Tag Archives: Oryem Nyeko

End of search for Joseph Kony is a blow for victims

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People attend memorial prayers for the Atiak massacre of 1995 on 19 April 2017. Oryem Nyeko.
People attend memorial prayers for the Atiak massacre of 1995 on 19 April 2017. Oryem Nyeko.

Even though 22 years have passed since the Lord’s Resistance Army rounded up, abducted and massacred hundreds at a trading centre in the Ugandan town of Atiak the community there still comes together every year to commemorate the events of April 1995.

Every year memorial prayers for the massacre take place at a primary school a short distance from where it took place. The prayers bring people from all walks of life, from children who are too young to remember the 20 year war, to elderly people who still bear the memory of loved ones that were lost and never found. A few outsiders also attend to show solidarity.

The purpose of memorial prayers in northern Uganda are often twofold. First, they allow the community to pay respects to the many victims of LRA’s war with the Ugandan government. Second, they bring the community together to draw wider attention to their experiences. In this way, they are used as a tool to make calls to the government and other actors for their justice and reconciliation needs to be addressed.

These kinds of events are significant for a region where hopes are high for redress for years of conflict. But progress here is slow. For instance, a national policy for transitional justice that was meant to provide the means to a reparations programme, truth-telling commissions and traditional justice, among other things, has delayed for years in the Ugandan cabinet with no word on when it will become a reality.

Even though we have seen headway in terms of justice with the ongoing proceedings against alleged LRA commanders Thomas Kwoyelo and Dominic Ongwen there are still gaps. Thomas Kwoyelo’s trial at the High Court of Uganda’s International Crimes Division is fraught with delays while Dominic Ongwen’s trial at the ICC, though progressing, is not entirely reflective of the scope of the atrocities that were committed and the range of perpetrators that existed during the LRA-Government of Uganda war.

So when the news came that Ugandan and United States forces were withdrawing troops from their hunt for the LRA and its leader Joseph Kony the hopes of communities like have Atiak suffered another blow. This move comes despite the fact that Kony is still subject to an indictment by the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Already in Uganda notions of international criminal justice exist on shaky ground, with the slow moving transitional justice processes here and the criticisms that institutions like the ICC regularly face. With this withdrawal, however, the likelihood of accountability as well as redress in the form of reparations for victim communities is reduced even further.

The reason that was given for the withdrawal does not help. Ugandan forces are reported to have made the decision to end the pursuit of the LRA because the mission in doing so was “already achieved”. This is problematic because it reinforces the message to victims of the atrocities that are alleged against Kony, as well as their communities, that accountability for the crimes that were committed during the war are not a priority.

Northern Ugandan communities themselves hear and are acutely aware of the meaning of messages like these. Many have come to terms with the fact that they must look towards themselves for redress rather than depend on others. This year, for example, the Atiak memorial prayers were focused on moving towards economic empowerment for the community. During the ceremony a religious leader urged the community to “find ways to work together for a better future.”

But do victims of conflict and their communities in Uganda have to exist in space where they are on their own? To respond to this, the conversation around accountability, justice and reconciliation needs to be shifted to the perspective of the people to whom it matters the most. If, for example, as much money, time and resources that was invested in the hunt for the LRA was instead used to support communities such as Atiak in their pursuit of justice then the impact would have been felt. Accountability for the crimes that were committed cannot be another area of redress for which northern Ugandan communities cannot depend on.

Oryem Nyeko works with the Justice and Reconciliation Project in Gulu, Uganda. He can be found on twitter at @oryembley. This article was originally published on Coalition for the International Criminal Court and is published here with permission.

 

Who cares about Dominic Ongwen’s trial?

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People watch Dominic Ongwen's trial at the International Criminal Court in Gulu, 16 January 2017. Credit: Oryem Nyeko.
People watch Dominic Ongwen’s trial at the International Criminal Court in Gulu, 16 January 2017. Credit: Oryem Nyeko.

Given that it is the first public trial for crimes committed in the two-decade war between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and Ugandan army, the case against Dominic Ongwen at the International Criminal Court (ICC) should, theoretically, be at the forefront of most Ugandans’ minds.

But what should be an opportunity for a national conversation on justice and accountability appears to be limited to a select group of people. Even in much of the north, the region from which thousands of people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in the conflict, few Ugandans seem to be following proceedings.

This is partly because of the practical realities of holding the trial thousands of miles away in The Hague rather than in Uganda. But it is also a result of the well-intended, but flawed, approach to outreach by the ICC.

“Affected communities”

The ICC’s outreach strategy for this case has been clear: to engage with the communities tied to the case as much as possible. Accordingly, screenings of the proceedings have been held in the four locations in northern Uganda that Ongwen is alleged to have led attacks as a senior LRA commander in 2004: Pajule; Odek; Lukodi, in the Acholi region; and Abok, where most identify as Langi.

The focus on these four areas is deliberate. These are the communities that would appear to have the most vested interests in the case, being home to the victims of the mass murders, abductions and looting for which Ongwen is accused of being responsible.

Additionally, because of the possibility of compensation for victims at the conclusion of the trial, the court has worked extra hard in these areas to calm expectations about the ICC’s reparations programme.

However, Ongwen and the LRA’s infamy are not limited to attacks on four camps in 2004. Nor were victims of the violence exclusive to the Acholi speaking regions of Uganda. It therefore comes as a surprise that the ICC’s focus has been largely limited to these places, and that it has seemingly been geared to accommodate only Acholi speakers; Acholi is the sole Ugandan language into which the official live streams of the proceedings are being translated.

Should an outreach strategy only focus on the “affected communities”, especially where the scope and impact of the alleged crimes are far more wide reaching than those geographical areas?

If the interests of the communities are to be a deciding factor at least, then the answer is no. In research with these groups in 2015, we found that many people were concerned with the “othering” that comes with being labelled a victim community in a case such as this. This is particularly true where reparations – something the bulk of victims of both state-led and LRA atrocities have not received – are a distinct possibility for that population.

People in Lukodi, for example, were eager to emphasise the need for dialogue with Ongwen’s own community to facilitate a level of understanding. This would, in their view, negate the status that comes with being an “affected community”.

Another notable aspect of the ICC’s approach in northern Uganda is its use of local NGOs as conduits to the communities it wants to reach. It is not unusual for the staff of local NGOs to facilitate ICC-funded events and act as a friendly face for the court. Partnership is, of course, an important part of civil society work and a useful tool that the court can use to gain the trust and familiarity of people in the area.

But the result here is that – unlike in Kenya where civil society was noted for its vibrant role in the investigation and prosecution of perpetrators of the 2007-08 election violence – northern Uganda’s civil society suffers from having to balance providing critical input with effectively being an extension of the same court.

Legacy of the war

It should be noted that, previously, official screenings of the trial have also been held in the town of Gulu in the north and in Ongwen’s village of Coorom. The screenings in Gulu, however, proved to be a challenge given the very inconsistent internet and electricity. Understandably then, the ICC only held screenings here in the trial’s early stages, leaving those interested in following the rest of it to watch it online or simply not at all, since the hearings were not broadcast on radio or television.

It’s not surprising, therefore, that when speaking to boda boda riders – the local repositories of current affairs in Gulu – about what is happening with Ongwen at the ICC, many have more questions than answers.

It has been around a decade since the war ended and, since then, northern Uganda, once defined by conflict, has had its identity change. Even so, the legacy of the war remains a major part of the region and very few of its residents are young enough not to remember it or its impact.

It is of course possible that the Ongwen trial would never have been at the forefront of everyone’s minds, but its inaccessibility to most people, and the choices the court has made in reaching out to them, has certainly had a bearing on how relevant it is.

Oryem Nyeko is the Communications and Advocacy Team Leader with JRP. 

This article was originally published on African Arguments.

Looking beyond Dominic Ongwen’s trial at the ICC

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People watch a live screening of Dominic Ongwen's trial at the ICC in Gulu. Oryem Nyeko/JRP.
People watch a live screening of Dominic Ongwen’s trial at the ICC in Gulu. Oryem Nyeko/JRP.

The ongoing trial of Dominic Ongwen at the International Criminal Court is an important step in the accountability process for the war in northern Uganda. It is also important to remember that this is not the end of the conversation around justice and reconciliation in Uganda.

The violence has not ended

For many in northern Uganda, the violence did not end with the war. Survivors of war-time rape, defilement, sexual exploitation, as well as early and forced marriage are still a marginalised and vulnerable group. In a 2014 study with women conflict-SGBV survivors in northern Uganda we found that 93% say that they still face the same threats as they did in the past. While many have worked to break the silence about these experiences, redress is still lacking.

Redress here can mean providing economic empowerment through skills training and adult literacy programmes which will enable survivors to be self-reliant and in control of their daily lives. It also means structural and institutional reform allowing for free and accessible medical, psychosocial, social and legal support for survivors. All of this would go a long way in addressing and preventing the stigma, exploitation and revictimisation that comes with the vulnerability of being a war-time SGBV survivor.

There should be accountability for both past and current violations. The ICC’s prosecutor has included conflict-SGBV charges in her case against Dominic Ongwen, but there still remain thousands of female and male survivors in and outside of northern Uganda who suffered outside the scope of those charges during the war. Many have received neither accountability nor acknowledgment for the crimes that were committed against them.

Children born of war

There are also very many whose rights and experiences, while important, are often unjustifiably ignored and overlooked. These include children born of war – children born in captivity or from war-related rape or defilement – who face stigma in their communities and schools and are unable to access or own land and other resources because of the complex and gendered nature of property inheritance in the region. We have worked with war-affected women and cultural leaders to support their reintegration in northern Uganda through family reunions, but this is an area that needs the support of actors across all sectors to make a contribution.

Dealing with the past and the future

3 February 2017 will mark nine years since the signing of the Juba peace talk’s Agreement on Accountability and Reconciliation, the agreement that gave birth to what would develop into a draft national policy on transitional justice for Uganda. For some time, there seemed to be progress on this. Unfortunately, however, the momentum for this process has stalled. Several years later, however, the last and final draft of the TJ policy is still reportedly lagging in cabinet.

This policy was meant to provide guidance to the government to “address justice, accountability and reconciliation needs of post conflict Uganda” and to both deal with the country’s past and prevent conflict in the future. However, because of its ambiguous status, the possibility of a national truth-telling process or a reparations programme for victims of war remain distant despite how important many Ugandans have said how important these processes are.

Accountability for state-led crimes

We have documented the experiences of survivors of crimes committed by state forces during the war in northern Uganda and have found a running theme among survivors: a call for acknowledgment of these crimes by the Ugandan government and for measures, such as reparations, to be put in place. Some of these crimes have in the past been acknowledged by the government, most notably by President Museveni in 2014. Unfortunately, there has been little public accountability for what took place. Reports suggest that government perpetrators, soldiers, have been subjected to punishment for crimes committed during Uganda’s wars in northern Uganda, but concrete details about these are not readily available to the public. This leaves survivors, their families and their communities with the feeling that their experiences have gone unnoticed.

The war in northern Uganda is an example of the complexity of conflict, where the lines of perpetrator are blurred between state, rebel and civilian, the abductors and the abductees. It is this complexity which tells us that it is not one process that will provide solutions to the years of conflict. If Uganda is ever going to move past its history of conflict, we need to address the many concerns of survivors in northern Uganda and the rest of the country that still remain.

Oryem Nyeko is the Communications and Advocacy Team Leader at the Justice and Reconciliation Project.

Making peacebuilding evaluation accessible

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“What does peace look like around the world?”

 

That’s a simple question that can be answered in a couple of ways.

And it was one of many questions we asked in Cape Town this past December during a workshop on breaking barriers to inclusion and participation in peacebuilding evaluation. As an implementing partner of the Everyday Peace Indicators project, JRP was given the opportunity to talk about our work creating a bottom-up approach to evaluating peacebuilding work.

For the past three years, JRP facilitated focus group discussions and community meetings in Kanyagoga, Odek and Atiak to identify indicators to identify those community’s own measures of peace. We followed this up with conducting mobile phone surveys in each location to measure change over time on those indicators.

Possibilities for the future

As the discussion went on, Katherine Haugh an evaluator and graphic designer, created visuals like the one above on the everyday peace indicators, highlighting the questions we were tackling: what does a bottom-up approach to asking how people measure peace in their everyday lives in places like northern Uganda, Zimbabwe and South Africa look like? And what are the possibilities for adopting an approach that focuses on the perspective of the communities in which an intervention is being made, rather than that of an NGO or its donor?

Everyone could walk up and see

As people spoke, Katherine used bright colours to draw and write on boards displayed on the walls of the conference room. At first it was difficult to tell what she was doing and why, but as the process continued it became clear that it was creating an alternative that made what would seem like a complex question (what does peace look around the world?) accessible to all kinds of people. What was great about it was that everyone could walk up and see what she had created during and after the discussions, which made it even more interactive and fun.

Brainstorming new ideas

This different approach was especially important because the whole point of the workshop was to bring actors from across the world to brainstorm and come up with new ideas, be innovative and creative, and share experiences to make sure the communities we partner with are involved in both the work and the evaluation of the work we do. It’s true that not everyone responds to visuals and bright colours – some people are admittedly more aural and like to hear concepts spoken before they can internalise them. But if you’re going to focus on increasing participation and inclusion, this was an incredible way to get the ball rolling.

Read more…

 

Contribute to ‘Voices’ on children born of war

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Voices, Issue, 10 November 2015 Voices Issue 08 Cover Voices Issue 07 cover_sm Voices Issue 5, September 2013 - Victim participation in transitional justice

Voices is looking for contributors to its next issue. This issue is centred on children born of war whose needs, while important, are often ignored and overlooked.

In this issue we hope to explore opportunities and challenges for children of born of war by providing a space for previously unheard voices.

We welcome a variety of content for this issue including standard articles and essays, photographs and photo essays, poetry, drawings, paintings and any other creative contributions.

To contribute

If you want to contribute to this issue, please get in touch with the Voices editorial team via email at voices@justiceandreconciliation.com to share your ideas.

Please bear in mind that we use a three-stage process for accepting, reviewing and editing submissions:

  1. Submission of story ideas to the editorial team based on the given theme an issue is based on. This may be in the form of a brief (150-200 word) title and abstract, or simply in the form of a proposed title.
  2. Submission of a first draft after a story idea is approved by the editorial team.
  3. Liaising with editors and submission of final draft.

Full submission guidelines can be found here.

Voices Issue 02 Cover

About Voices

Voices is a publication of the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) which provides a space for victim-centred views on transitional justice. It aims to be a regular, open platform for victims and key stakeholders to dialogue on local and national transitional justice developments. Past issues have dealt with thematic areas such as amnesty, reparations, truth-telling, accountability and sexual- and gender-based violence. We welcome the submission of articles from conflict-affected community members, academics, civil society and government representatives on each issues’ given theme.

Living in unity and seeking justice – Lukodi massacre survivors to hold memorial prayers

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Lukodi massacre memorial 2015-05-19 (38) 2

On 19 May 2016 survivors of the Lukodi massacre with the chiefdom of Patiko, Ker Kal Kwaro Patiko, members of the community and well wishers will host their annual prayers to commemorate the 2004 LRA massacre.

The theme of this years event is “living in unity and seeking justice” and it will take place at Lukodi P7 School in Bungatira sub-county just outside of Gulu.

 

TJ Monitor: Thomas Kwoyelo trial postponed to July

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Thomas Kwoyelo Timeline

 

The trial of alleged Lord’s Resistance Army commander Thomas Kwoyelo, which was supposed to start today in Gulu, 2 May 2016, has been postponed to 18 July. Four weeks ago, the Registrar in charge of Special Projects and the ICD, Harriet Ssali Lule, alluded to the possibility that the trial may be postponed because planned outreach with victims had not been conducted by the prosecution team. According to reports, Kwoyelo has already been transferred from prison in Kampala to Gulu and will attend a “formal postponement of the trial”.

TJ Monitor: Thomas Kwoyelo trial, South Sudan prays for peace

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Thomas Kwoyelo trial (possibly) delayed

On 4th April 2016, the pre-trial for Thomas Kwoyelo was held at the High Court in Kampala. The prosecution team led by Charles Kaamuli presented charges against Kwoyelo and planned to introduce 113 witnesses to the International Crimes Division of the High Court (the ICD) during trial proceedings. The presiding judge set forth May 2, 2016 as the date for the main trial but questions have, however, raised as to whether the May 2, 2016 will be able to take effect.

According to Registrar Court of Appeal & Registrar in charge of Special Projects, ICD, Mrs. Harriet Ssali Lule , during the ‘Kwoyelo Trial: CSO Outreach Strategy Workshop’ held in Gulu on 20 April by Refugee Law Project, the ICD has not been able to carry out outreach as planned due to lack of funds.

In her presentation, Registrar Ssali Lule said Kwoyelo’s case did not stall due to any fault on the side of the ICD nor the judges, but rather due to the constitutional question and interpretation of the Amnesty Act.

The workshop was also informed that there is need for collaboration with all the stakeholders including the Civil Society Organisation (CSOs) to support the ICD as well as the trial process.

 

South Sudanese hope for peace as Machar to return to Juba

On Sunday 24, South Sudanese held peace prayers in the capital Juba ahead of the arrival of Riek Machar, reports AFP a move that may see an end to two years of war.

This follows a step by the South Sudan government to issue clearance for Machar, under the UN chief Ban Ki-moon instructions that he (Machar) returns to Juba without delay.

Should the process go on successfully, Marchar will have to take up the post of first vice president alongside arch-rival President Salva Kiir. But most importantly, the move will possibly see an end to the conflict in South Sudan.

Read more

Background of the recent South Sudan conflict

From the time when violence broke out in South Sudan in mid-December 2013, the country experienced reignited ethnic divisions and gross human rights violations.

Under international pressure, there have been attempts to restore peace in the country to no avail. The two sides earlier signed a peace deal in the Ethiopian capital, which paves the way for a ceasefire followed by the formation of a transitional government, the drafting of a new constitution and, eventually, fresh elections.

Both side violated what was agreed which saw a swift resumption of hostilities in the country. (More information: BBC).

 

JRP Podcast Episode 2 – Mapping regional reconciliation in northern Uganda and Dominic Ongwen

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(Oryem Nyeko) Hello and welcome to the second episode of JRPs’ podcast. I am Oryem Nyeko, I am  with my colleague Okwir Isaac Odiya of JRP  to talk about a report title ‘ Mapping Regional Reconciliation In Northern Uganda: A Case Study Of Acholi And Lango Sub- Region.

(Okwir Isaac Odiya) Across Ethnic Boundaries project came from the background of our interactions with the community of Acholi, Lango, Teso and West Nile which we learned about the poor relationship and the accusations that is within these communities. We thought of doing this regional reconciliation project to understand whether there is need for regional reconciliation in northern Uganda. This made us to do a baseline study which we came out with the result. This baseline study or the regional reconciliation survey that we did was meant to provide us a baseline for peace building and reconciliation undertaking in northern Uganda. Basically to inform us whether it is true that there is need for reconciliation between the people of northern Uganda and what mechanism therefore should be adopted in order to foster reconciliation in Northern Uganda.

(Oryem)  So the baseline is reported in this report that we are talking about…

(Isaac) Exactly, the ‘Mapping of Regional Reconciliation in Northern Uganda’ is the result of the baseline survey that we did.

(Oryem) So what are some of the findings in the report? What did you find out about the need for regional reconciliation?

(Isaac) From the report, we came with key findings and one of it is the negative perception about the civil war – the war that was fought between the government of Uganda and the LRA. We realized that many people perceived the war as a war that was planned by one ethnic group against the other which basically in many communities that we interacted with, they claim that it was an Acholi war made to make other ethnic groups suffer. So that is one of the findings we realized on the ground.

The second finding is about the tension which is among the ethnic groups in northern Uganda as a result of the crimes that were committed among these communities. There is interpersonal community and ethnic tension which basically people think they were made to suffer because of some other individuals, because of some other community or because of some other ethnic groups.

From the survey that was conducted, we noted that 62% says that there is poor relationship among the people of Lango and Acholi which is as a result of LRA war. They feel that the people of Acholi planned to kill the people of Lango so because of this, there is that poor relationship between the people of Acholi and the people of Lango.

We also noted that in the communities or among the different communities there is fear of revenge by other communities because of what they did maybe. In some of the communities there are some individuals that were involved in some of the atrocities and because of what they did in the atrocities that they feel that their counterparts are going to revenge on them. So there is that fear of revenge within the communities. So generally there is that accusations among the communities, they claim that they suffered because of that individual or that community.

We also found that the community and the individuals are so bitter for lack of accountability and reparation programme. Many individuals and many communities were made to suffer but there is no acknowledgement of the crimes committed on them, there is no accountability for what they underwent and there is no programme to repair them. So the communities are so bitter on the government, they are so bitter on their leaders, they are so bitter on each other within the community because they feel they are not being repaired, they are not being acknowledged for the wrongs that happened to them. Generally the communities feel that they are being segregated in post-conflict service provision. There are a number of programmes that are enrolled by civil society organisations, by the local government but they feel that the services are balanced. It’s not reaching them all, it’s only being directed to one section of the community. Because of this they feel that there is segregation in provision of these services that should really help them to come out of the problem they went through to repair them, to recover from the shock of the war. And because of this segregation, they feel that they are not being honored, they are not being acknowledged as people who also suffered.

In our own analysis we feel that this is another potential source of conflict in that if they feel that one section of the community is being supported to recover from the problem, it means they are not being supported and easily they can begin to revenge, they can begin to cause another conflict on the government or on the communities that are benefiting from some of these services.

 (Oryem) I’m curious, what do you think are some of the root causes of what you are talking about – the segregation; some communities not receiving the programmes that are meant to address the legacy of the war. What’s the cause of that, do you think?

(Isaac)  I think there is lack of a baseline study to understand the different needs of the communities and what they went through. Our service providers – it looks like they don’t understand our communities, what they went through and the kind of services they need so they are kind of neglecting some of these communities to benefit from some of these services. To me I feel that they are not informed, they don’t know what services are supposed to be provided for which communities, which is a gap and that is the only gap I feel.

But also, it is important that we need to train our service providers to know how to work with the victims of conflict. In a way we may also be causing conflict by failing to understand the circumstances that our communities went through. Like when we were interacting with this communities, the people of Odek made mention about the kind of segregation that they are going through. We were made to know that the people of Odek are being considered as Kony, in that they have supported Kony, they groomed Kony to be what he is and Kong is now affecting.  So they contributed in making Kony who he is, and because of that they are being treated as Kony. So I feel that the service providers should be able to separate the people of Odek and Kony himself, taking the fact that they also suffered a lot in the hand of Kony.

(Oryem) So what needs to be done? I mean, you’ve elaborated a bit on that with service providers maybe needing to be more informed about the needs and experiences of the various communities, but what’s a next step in terms of reconciling some of these issues?

(Isaac) In line with service provision, that is basically one of the reasons why we did this report. We want this report to inform transitional justice processes in Uganda and in northern Uganda. We want these key findings and recommendations in this report, Mapping Regional Reconciliation, to really inform the different stakeholders – peacebuilders and reconciliation activists to really know what are the gaps in the community and then what are some of the steps that are required to be taken in order to mitigate or to provide remedies to some of these gaps in the community. So that is the first step.

I would urge the different stakeholders to really pay attention to this report so that they can learn the kind of community we are working with, the gaps in the community and the kind of careful steps they should take in order to provide reconciliation within these communities.

Secondly, it is important to work in partnership, the different civil society organizations, the NGOs and the government, the local government. We need to be coordinating so that we inform each other on the gaps on the ground and then the best step, we can brainstorm on the best steps that should really be taken so that we really reach this community so that we address the specific gaps in this community. And by doing this we are going to act in the interests of the community we are serving.

I want to mention another few things in regards to reconciliation gaps. What requires to be done. We also noted that there is a lack of platform to foster reconciliation, in that victims’ communities are there in the community, but they lack forums to which they should really communicate, to which they should really engage to address some of their own problems. This is also coupled with the criminal prosecution process that is going on, the trial of Kwoyelo, the trial of Dominic Ongwen, which is kind of fueling more conflict in the community. So there is also this problem that is existing in the community following the survey that we conducted, or working with these communities. Which my recommendation would go to the various stakeholders to really support the peacebuilding and reconciliation structures that we have on the ground or to establish more, so that they provide pillars to these conflict affected community to interact with, to discuss their issues, to support them in their reconciliation and recovery programme.

It’s all about providing a platform for these people to interact, to really try to see the best way of addressing some of their issues, to channel their problems so that it is heard and addressed by the stakeholders.

I would also recommend for a trauma healing project to really be enrolled in the community so that people find ways to move out of their problems instead of getting stuck. Much as accountability has not been done, much as there is no adequate reparation they still need to move on with their lives. So it is important to have such programmes.

(Oryem) Can I just ask how do the criminal proceedings fuel conflict in these communities?

(Isaac) From the interaction we had with these communities, we learned that they have varying interests in line with the result of the verdict. In the case of Dominic Ongwen’s trial, there are those who want to see Dominic Ongwen prosecuted, they want to see him guilty and there are those who want to see Dominic Ongwen coming back home acquitted from the sentence.

So you can see the communities are now looking at those who are in support of Dominic Ongwen as those who supported the atrocities that made them suffer in northern Uganda. Those who look at the people who want to see Dominick Ongwen jailed, they look at them as those who do not want reconciliation to be done so that people get to live back together.

(Oryem) Because of course the question of criminal accountability and Dominic Ongwen has implications on the communities that have been affected by the case for Lukodi, I imagine that’s what you’re talking about, and the other communities, Odek, Abok, and so on, that his charges are based on, they obviously have a vested interest in seeing some sort of accountability towards him. Whereas in other communities, in Coorom, for example, where Ongwen is from there is a sense that there should be more of a reconciliatory process. Although in my experience, I found that even people in Lukodi also want to reconcile with the people from where Ongwen is from, which I find interesting and I think it kind of speaks to the point that you’re making that these issues have a regional aspect to them. In that it’s not the same everywhere. Not everyone in northern Uganda has the same sense, not everyone in Acholi and Lango has the same feelings towards Ongwen or to criminal accountability or to the impact of the war. I think that’s kind of it

(Isaac) Exactly, and that’s where it calls for how do we manage the process?  So that at the end of it all, irrespective of the result of the trial, how are we going to ensure that there is reconciliation, how are we going to we to work together, the people of Lango, the people of Acholi, the people of Lukodi, the people of Coorom, irrespective of the results of the hearing. This is what we should manage.

 

 

JRP Podcast Episode 1 – Documenting conflict sexual violence

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Oryem Nyeko: Hi this is Oryem Nyeko, I am here with Lindsay McClain Opiyo who is the team leader for Gender Justice here at JRP. We are trying something new – we are trying to do a podcast. This is our first episode and we are very excited.

We are here to talk about a new publication that JRP has just put out which is a field note called “My Body, A Battlefield”.

Lindsay is a co-author and Lindsay I wanted to hear from you what this field note is all about. Maybe if you can give us an overview of this report?

Lindsay McClain Opiyo: Thanks Oryem. Yeah, this is our latest field note from JRP that is looking at everyday experiences of conflict-sexual violence in Koch Ongako, a community in Gulu district here in northern Uganda.

The field note is documenting men and women’s experience of conflict sexual violence during northern Uganda’s long standing conflicts both at the hands of state and non-state armed actors and also at the hands of civilians when they were living in internally displaced person’s camps.

There’s kind of three big takeaways that we would like people to have from the report. One, is that it doesn’t take a big massacre or a big event to make peoples experiences during the war worthy of documentation. As readers will find from the report, a lot of the accounts are of women and to some extent men just going about their daily lives during the conflict and how they were targeted for sexual violence by different conflict actors.

Two would be the importance of methodology when you are actually trying to document and preserve accounts of conflict sexual violence. All too often especially with prosecutions and court processes, investigations, it’s very cut and dry, and we use methodologies like storytelling and focus group discussions in order to get people to open up about these very stigmatized events that happened to them. And that’s our second takeaway that it’s important to use this more informal methodologies to document these experiences.

And our third takeaway is that it is very important to have documentation of these experiences in order for survivors to advocate for redress. So we hope that the report will be something that survivors can actually use when they are petitioning government and other bodies for reparations and other forms of redress for what they went through.

(Oryem) We know that this is just one community in northern Uganda that experienced this conflict. How emblematic do you think that it is, in terms of the bigger picture of sexual violence on questions of accountability and healing and so on?

(Lindsay) Our sample size was relatively small. We talked to 60-something people. A little over 50 of them admitted to being survivors of conflict sexual violence, so it is not a humongous sample size and we were exclusively looking at Koch Ongako. But what we found within those accounts is that a lot of patterns started to emerge. One of the most interesting ones was this idea of dangerous spots and that due the nature of women’s lives during the war that they were targeted for conflict sexual violence while they were going about daily life, while they were going to the gardens to dig, while they were even going to buy salt to cook for their families.

So one would imagine that this is fairly representative of other communities within northern Uganda. There is nothing about Koch that would necessarily make it different from other communities but it is definitely something that would merit more research to see the extent to which these lots of pardon also were in other communities.

(Oryem): I’m here now with Nancy Apiyo who is a co-author of My Body, A Battlefield and she was here in 2013 when the Gender Justice team began the research process for this field note in Koch Ongako.

I wanted to know from you Nancy, what was that process like doing this documentation? Obviously these stories are very painful and I imagine it was very traumatic for some of those survivors to talk about their experiences. So could you tell us a bit more about what you witnessed when you went though this documentation process?

Nancy Apiyo: When we started to work with the community of Koch in about 2012, we noted that from the stories that the women would share there were stories of violations during the conflict of sexual violation and violations of that nature. Most of the women we interacted with at that time mentioned to us that they were living positively with HIV and most of them linked it to the conflict and some mentioned that they got the HIV out of the rape.

So as a team we were touched by this and we did not want it to just stop there, we didn’t want these stories to only remain in those storytelling circles because the first objective of those storytelling was for healing purposes, to build confidence around the women and we did not have this idea of publishing these stories out to the public. But when we heard this we felt it was important to let the world know what really happened in Koch and break this silence of what the community went through during the conflict around that time. So we had a discussion with the women about what they thought about more people outside the community knowing what they went through and if that was important to them and they responded that it was important that the rest of the world knows what happened to them in the community. And that is when we got this idea of publishing this story or beginning to write and have an account of what happened in Koch during the conflict.

(Oryem) Where there some people who, maybe, didn’t feel comfortable speaking out in the beginning but eventually opened up a bit more as the process went along?

(Nancy) There were women who once they heard others talk they also began to open up and they were like, “When I heard her story it compelled me to also talk about my own story. I felt that actually what she went through is even worse than what I went through and this alone gave me the courage to also stand up speak about what I also went though.”

I think listening to each other’s story and knowing the fact that they all went through these things, they identified with each other and giving them also the confidence to speak by listening to someone’s story they also get the courage to also talk about their own stories.

(Oryem) I know that the field note doesn’t just talk about the experiences of women, there are also some quotes that you have from men. What was that process like, getting the stories from the men?

(Nancy) We didn’t have men at first. Our first plan was to talk to the women and get in to the sexual violence that women went through. But as we worked with women they informed us that there were also men who also went through SGBV but they were quiet and nobody was reaching out to them. So we told them that if they wanted the men’s stories also to be out, that is also up to the community to decide and it would be also important. So it’s the women who reached out to the men, talked to them and brought them into the storytelling circles and the men were also able to share their stories. Although with the men we had a one-on-one interviews with them and not a group kind of thing.

But the good thing with this documentation also the methods that we kept on using, using pictures, songs, dramas, sometimes they act out these issues, sometimes they draw them in pictures. Things like that. Such exercises helped to reduce the tension around violation and make the women relax, and the men, and enable them to talk.

(Oryem) Was there any particular story that struck you individually as a person that you could tell us about?

(Nancy) One of the women who had been raped – gang-raped, actually, by the government soldiers and she had tried to get justice in vain and had given up and had moved on, okay tried to move on. And so, during this day she was not in the first lot of women that we shared stories with or we listened to and as time went by, I think, a year later, her colleagues asked her to join the storytelling circle. They informed us that there is this lady we know that she really went through something very bad and it would be good for her to benefit from this. So, during one of the retreats, they brought her. They had already talked to her and she had accepted the whole thing and so she came.

I remember one of her first statements was she thought that she would never have the opportunity to share this story to anyone. She would never be listened to again. And to her the fact that this documentation process was an opportunity for her and all those other women who have gone through sexual violence to get justice. And to her the reason why she came for that particular storytelling at that time for that retreat was so that women who were violated get justice and it wasn’t for her, it was for somebody out there who went through the same thing that she went through to get justice and so that the world to knows that these things really happened. She wanted people to listen to what she went through.

And so this lady told us all the details of how she was raped, the whole experience. There is a book that I read where we are told that sometimes when somebody is being raped they get numb at that particular time and they are oblivious of what is happening and may not know even what is happening and when it comes to narrating, they may not give you all the details of maybe, he unzipped like this, he turned me like this or this is what they did. But this lady gave us all the details of what really happened that day and to me I think that is the story that really changed… and that is the story that kept me going to really write this and I really wanted this report to come out. That is the story that stood out for me most.

(Oryem) What do you hope is going to happen with this publication, with this being disseminated all around the world? What do you hope? What’s your goal?

(Nancy) For now, I think the short term goal for now as I see is first of all to break the silence. There is no much documentation of sexual violence that happened in the camps. Most of the narratives we have been hearing was for abduction and things that happened in captivity but not really what happened in the camps during the conflict. So me I think, step one, that this report is going to do is to share that really sexual violence happened in the camps, the stories.

There are reports I know of what happened… Human Rights Watch indicating this and this, but the narratives from the community indicating that this happened, so I think this report is first of all going to contribute towards that knowledge that during camps, the same people who were supposed to protect the people did this and even at the hands of the community themselves, the women faced this kinds of violation.

(Oryem) I want to close, with a question about the title, My body, A Battlefield. Could you tell us how that title came about?

(Nancy) During one of the discussions we had with the local leaders, one of them mentioned that men suffered in the war but the women suffered using their bodies. During the war it’s their bodies that suffered, and to me that is the statement that stood out for me and that is where we got the title for this book that my body was a battlefield to show how during the war, the battlefield was actually the woman’s body. Women were not taken maybe to be as soldiers. Those who were at the camps were not recruited as mobiles. They were not beaten or made to do hard labor but as soon as she is got, she is raped and that is the kind of punishment that women faced during the conflict. They felt the brunt of the conflict on their bodies. That statement really stood out for me and that is how we got the title of the report.