Category Archives: Press Releases

JRP HOLDS INTERNATIONAL TRANSFORMATIVE MEMORY EXCHANGE

19 May 2019Blog, Press Releases, PublicationsJRP

PRESS RELEASE SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2019

GULU– Between May 19 to 25 the Justice and Reconciliation Project, in partnership with the University of British Colombia, and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, will host the first International Transformative Memory exchange in Gulu.

The exchange will bring together scholars, artists, and community-based memory workers from Indonesia, Canada, Colombia, and Uganda to collaborate and exchange knowledge.

The theme of the international exchange is to deeply reflect on the transformative possibilities of memory. Through this exchange, we suggest that persons and collectives who endure, suffer and live through violence – and whose memory is often denied, erased or devalued by regimes of power – transform relations between each other, the living and the dead, through memory acts. Persons transform relations of oppression, dispossession and power, and raise questions about shared responsibility and ways of being together through memories.

Why an International Exchange?

Dr. Pilar Riaño-Alcalá, one of the principal investigators of the Transformative Memory Exchange, believes the exchange is a way to construct knowledge. She hopes the week-long exchange is going to enrich knowledge on what makes memory transformative.

‘I think that by learning and dialoguing with so many groups here in northern Uganda, all of us will enrich our ideas on what makes the work of memory transformative,” Riaño stated.

She holds the view that memory is transformative after a period of mass violence where people experienced profound loss.

The partners of the project further believe the exchange brings participants into dialogue with each other and in relation to Acholi ways of knowing, remembering, relating and being. The project will involve storytelling, art, music, walking tours, and orality.

Through the exchange, we hope to open a creative space for generating knowledge related to our themes and questions. During the seven days there will be an array of activities including field visits to sites and initiatives of memory, international roundtables, and public events.

About the Justice and Reconciliation Project. 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. 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). For more information please visit http://www.justiceandreconciliation.org

Download this press release here: Press Release

JRP Holds National Conference on SGBV Redress Mechanism

20 Mar 2019Press Releasesaccountability, Advocacy for redress of conflict SGBV wrongs, gender justice, SGBV, TJ Policy, Trust Africa, Women's Advocacy NetworkJRP

PRESS RELEASE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2019
GULU – On Friday, March 22, 2019, Justice and Reconciliation Project with Funding from Trust Africa, under the auspices of the International Criminal Justice Fund will hold a national dialogue on SGBV redress mechanism in the capital Kampala.
The event shall take place at the Parliamentary lounge (conference hall under the theme;
“Ensuring that the appropriate strategies are used by the central government in meeting the needs of conflict-affected SGBV victims in northern Uganda’’

The objectives are as follows;

Inform the central government on the specific needs of the victims of conflict SGBV in Northern Uganda.
Strengthening policy and programs regarding re-construction, in order to address the transitional challenges affecting conflict SGBV victims.
Developing appropriate strategies tailored towards meeting the transitional justice needs of war-affected women and children in Northern Uganda.

The conference followed an earlier regional dialogue that was held in October 2018 between conflicts SGBV victims of local Government Officials from Greater Northern Uganda.

There were common positions that were agreed at in addressing the transitional gaps of war-affected women and their children.

In moving the debate to a national level and in concretizing the motion moved and adopted in parliament on 13th, the victim’s community from the four sub-regions; Acholi, Teso, Lango and West Nile who were affected by war together with leaders from greater northern Uganda will also be given opportunity to share their specific needs and strategies that the central government can adapt to ensure access to justice and reparation to the affected women and their children.
Building upon lessons learned from the regional dialogue, leaders from the local government will again be given a platform to share:-

Possible programs that can help in the reconstruction of the lives of victims of SGBV which central government can adopt
Challenges local government officials face in working with partners and the victims’ community which central government should support them with
Different strategies that can be adapted to meet the TJ needs of conflict-affected SGBV victims in Northern Uganda

The conference is expected to bring together a diversity of participants including local government leaders, the central government leaders, CSOs/ NGOs, members of parliament, the victim’s communities to discuss issues that are closed to their hearts.

To join the conversation at the National Conference, interested participants are asked to follow us on Facebook, facebook@justiceandreconciliation.com, twitter: @talk_ug

Let’s Talk, Uganda brings dialogues to Lango sub-region

21 Sep 2016Press ReleasesDialogue, Lango, Let's Talk UgandaJRP

A man participates in a 'Let's Talk, Uganda' dialogue in Gulu on 3 September 2016. Claire Kahunde/Justice and Reconciliation Project. — A man participates in a ‘Let’s Talk, Uganda’ dialogue in Gulu on 3 September 2016. Claire Kahunde/Justice and Reconciliation Project.

PRESS RELEASE THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2016

BARLONYO, LIRA- Following three previous public dialogues in Acholi, Let’s Talk, Uganda is heading to Lango sub-region this September to hold conversations about justice and reconciliation in post-conflict Uganda.

The first dialogue in Lango will be held on Thursday, 22 September 2016, in Barlonyo village in Lira district. A similar event will be held the following day, 23 September, in Lira town at Lira Municipal Council Hall.

Let’s Talk, Uganda dialogues aim to give space for these communities to engage in discussion on peace, truth-telling and reconciliation. It combines the innovative use of social media and traditional forms of dialogue to allow Ugandans, with a focus on the youth, to access different viewpoints on transitional justice.

The discussions during both dialogues will be relayed on the internet through a Let’s Talk, UgandaFacebook and Twitter pages, as well as the Let’s Talk, Uganda website, letstalk.ug. A special WhatsApp number has also been created to allow people from across Uganda to interface.

The dialogues in Barlonyo and Lira follow similar events in Lukodi on 2 June, 2016, Odek on 28 July and in Gulu on 3 September. In each area, the innovative approaches by the initiative to facilitate conversation has been welcomed.

Ojok Michael, a sub-county chief in Odek, said: “We embrace this new approach to disseminating information about what happened and the experiences of communities after war through the emphasis of the youth and the internet. The word is now a global village.”

Justin Ocan, a community member of Lukodi who participated in dialogues in Lukodi and Gulu: “[Let’s Talk, Uganda] will help people know what happened during the war,” he says, “The world will become aware of what should have been done.”

To join the conversation, people can follow the Let’s Talk, Uganda Facebook page at fb.me/letstalkuganda, twitter handle @talk_ug, use the hashtag #LetsTalkUganda or send comments or questions to a WhatsApp number at +256 782 112 002.

About Let’s Talk, Uganda

Let’s talk Uganda is a project being run jointly by the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) and RNW Media with the aim of engaging people in northern Uganda and Kampala in dialogue, with a focus on the youth, on issues faced by the post conflict societies in order to promote understanding and reconciliation, furthering the transitional justice process in Uganda.

Contact: Oryem Nyeko, Communications and Advocacy Team Leader, JRP onyeko@justiceandreconciliation.com

Stakeholders in northern Uganda developing a road map to redress for SGBV

08 Sep 2016Press ReleasesAdjumani, gender justice, Gulu, Lira, Redress for SGBV, West NileJRP

Judith Awari, the chairperson of Kuc Odwogo Women's Group in Agweng and a member of the Women's Advocacy Network, speaks during a consultative dialogue with stakeholders on conflict-related SGBV in northern Uganda in Lira, 8 September 2016. Oryem Nyeko/Justice and Reconciliation Project. — Judith Awari, the chairperson of Kuc Odwogo Women’s Group in Agweng and a member of the Women’s Advocacy Network, speaks during a consultative dialogue with stakeholders on conflict-related SGBV in northern Uganda in Lira, 8 September 2016. Oryem Nyeko/Justice and Reconciliation Project.

PRESS RELEASE 8 September 2016

LIRA – Urgent policy change is needed to provide redress to conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), say civil society and survivors in northern Uganda.

Through three consultative dialogues between 8 and 13 September 2016, a variety of stakeholders across northern Uganda are working to develop a roadmap to redress conflict-related SGBV.

Organised by the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP), the events bring government officials, civil society organizations, victim representatives, academia, cultural and religious leaders in Lira, Adjumani and Gulu.

“We need to step up the advocacy,” says Michael Otim, the former head of office for the International Center for Transitional Justice in Uganda, “We’ve made strides and we’ve had several meetings in the past, but there is rarely any follow through. These consultative dialogues, however, are very important because they allow us to design strategies to push for real redress for SGBV crimes.”

Since 2014, JRP has implemented a project called ‘‘Redress for Sexual-and Gender-Based Violence on Conflict Related Wrongs’’ aimed at supporting transitional justice (TJ) efforts of female survivors of SGBV in the northern Ugandan districts of Adjumani, Lira and Pader with funding of John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The consultative meetings aim to discuss key issues that emerged from research under the project, including establishing the extent of SGBV revictimisation among female survivors of conflict SGBV, reintegration challenges facing children born of war and their mothers, engaging men in redress for conflict SGBV as well as redress for conflict SGBV.

The dialogues provide an opportunity for officials to learn perspectives of survivors to inform policy and implementation.

“I want the local government and other authorities to know that they should channel government programmes to women so they can support children born of war,” said Judith Awari, a member of the Women’s Advocacy Network based in Agweng, Lira, during the meeting. “When [government programmes] are brought to men alone, their benefits of the do not reach women and children.”

Following these meetings, a roadmap for policy recommendations will be developed and a report published to inform the Ugandan government and other actors in TJ to address the unredressed needs of war-affected women and particularly survivors of conflict-SGBV.

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Media Contact. Oryem Nyeko, Communications and Advocacy Team Leader, onyeko@justiceandreconciliation.com, 0471 433008

Let’s Talk, Uganda heads to Odek

28 Jul 2016Press ReleasesDialogue, Let's Talk Uganda, OdekJRP

A woman speaks during a dialogue in Lukodi village, Bungatira sub-county.

PRESS RELEASE THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2016

GULU – Today Let’s Talk, Uganda will hold its second community dialogue in Odek, a sub-county in Omoro district, combining the innovative use of social media with offline discussion.

The dialogue aims to give space for the community of Odek to engage in a discussion and hear different viewpoints on transitional justice, peace, truth-telling and reconciliation. The opinions expressed in Odek and online will be shared through dedicated social media pages on Facebook and Twitter to facilitate conversation. A special WhatsApp number has also been created to allow people from across Uganda to take part.

This is the second Let’s Talk, Uganda dialogue, following one in the village of Lukodi in Gulu on 2 June. Like in Lukodi, the people of Odek have welcomed the initiative and expressed their commitment to support it.

Odek sub-county chief Ojok Michael said: “We embrace this new approach to disseminating information about what happened and the experiences of communities after war through the emphasis of the youth and the internet. The word is now a global village.”

The chair of Kica Ber, a survivors group in Odek, Lakwo Nyero Partick Sila, also said: “[The dialogue] will help people outside to know of Odek and the LRA war. Awareness will be created and the minds of people will be changed.”

“It will give time to people to express their opinion. People have no platforms and avenues to express their opinions,” he said.

The dialogue in Odek itself will centre around four topics chosen by people from Odek:

Is there peace in the community?
How can the voices of the community be heard?
Can truth telling bring change?
How can we challenge the negative perceptions of Odek?

To join the conversation at Odek, interested participants are asked to follow the Let’s Talk, Uganda Facebook page at fb.me/letstalkuganda, twitter: @talk_ug or send comments or questions to the WhatsApp number at +256 782 112 002.

About Let’s Talk, Uganda

Let’s talk Uganda is a project run jointly by the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) and RNW Media with the aim of engaging people in northern Uganda and Kampala in a dialogue, with a focus on the youth and issues faced by post-conflict societies. The aim is to promote understanding, reconciliation and the transitional justice process in Uganda.

‘Let’s Talk, Uganda’ gives space to community voices

02 Jun 2016Press ReleasesLet's Talk Uganda, Lukodi, Press, Press ReleaseJRP

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2016-06-02

Gulu, Uganda

‘Let’s Talk, Uganda’ gives space to community voices

Justin Ocan of Lukodi speaks during a press conference to launch Let's Talk, Uganda at Northern Uganda Media Club in Gulu, 1 June 2016. — Justin Ocan, a community leader in Lukodi, Bungatira sub-county, speaks during a press conference to launch Let’s Talk, Uganda at Northern Uganda Media Club in Gulu, 1 June 2016.

Today the Justice and Reconciliation project and RNW Media are happy to announce the official launch of Let’s Talk, Uganda. The project wants to become a space for Ugandans to discuss issues close to their hearts and the hearts of their families.

We want to create and facilitate conversations about a wide variety of topics by combining the innovative use of new media with offline events. The online platforms will cover a wide range of topics relating to transitional justice, including international and national processes. Let’s Talk, Uganda aims to engage, inform and provide a safe space for respectful dialogue across Uganda.

Through a series of online platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and the Let’s Talk website, Ugandans will be able to access each other’s viewpoints and discuss your own thoughts in a safe space. In the coming months, the project will also visit several locations in northern Uganda, including Lira, Gulu, Lukodi and Odek, as well as Kampala to initiate discussions with local communities. The voices of grass-roots communities will be shared and discussed online, with that discussion feeding back into the community dialogues.

Providing a voice for marginalised communities is very important says Justin Ocan, a community member of Lukodi: “It will help people know what happened during the war,” he says, “The world will become aware of what should have been done.”

Oryem Nyeko, project team leader at the Justice and Reconciliation Project, believes the project will give a space for a more balanced narrative: “The narrative after war is usually shaped by one side, but we all know that history is more complicated. So it’s very important that all Ugandans have their opportunities to have their voices heard.”

Niklas Jakobsson, project coordinator for RNW Media, highlights the importance of respectful dialogue: “Let’s Talk, Uganda is not an information-sharing project. It’s a space for Ugandans to talk with each other, share experiences and find common ground.”

Tanja IJzer, senior program manager at RNW Media: “These issues are very close to the hearts of people in Uganda. Therefore we’re confident that these platforms will allow communities to amplify their voices across the country, creating greater understanding.”

Nancy Apiyo, project officer at JRP, believes this is a unique opportunity for communities: “For the first time the communities we’ve worked with will have their voices heard around the world through media and social media.”

The Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) in Gulu, Uganda, has played a key role in transitional justice (TJ) in Uganda since 2005 by seeking to understand and explain the interests, needs, concerns and views of communities affected by conflict.

RNW Media is a Dutch NGO media organisation that wants to achieve social change in communities. In parts of the world where change is difficult because freedom of speech is restricted, RNW uses media for social change, empowering young people to make informed choices through dialogue.

Contact information:

Niklas Jakobsson (RNW Media), Phone: +31 636 184 32, Email: Niklas.jakobsson@rnw.org

Oryem Nyeko (JRP), Phone: (256) 471 433 008 Email: onyeko@justiceandreconciliation.com

The website and social media platforms will be launched by the close of this week

Website: letstalk.ug

Facebook: fb.me/LetsTalkUganda

Twitter: twitter.com/talk_ug

War continues for children born in LRA captivity

04 Feb 2016Press ReleasesChildren, Children born into LRA captivity, Children born of warJRP

Children play as part of an innovative project documenting the lives and experiences of children born into LRA captivity. Photo courtesy of Beth Stewart.

PRESS RELEASE 4 February 2016

GULU- Children born into the captivity of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) must be mainstreamed as partners and agents in post-conflict reconstruction say researchers from the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) in Gulu.

According to a newly published field note by JRP titled “We Are All the Same: Experiences of children born into LRA captivity”, children born into the captivity of the LRA experience life in ways that are unique to their identities and should be addressed specially in transitional justice.

“We Are All the Same”, is based on an innovative three year project documenting the lives of 29 children aged between 11 and 15 living in the urban centre of Gulu by researchers Beth W. Stewart and Aloyo Proscovia. The report documents the lives of the participating children between 2011 and 2014, presenting some of the first extensive narrative accounts of the views and experiences of children born into captivity following reintegration.

Based on the views and experiences shared by the participating children, the report provides recommendations for the Ugandan government as well as civil society to address existing gaps, including supporting linking the children with their extended families, and ensuring that their fathers, who in some cases reportedly earn government incomes as soldiers, pay child support.

“As northern Uganda moves further away from its experience of active war, the ramifications continue to be lived each day,” researcher Beth Stewart says, “Without measures to address the needs and rights [of children born into LRA captivity], the violence of the war continues.”

The field note and project are part of JRP’s continued work to ensure the participation of children as victims of conflict, with unique experiences, challenges and voices, in processes of justice, healing and reconciliation. It follows research exploring the reintegration challenges of children born of war and their mothers and an initiative that engages survivors, communities, opinion leaders and policy-makers on providing redress for sexual- and gender-based violence survivors.

“We Are All the Same: Experiences of children born into LRA captivity” can be downloaded on JRP’s website here: http://justiceandreconciliation.com/publications/field-notes/2015/we-are-all-the-same-experiences-of-children-born-into-lra-captivity/.

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Download this release here (pdf): 2015-02-04 War continues for children born in LRA captivity

Families join hands to commemorate the International Day of the Disappeared in Lira

27 Aug 2015Press ReleasesAugust 30, Commemoration, International Day of the Disappeared, Lira, Missing Persons, The Right to KnowJRP

LIRA – Two days before the United Nations designated International Day of the Disappeared, families from across northern Uganda will come together on Friday, 28 August 2015, in Lira town to remember their missing loved ones. The day-long event is part of a ‘sub-regional dialogue’ on missing persons as a result of conflict in northern Uganda organised by the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP). Families of the missing, civil society as well as religious and traditional leaders from Teso, Lango, Acholi and West Nile sub-regions will meet at Apostolic Social Center for a procession from Lira district headquarters, a symbolic candle-lighting ceremony and a dialogue.

“The sub-regional dialogue is important, first, to commemorate the International Day of the Disappeared,” JRP Community Mobilisation Team Leader Isaac Okwir Odiya said. “It is also an opportunity for stakeholders in northern Uganda to join hands to create awareness about the disappeared and to identify the means to address the enormous legacy of disappearances in Uganda,” he added.

The dialogue is being held as part of a joint campaign being run by the JRP and a collective of families of the missing known as ‘The Right to Know’ to document and promote awareness of the challenges facing missing persons and their families in northern Uganda. This year, the Right to Know campaign aims at ensuring national observance and commemoration of the International Day of the Disappeared in Uganda.

The International Day of the Disappeared is commemorated annually on the 30^th of August following the adoption of UN General Assembly resolution 65/209. In Uganda, thousands of civilians in northern Uganda were abducted and went missing as a result of systematic abductions of children and youth by the Lord’s Resistance Army and the National Resistance Army between 1986 and 2006. Despite being a UN General Assembly Member State, Uganda is yet to officially observe the International Day of the Disappeared.

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Media Contact: Oryem Nyeko, onyeko@justiceandreconciliation.com, 0471 433008

About the Justice and Reconciliation Project: 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. 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. For more information please visit http://www.justiceandreconciliation.com.

Download this press release here: Press Release – Families of the Missing to Commemorate the International Day of the Disappeared 2015-08-27

Parliament adopts resolution to address the needs of war-affected

10 Apr 2014Press Releasesgender justice, petition, WAN, Women's Advocacy NetworkJRP

Women’s Advocacy Network petition unanimously adopted by Parliament

WAN parliament — Members of the Women’s Advocacy Network (WAN) pose with Members of Parliament in front of Parliament in Kampala after presenting a petition to the Uganda Women Parliamentarian’s Association on 14 March 2014. Picture courtesy of Sylvia Opinia.

KAMPALA – On 9 April 2014, the Ugandan Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the establishment of a “gender sensitive reparations fund” and the offering of reparations for war-affected women and men. The resolution also calls for the government to provide free and accessible health services for war-affected women and children as well as to ensure the integration and resettlement of children born in captivity and formerly-abducted women in their communities.

This comes as a result of a motion tabled by Aswa County, Gulu District Member of Parliament Hon. Ronald Reagan Okumu on 3 April. It also comes on the heels of intense lobbying by civil society organisations such as the Justice and Reconciliation Project, a non-governmental organisation in Gulu, and specifically a petition presented by a collective of war-affected women known as the Women’s Advocacy Network (WAN) to the Uganda Women Parliamentarian’s Association in March.

After the adoption of the resolution, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Jacob Oulanya appointed a three member committee consisting of Hon. Rosemary Nyakingogoro, Hon. Reagan Okumu and Hon. Godfrey Kiwanda to follow up on the government’s implementation of the resolution and to update Parliament accordingly.

“This has begun the process of healing for me,” the chairperson of the Women’s Advocacy Network, Evelyn Amony said after hearing the news, “We plan to work to push for the issues we have raised until they are addressed. We also hope to meet the president of Uganda to let him know what we are going through and for him to understand the urgency of our needs.”

The resolution has been deemed a “success” and a “milestone” according to a statement issued by the Justice and Reconciliation Project.

“It has been six years since the government of Uganda undertook to establish measures that would ensure justice for victims of atrocities committed during the insurgency in northern Uganda. To date very little has been done to redress the harm that victims suffered but this landmark parliamentary resolution marks the beginning of healing and the restoration of dignity for many victims,” the organisation is quoted as saying.

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Download this press release here (pdf): Press release 2014-04-10

Press Release: War-affected women prepare to have petition heard by parliamentarians

07 Mar 2014Media, Press ReleasesJRP

GULU – Next week, members of the Women’s Advocacy Network (WAN) will present a petition to women parliamentarians calling for national policies which will address the needs of war-affected women in the region.

The petition, which will be presented before members of the Uganda Women Parliamentarian’s association (UWOPA), calls for action for the special needs of the children of war-affected women, a national reparations policy, and accountability for perpetrators among others. The petition will take place on the 12^th of March 2014 at Parliament in Kampala.

“This is the first time war-affected women from the grassroots will have the opportunity to talk to their representatives in parliament about the issues that really affect them,” said the chairperson of WAN, Evelyn Amony, “We are hoping that the petition will result in real change in the lives women and their children.”

WAN was established in 2011 to advocate for justice, acknowledgement and accountability for gender based violations inflicted upon women during the war in northern Uganda. An initiative of the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP), WAN consists of up to 300 formerly-abducted and other war-affected women. In 2013, a book entitled ‘Adyebo: The Wild Plant’ was published by JRP detailing the experiences of formerly abducted women of different ages and backgrounds, ultimately leading to the formation of WAN.

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Media Contact

Oryem Nyeko, Communications Officer

Email: onyeko@justiceandreconciliation.com

Tel: 0471433008

About the Justice and Reconciliation Project 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. 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. For more information visit our website at http://www.justiceandreconciliation.com.

Download WAN petition press release (pdf)