Tag Archives: Missing Persons

Dialogue with northern Ugandan stakeholders on the Right to Know campaign for missing persons highlights need to support the missing and their families

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On 28 August 2015, families of the missing, religious and traditional leaders, and civil society marched through Lira to commemorate the International Day of the Disappeared as part of JRP's The RIght to Know campaign.
On 28 August 2015, families of the missing, religious and traditional leaders, and civil society marched through Lira to commemorate the International Day of the Disappeared as part of JRP’s The RIght to Know campaign.

On August 28 2015, JRP organized a dialogue with representatives of family of the missing from four sub-regions of West Nile, Teso, Acholi and Lango as part of a campaign to create awareness for missing person in Lira called ‘The Right to Know’. This started with a procession from Lira District Chambers through the streets in Lira and later to Apostolic Centre with the people like religious leaders, traditional leaders, families of the missing and other civil society organizations like African Youth Initiative Network, Justice and Peace Commission, Northern Uganda Media Club, Concerned Parents Association and several media persons to spread the messages of the family of the missing.

A short prayer was made by Pastor Martin Odongo after a representative of the four sub-regions lit a candle. The burning candles were a symbol of light in the life of those who had gone missing.

During remarks given by JRP Head of office JRP Boniface Ojok, there was emphasis on the importance of recognizing the 30th of August as a day in remembrance of those who have disappeared in Uganda. Mr Ojok spoke about the need for the government to incorporate the issue of the missing persons in its policy in order to meet the social, legal and to a greater extent economic challenges facing the missing and their families. This is because, he said, the issue of the missing can be a long term impediment to peace. JRP’s 2014 policy brief, ‘The Right to Know – Policy Recommendations for Addressing The Rights of The Missing and Their Families in Northern Uganda’ reflected this by providing recommendations for acknowledgment of the missing persons, a comprehensive policy in regards to missing persons, and support for ongoing research outside of the scope of the brief.

When representatives of the families of the missing of across northern Uganda spoke at the event, many said that they are living with trauma, stigma, land conflict and lack of family support. Because there has been little acknowledgment of the issue of the missing as being important the families live in pain and isolation with feelings of anxiety for information on the whereabouts of their children.

During the Acting Resident District Commissioner for Lira and District Security Officer, Frank Madulo’s speech, he acknowledged the work of JRP in advocating for the missing and their families by making its calls victim oriented. He further made mentioned that he will ensure that the government acknowledges 30th August being the day for the disappeared persons. to support the families of the missing and to incorporate the issue of the missing persons in Uganda’s forthcoming Transitional Justice (TJ) policy.

Joyce Abalo is a Project Assistant with JRP’s Community Mobilisation department.

 

Holding Community Dialogues with Families of Missing Persons

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Families of the Missing perform a song during a dialogue in Lamogi sub-county, Amuru on 26 August 2015.
Families of the Missing perform a song during a dialogue in Lamogi sub-county, Amuru on 26 August 2015.

As northern Uganda transitions amidst post-war recovery and reconciliation efforts, the issue of enforced disappearances and missing victims of mass atrocities during the war stands as a key obstacle in the process of healing, social repair, and advancement of transitional justice in the region. Working in collaboration with families of the missing, JRP has been instrumental in implementing The Right to Know campaign which spearheads efforts at documenting and promoting awareness of the plight of the missing persons and the anguish of their families.

 Furthering its commitment to advocate for the marginalized needs of missing persons and their families and seek redress for their issues ahead of the International Day of the Disappeared on August 30, 2015, JRP has partnered with several key civil society organizations to undertake a series of focused activities in the last week of August, 2015. Seeking to embed advocacy at different levels of the society in northern Uganda, these activities open unprecedented spaces for dialogue and collaboration with diverse stakeholders including traditional and religious leaders, civil society organizations, community members, victims groups and local leaders across different sub-regions.

 As part of these efforts, a community dialogue was facilitated in Lamogi sub-country, Amuru district, on August 26, 2015, by JRP in partnership with Refugee Law Project (RLP) and Justice and Peace Commission (JPC). The community dialogue brought together 150 community members, constituted primarily by families of missing persons, from across eight parishes in the region. It also witnessed the participation of prominent officials including LC-I, LC-III and members of Peace Committees in Parabongo. A group of professional counsellors offering psychological support services during the community dialogue were also mobilized by RLP. The objective of the dialogue was twofold:

  • To elicit participation of families of missing persons to assess their current needs for redress and lay strategies to effectively advocate for accountability for the missing persons and raise awareness about their issues;
  • To sensitize local leaders and sub-county-officials to the challenges faced by families of missing persons so that they are equipped to ably represent and respond to their needs and collaborate in advocacy for redress.

Creating a safe space for expression of repressed emotions and sharing of key issues by families of missing persons, the community dialogue addressed several pertinent questions. These included the families sharing the circumstances under which their loved ones went missing at the peak of the armed conflict and the subsequent effects on them which brought to the fore myriad unaddressed psychological, legal, administrative, social and economic challenges experienced by the families. Discussions around community-led search efforts highlighted their attempts to visit reception centers and use radio talk shows to urge the return of the missing persons. The role of other stakeholders foregrounded documentation efforts by sub-county officials at profiling the missing persons and updating the lists, although they were inadequate and required proactive follow-ups.

Echoing their demands for justice, the families voiced the need for livelihood and economic support for themselves, along with pressing for concerted efforts at documentation of the missing. They also expressed eagerness to form “Community Task Force” groups to raise awareness of their issues and advocate for redress. The need to make visible and prioritize the issues of families of missing persons in the national agenda, which has so far marginalized their concerns, also emerged as a key point as they charted the way forward.

Lamogi sub-county official speaks during a community dialogue with the families of missing persons in Amuru on 26 August 2015.
Lamogi sub-county official speaks during a community dialogue with the families of missing persons in Amuru on 26 August 2015.

Underscoring the need to synergize local and national efforts on this issue, the next event is a Sub-Regional Dialogue which will bring together families of the missing, civil society organizations, and religious and traditional leaders from Teso, Lango, Acholi and West Nile on 28 August for a procession demonstrating solidarity with families of missing persons and a multi-stakeholder dialogue in Lira.

Shilpi Shabdita is an intern with the Justice and Reconciliation Project’s Community Mobilisation team. She is pursuing a Masters’ degree in International Peace Studies with a specialization in Grassroots-level Conflict Analysis and Transformation at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, USA.

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

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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 30th 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

Anino Ku (I Don’t Sleep) by the Families of the Missing with John Oweka

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Anino Ku (I don’t sleep)

(Acholi)

John Oweka:

In Acholiland I thought there was no more mourning

But mourning still exists

In the villages I thought there was no more mourning

But mourning still exists

In our country I thought there was no more mourning

But mourning still exists

Many mothers complain that they don’t sleep at night

That is why I ask them: “What makes you not to sleep?”

 

Chorus:

I don’t sleep, I don’t sleep

This Kony problem makes me not sleep x2

 

Families of the Missing:

Kony abducted my child

Kony abducted my only child

Kony abducted my beloved child

 (Chorus)

 Kony abducted my doctor (Opici)

I cry and mourn every day

Kony abducted my farmer

Kony abducted my daughter (Alany)

Kony abducted my beloved ones (Opici)

(Chorus)

Spoken (English):

I don’t sleep because of the pain of losing my son, my daughter, my sister, my brother and my spouse

I leave my door open at night hoping that my loved ones will one day walk through back into my arms

They disappeared during the decades of armed conflict in northern Uganda

Day and night I’m waiting, searching for answers

Who will give me answers?

Who will tell me where my loved ones are?

Who can give me information about their fate?

Government of Uganda, international organisations, NGOs, cultural and religious leaders

Wake up!

Listen to our cry, join us

The families of the missing

Families of the Missing release advocacy song “Anino Ku”

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Lyrics (Translated from Acholi): Kony abducted my child Kony abducted my only child Kony abducted my beloved child I don’t sleep because of the pain of losing my son, my daughter, my sister, my brother and my spouse I leave my door open at night hoping that my loved ones will one day walk through back into my arms Who will give me answers? Who will tell me where my loved ones are? Who can give me information about their fate?
Lyrics (Translated from Acholi):
Kony abducted my child
Kony abducted my only child
Kony abducted my beloved child
I don’t sleep because of the pain of losing my son, my daughter, my sister, my brother and my spouse
I leave my door open at night hoping that my loved ones will one day walk through back into my arms
Who will give me answers?
Who will tell me where my loved ones are?
Who can give me information about their fate?

The Justice and Reconciliation Project is pleased to announce the release of Anino Ku, a song performed by the Families of the Missing group in Pece, Gulu and renowned Acholi artist John Oweka.

Anino Ku, which means “I don’t sleep” in Acholi, speaks to the challenges families of persons missing as a result of conflict face in northern Uganda. The Families of the Missing group was formed with the support of JRP in 2013 to rally support for the cause and has conducted community outreaches across Acholi sub-region in the past year to draw attention to the issue.

Anino Ku is released as part of JRP’s Right to Know campaign, which seeks to create awareness about missing persons in northern Uganda. Read more about the campaign here. 

The Right to Know – Policy recommendations for addressing the rights of the missing and their families in northern Uganda

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The Right to Know communicates the findings of a pilot study done in in Palabek Kal and Palabek Gem sub-counties in Lamwo District, to establish the circumstances under which people disappeared, examine past and present coping strategies used by the affected communities, evaluate surviving families’ needs, and provide recommendations for civil society organisations, the Ugandan government and international actors.
The Right to Know communicates the findings of a pilot study done in in Palabek Kal and Palabek Gem sub-counties in Lamwo District, to establish the circumstances under which people disappeared, examine past and present coping strategies used by the affected communities, evaluate surviving families’ needs, and provide recommendations for civil society organisations, the Ugandan government and international actors.

 

Overview

Increasingly, the missing victims of mass atrocities around the world are being formally recognised as a key impediment to genuine social repair and transitional justice. A recent conference organised by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) found that where a concerted effort was made to locate and identify the missing victims of mass atrocities some of these impediments were overcome. Going forward, the international community now recognises that the missing victims of past and ongoing mass atrocities are an urgent global concern that warrants a structured and sustained response that works in tandem with local government and civil society organisations. As such, the Government of Uganda and Ugandan civil society organisations, in collaboration with relevant sectors within the international community, have a legal and moral obligation to address the missing victims of Uganda’s recent civil war in order to promote genuine social repair and transitional justice in northern Uganda.

In line with these international developments, and building upon its history of working with families affected by the recent civil war, the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP), in collaboration with the families of the missing, launched the “Right to Know” campaign in 2012 to promote awareness of the plight of the missing and the anguish of their families. JRP has since completed a pilot study in Palabek Kal and Palabek Gem sub-counties in Lamwo District that establishes the circumstances under which people disappeared, examines past and present coping strategies used by the affected communities, evaluates surviving families’ needs, and provides recommendations for civil society organisations, the Ugandan government and international actors.

This policy brief communicates the findings of this pilot study, drawing upon individual interviews and focus group discussions with families of the missing, formerly abducted persons, cultural leaders and local government leaders. These categories of participants were chosen to gain a multidimensional understanding of the lingering challenges faced by northern Ugandans whose lives have been intimately impacted by their missing relatives. Specifically: the needs of the surviving families, their sources of information on the missing, the impact of their search for information on the community, and any cultural or governmental processes that have allowed them to move forward while living with ambiguous loss. It then draws upon outreaches conducted by JRP in communities across northern Uganda to gain a better grasp of the situation.

Key recommendations

This policy brief recommends that the Government of Uganda, in collaboration with the international community and civil society organisations (CSOs) in northern Uganda, should take the following actions:

  • Formally and publicly acknowledge the missing victims of war and related atrocities in northern Uganda as a prominent obstacle to social repair;
  • Ensure a comprehensive transitional justice policy framework and subsequent legislation that reaffirms forced disappearance as a crime against humanity and, within this legal prohibition, formally recognises the rights of the missing and their surviving families;
  • Establish an independent commission on missing persons to collaborate with surviving families to generate a centralised database and oversee search efforts;
  • Provide economic support and skills training for the families of the missing so they can better overcome their unique economic burdens; and
  • Support ongoing research in northern Uganda beyond Palabek toward identifying regional particularities related to the needs of families of the missing.

Download this entire policy brief here: JRP Policy Brief – The Right to Know, August 2014 (pdf)

#CommunityVoices – Missing Persons Profile – Oming Geoffrey

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30th August 2013 marks the International Day Against Disappearances. The issue of the disappeared strikes at the core of one of the largest unaddressed legacies of Uganda’s turbulent past. In northern Uganda, as a result of different conflicts, the most recent being the infamous Lord’s Resistance Army, people disappeared in West Nile, Acholi, Lango and Teso sub-regions. To date, the vast majority of the family members of the missing are unaware about the fate of their loves ones. In most cases, they don’t know whether they are alive or dead.

As the world commemorates the lives of people who disappeared, this August, Justice and Reconciliation Project is highlighting the profiles of persons still missing as a result of conflict in northern Uganda alongside their families and friends, and to ensure that the does not forget about their tragic plight.

MISSING PERSONS PROFILE

Oming Geofrey- 21years old- Disappeared in 2002Oming Geoffrey was abducted by the LRA from Ngai sub-county in Oyam district when he was 21. He was last seen in 2002 and his brother suggests amnesty as the solution to finding him.

Oming Geoffrey (pdf)

#CommunityVoices: Missing Persons Profile – Ojok Naman

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30th August 2013 marks the International Day Against Disappearances. The issue of the disappeared strikes at the core of one of the largest unaddressed legacies of Uganda’s turbulent past. In northern Uganda, as a result of different conflicts, the most recent being the infamous Lord’s Resistance Army, people disappeared in West Nile, Acholi, Lango and Teso sub-regions. To date, the vast majority of the family members of the missing are unaware about the fate of their loves ones. In most cases, they don’t know whether they are alive or dead.

As the world commemorates the lives of people who disappeared, this August, Justice and Reconciliation Project is highlighting the profiles of persons still missing as a result of conflict in northern Uganda alongside their families and friends, and to ensure that the does not forget about their tragic plight.

MISSING PERSONS PROFILE

Ojok Naman was 14 years old when he was abducted in Aduk village in Oyam District by the LRA. He father simply wishes that his son would return home.

Ojok Naman (pdf) Ojok Naman - 14years old - Disappeared in 2004

#CommunityVoices: Missing Persons Profile – Odongo Dennish

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30th August 2013 marks the International Day Against Disappearances. The issue of the disappeared strikes at the core of one of the largest unaddressed legacies of Uganda’s turbulent past. In northern Uganda, as a result of different conflicts, the most recent being the infamous Lord’s Resistance Army, people disappeared in West Nile, Acholi, Lango and Teso sub-regions. To date, the vast majority of the family members of the missing are unaware about the fate of their loves ones. In most cases, they don’t know whether they are alive or dead.

As the world commemorates the lives of people who disappeared, this August, Justice and Reconciliation Project is highlighting the profiles of persons still missing as a result of conflict in northern Uganda alongside their families and friends, and to ensure that the does not forget about their tragic plight.

MISSING PERSONS PROFILE

Odongo Dennish was 12 years old when he was abducted by the LRA rebels from CUT “A”, in Ngai sub-county in Oyam District. During the war, his photos and belongings were destroyed and today his mother requests the government to follow up the issue off missing persons.

Odong Denish (pdf)