September 2010
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In order to mobilise survivor groups to lobby and advocate for issues that affect them, JRP organised a training workshop on basic advocacy skills for 24 representatives of survivor/victim groups from northern Uganda.
The representatives came from five massacre sites across the region, including:
The workshop, held from September 28-30 at the Sports View Garden Inn in Gulu, had objectives to empower survivor/victim groups with necessary skills in advocacy and lobbying and to develop advocacy strategies and plans for their specific groups. Over the course of three days, each group identified and analyzed pressing issues facing victims and survivors in their communities and then developed an advocacy plan to remedy the problem.
In addition, the training gave each of the attendees the opportunity to interact with others who have survived similar atrocities and to share experiences and solutions. It also provided an opportunity for groups’ ideas to be heard beyond the workshop. News pieces on the advocacy training ran on both Mega FM and Radio King.
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From August 30 to September 4, JRP documented the Lukodi massacre that took place on May 19, 2004, in Lukodi, Bungatira sub-county, Gulu district. During this time, our documentation team interviewed more than 20 community members living in Lukodi who either had knowledge of or were survivors of the massacre.
Preliminary findings indicate that Lukodi, like many other massacre sites in northern Uganda, continues to suffer the long-term effects of the conflict, with victims in dire need of psychosocial support and peace-building interventions.
The data gathered during this period is currently in the write-up stage and will be released in the form of a JRP field note by the end of the year.
August 2010
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JRP, in conjunction with radio station Mega Fm, held a community dialogue in Anaka sub-county, Nwoya district, on September 25. The dialogue’s theme, “Casting the Ballot to Address Victimhood: A Call to Put Transitional Justice on the Election Agenda,” correlated with JRP’s special campaign on the same topic.
During the dialogue, the six main points for the campaign were discussed with the community members, and local candidates were asked to make commitments to ensure that TJ issues relevant to their communities are addressed in their manifestos.
The dialogue was attended by more than 100 community members, including the L.C. I and L.C. II chairmen of the area who gave the opening remarks. Rosalba Oywa, permanent member of Mega Fm’s ‘Te-Yat’ programme, and Lindsay McClain, representative from JRP, served as panelists.
July 2010
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JRP’s community mobilisation team organised one community dialogue this month in collaboration with radio station Mega FM. The event, held on August 22 in Atiak sub-county, Amuru district, engaged community members on issues of gender justice. Clips from the dialogue will air on Mega FM’s ‘Te-Yat’ programme on Saturday, September 18, from 10am to midday.
Over 200 community members attended the dialogue. In addition, panel participants included the L.C. V Councillor Gilbert Oulanya, renowned Gulu lawyer Komakech Henry Kilama, civil society representative Rosalba Oywa, and JRP representative Ketty Anyeko.
The major issue that emerged focused on the demand for compensation for the victims of the conflict, with specific reference to the survivors of the 1994 Atiak massacre. This demand for compensation has emerged as one of the major concerns for victims during all of the community dialogues that have been organised by JRP this year.
Specific to gender-related challenges, community members mentioned that many formerly-abducted young females who have remarried are still widely stigmatised, especially by the relatives-in-law. Issues related to victims of male rape (tek-gung) that occurred in Agung were also raised at the dialogue.
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The 8th Annual Mucwini Massacre Memorial Service was held on August 14 at Lagot Cogu Primary School in Kitgum district. JRP supported the planning of the event by the Mucwini Massacre Survivors Association.
In the early morning hours of 24 July 2002, our villages awoke to the bloodied corpses of 56 innocentmen, women and children. The massacre was a deliberate and ruthless act of retaliation by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) after they claimed that one of our own members who had been abducted escaped with their gun. In cold blood, the rebels rounded up our community and randomly selected some of our friends and family members to be murdered by axes, hand hoes, machetes and logs. Some women among us were painfully forced to participate in clubbing to death their own children.
Eight years later, the person or persons responsible for the Mucwini massacre remains controversial, unresolved and unacknowledged. The massacre divided us and further fuelled longstanding conflict between the Pubec and Pajong over a piece of land where both parties claim ownership. As a result, the relatives of the alleged perpetuator still live in the camp, as they have been denied access to the said land. While the mediation team headed by the Rtd. Bishop McLeord Baker Ochola has tried to forge some kind of reconciliation among the alleged parties to this tension, most of us feel left out in the process as few families are being included. The families of the 56 people who died still live with immense trauma; psychosocial and physical difficulties; biting poverty; the burden of meeting the educational and basic needs of numerous orphans; and a generation of elderly who have no one to care for them, yet some have the responsibility to take care of orphans.
To access the statement, click here.
June 2010
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