than in pressurising it to implement its election manifesto.

The sad fact with most of the election manifestos that have been unveiled thus far is that they offer a ‘one size fits all’ solution for all regions in Uganda regardless of the current context on the ground.

Northern Uganda for example is just emerging from conflict after over 22 years of civil war, which has had disastrous impacts upon the population. Between 28,000 and 38,000 children are believed to have been abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to serve as child soldiers, sex slaves and porters; it is estimated that over 1.8 million people were displaced and forced to live in squalid conditions of the IDP camps.

I am yet to see a manifesto that seeks to holistically deal with the problems of northern Uganda. In the wake of conflicts, there is always an overwhelming need to pursue a wide variety of post-conflict mechanisms aimed ushering in lasting peace, stability and reconciliation. Perpetrators of war crimes and human rights violations need to be brought to book. There is need for acknowledgement and apology to victims, including a guarantee of non-occurrence. There is need for individual and collective reparations to victims, including compensation for property. There is need for reconciliation. We need proper memorials and monuments constructed in areas where massacres occurred to honour memories of people who lost their lives.

In addition, national development programmes need to be specific in addressing regional imbalances created as a result of the conflict. If we are talking about economic revitalisation and poverty eradication for example, would we address it in northern Uganda the same way we would address it in central Uganda? Would we pursue implementation of education programmes in Karamoja in the same way we would do it in Kampala? Would we make equal budgetary allocations for all regions?

We need to be mindful that after several decades of conflict and instability, the different regions are at different levels of development and therefore require different remedies using different strategies. What do the different political parties intend to do in this regard if elected?

Lino Owor Ogora,
ogoralino@gmail.com

Colombia Exchange, October 2010

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From October 19 to November 2, JRP representatives Ojok Boniface and Ketty Anyeko visited Colombia in the second phase of exchange visits between survivors of war from northern Uganda and Colombia. You may remember that two representatives from Afro-Colombian communities affected by conflict visited JRP and northern Uganda in July for a similar exchange. Again this time, the exchange was facilitated by two professors from the University of British Colombia, Canada: Dr. Erin Baines (a JRP co-founder) and Dr. Pilar Riano.

The conflict in Colombia has lasted for over 50 years and is still ongoing. The objective of this exchange relationship between Uganda and Colombia is to learn and share work experiences on advocacy, documentation and memory works with victims of violent conflicts.

During the course of the visit, Boniface and Ketty met with missionaries working for human rights protection in Afro-Colombian communities, held discussions with women’s groups and displaced communities, met with organisations working to better the situation of war-affected persons, and met with historical memory groups.

Through this exchange, they learned several lessons based on the Colombian experience, including:

 

  • Forming alliances is crucial and requires collaborations from civil society;
  • Denunciation of violence from public figures like religious leaders can have a big impact;
  • Memory and memorialization by communities can help heal wounds of the past, even when the conflict is still ongoing;
  • Archiving is very important in recording events of the conflict and recording activities of an organisation.

In the future, JRP looks forward to continuing this partnership with war-affected communities in Colombia through exchange and dialogue.

“Curbing violence against women is everyone’s task,” Daily Monitor, 1 November 2010

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 “Curbing violence against women is everyone’s task,” Daily Monitor, 1 November 2010

http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Commentary/-/689364/1044056/-/13u0io8z/-/index.html

By Lino Owor Ogora

 

I read with interest a press release by MIFUMI, a renowned women activist organisation, in Daily Monitor of October 27. MIFUMI accused the Police of further victimising women who take steps to defend themselves when confronted with sexual and domestic violence.

Some of these women went as far as killing their perpetrators. While MIFUMI’s concern is genuine regarding the fact that perpetrators of domestic and sexual violence are often not brought to book, while their victims are victimised through detention, I think they missed the point regarding the role of the Police.

Furthermore, the examples used in this press release may not be necessarily suitable as examples in the fight against domestic violence. There was the example of a woman called Koriang who allegedly shot and killed her husband with 30 rounds of ammunition as he slept.

Another example they used was of a woman called Mbabazi who sent a radio announcement claiming she had died yet in actual fact, she was alive. In another controversial example, they sympathised with a woman called Nuuru Namatovu, who buried baby dolls and was arrested by police on allegations of giving false information.

Another example used, and one I would sympathise with, is of a 14-year-old girl called Mpigiki, who killed a 40-year-old man who attempted to defile her. As expected of them, even in the case of Mpagiki, the Police responded in all the above situations and did what the law required of them – to arrest the suspects, detain them and wait for court to determine their destiny.

The Police acted responsibly and within the law. In the wake of a serious crime such as murder or manslaughter, the fact remains that the perpetrator is considered a killer first, before the facts and circumstances under which the crime was committed are analysed.

In the case of Koriang, the fact remains that she killed her husband using a gun and 30 rounds of ammunition. In analysing her case, the first and most obvious fact is that she is a killer. On further analysis, she was driven to the limits to do so because she could not stomach her husband’s abuse any longer. What did MIFUMI, therefore, expect the Police to do? To pick her up and deliver her to FIDA offices for counselling? Did her husband have to pay with his life?

While I agree that there is need to address the root causes of violence against women, I do not agree with MIFUMI’s allegation that the Police are victimising women who are in trouble with the law by detaining them.

The Police are doing their job by arresting them in the wake of a crime. Rather than blame the Police for ‘doing their work’, and doing it well at that, MIFUMI should intensify the campaign for ending violence against women, in which most peace-loving Ugandans like myself, would gladly join. MIFUMI should sensitise men regarding the fact that times have changed and it is no longer fashionable to batter a woman to prove your manhood.

MIFUMI should also sensitise both women and men to let them know the legal steps they can take in case they are victims of gender violence, and the channels through which they can seek redress, rather than resorting to violence. Finally, MIFUMI should intensify efforts to change existing laws rather than sending out misguiding press releases to the media.

Mr Ogora is a team leader of research and advocacy, Justice and Reconciliation Project, Gulu
ogoralino@gmail.com