Tag Archives: Redress for SGBV

Goat Rearing Brings Economic Opportunities to Survivors of Conflict

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The sun in Lapono beat down fiercely. Little rain has come to region, so dust swirled in the air with hot wind.  Despite the heat, residents waited eagerly in the village center, talking and laughing with palpable excitement.

Following a long training on goat rearing earlier last month, Justice and Reconciliation Project staff returned to Lapono on Wednesday, October third. They presented thirty-eight goats to Women’s Advocacy Network group members there. The group was also given a cash box and fund, from which they can take small loans.

Distributing all thirty-eight goats was an exhilarating process. The animals were tried in a grassy field and labeled with numbers one through thirty-eight. Stubborn, they bleated and kicked at the ground. Residents were also assigned numbers and found the goats with corresponding digits. After picking their animals women cried out in ojili or jubilation and everyone posed for a picture.

Residents of Lapano pose for a group picture with thier new goats. Photo Credit, Sophia Neiman.
Residents of Lapano pose for a group picture with thier new goats. Photo Credit, Sophia Neiman.

Life in Lapono remains difficult, and the formerly abducted must surmount many obstacles. Stigma runs rampant. “Now people are trying to abuse us from the community. They are violating our rights to live in harmony,” a woman named Akello said. She has remained in Lapono for more than a decade; ever since she escaped the rebels. Furthermore, according to the Community Development Officer, Bena Sarah Ongom, domestic abuse, school dropouts and teenage pregnancy are also prevalent. Many women possess limited, if any, ownership over crucial resources.

Thus, the goats mark new opportunities. It is a signal of possibility. Now, the animals will aid in farming. As time passes, money raised from the goats can help send children to school, pay for medical bills, or be used to buy more nutritious food in the market place. “I know my life is going to change,” said Akello.  She continued, “I am going to take good care of [the goats] to ensure they grow up very well and help me in paying for my children to go to school. I didn’t get the chance to study so I need my children to study.” She is currently a mother of four.

Ideally, effect of the project will reach beyond WAN group members, and influence people throughout the area. “They can act like role models in the community, so that other people can adopt their standard of life and their standard of saving culture. The goats that they have been supported with can multiply, and eradicate household poverty,” Ongom said.

Goat deliveries were not limited to Lapono. JRP staff gave thirty-six goats to residents of Namokora, near the border with South Sudan. In the coming weeks, they will journey to Adjumani and Soroti. The program is made possible due to the generous support of the Welfare Fund.

A woman celebrates with her goat. Photo Credit, Sophia Neiman.
A woman celebrates with her goat. Photo Credit, Sophia Neiman.

 

Economic Empowerment and Community Building in Lapono

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The villages of Lapono sub-county are hidden among imposing rock formations, and fields of sunflowers and banana plants. In late afternoons, children bathe in the rivers along the red dirt roadside and cattle graze. This is now a peaceful place, but it was the site of a horrific 2002 massacre by the Lord’s Resistance Army. While the war is long over, the memory is fresh and abductees face daily stigma.

On Tuesday September 4, select residents of Lapono were trained in goat rearing. They will receive 38 goats in the coming month. This is part of a larger initiative by the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) and the Women’s Advocacy Network (WAN), reaching communities in five areas previously affected by conflict. The goal is to economically empower survivors of wartime sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), many of whom still lack crucial resources. JRP has created groups of survivors, all of whom also belong to WAN, and taught leadership and group dynamics, providing both communal and finical support.

District veterinarian Richard Otema met with Lapono group members and JRP representatives in the village center. After the group had prayed, he explained how to breed and care for goats, emphasizing the importance of keeping the animals clean and recognizing certain diseases.

Dr. Otema said it was his first time working with returnees and he found the experience enlightening. He is eager to continue supporting the community. “After giving the goats there should be regular check-ins and treatment,” he said. Furthermore, if the group proves successful Dr. Otema will work with the sub-county to provide more goats for cross-breeding.

Dr. Otema teaches reminds participants of the importance of keeping goats clean and healthy.
Dr. Otema reminds participants of the importance of keeping goats clean and healthy.

Group members listened intently, taking notes and pausing only to share sweet tea and a simple lunch. Many wore shirts from JRP, bearing the slogan, “Speak up and Act, SGBV is Real.” Others brought children who wandered between the training classroom and the meadow outside.

Participants are eager to use the income generated from goat rearing to better their communities and lives. Plans include sending children to school, saving to buy a cow to plow fields and even romance. One member hopes to get married, once his goats have mated and multiplied.

Following the training, participants expressed gratitude for JRP. One man said, “I want to thank JRP for coming to support vulnerable women and children, because there was a massacre in Lapano and many people died.” He added that he hopes the project can be expanded. Another resident claimed that the training and group will help to combat other issues in the village, such as domestic violence. He said, “The training is proof that there is reconciliation in the community.”

The group ended their meeting just as it had begun: joined in prayer. They returned the next day for additional lessons in financial planning, provided by members of the JRP staff. These trainings will enable both the group and individuals to save money with purpose, and continue to work towards a bright future. Members remained engaged and eager to learn throughout the training; a clear sign of progress and hope in the Lapono.

Transforming Ordinary Community Members into Agents of Change

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The last two weeks marked the end of yet another successful training block of six Women’s Advocacy Network (WAN) groups in the sub-counties of Lapono, Dzaipi, Namokora, Soroti, Abia and Abok. Each group consisted of a two-day training funded by Trust Africa to promote SGBV responsiveness, and Welfare Fund for its Livelihood project emphasising the importance of leadership skills and group dynamics.

JRP Head of Office Isaac Okwir, Odong Kizito Program Manager of Stir Education, Unzimay Ronald of Danish Refugee Council and Senior Empowerment Manager Akidi Brenda Nancy of Thrive, facilitated the SGBV responsiveness training sessions. The Community Development Officer of each sub-county facilitated the second day on leadership skills and group dynamics. This is to ensure that each group is introduced to their local community leader to foster a working relationship in case of arising concerns.

The first day addressed a variety of issues including indicators of sexual violence human rights, the distinction between gender and sex and SGBV responsiveness and prevention. The second day addressed leadership skills and group dynamics—specifically, leadership roles, qualities of a good leader, communication skills and conflict management. The participants also gained practical skills including implementing bi-laws, requirements for group registration, recordkeeping, and opening a joint bank account.

Despite traveling long distances, the participants were thoroughly satisfied with the training and gained invaluable insight into SGBV-related issues. The training more importantly instilled in them the confidence to lead their communities out of conflict and to educate others on gender equality and human rights. JRP is confident that the participants will apply the skills they learned to their everyday lives, and will become agents of change in their communities.

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A PRIVATE SCREENING OF THE TRIAL OF DOMINIC ONGWEN FOR VICTIMS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE

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As part of monitoring the Dominic Ogwen trial (‘Ongwen Trial’) at the International Criminal Court (ICC), JRP gathered the opinions of community members directly affected by the LRA in Acholi and Lango sub regions to inform the trial process. Of the many issues discussed, the concerns raised by victims of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) appeared to be the most pertinent. With the expansion of cases against Dominic Ongwen involving SGBV crime, victims of sexual violence do not feel they are given an adequate platform to follow the trial and express their views. According to many SGBV victims, they are marginalized in their community as a result of the stigma attached to sexual violence and being a former abductee. Consequently, they are unable to sit with other community members to watch the trial and express their opinions freely. The victims of SGBV therefore seek a more conducive environment that enables them to participate in the trial at the local level.

Other issues raised by the community concern the victim’s reparation mechanism of the ICC. Whilst they expressed their knowledge of being beneficiaries of the ICC Trust Fund for Victims (‘Trust Fund’), only verified victims who testify and confirm the situation can benefit from the reparations scheme. As such, they believe it is not fair to compensate those who testify at trial. Victims also hold the view that compensating only victims directly affected by Ongwen or his brigade is likely to cause segregation and division among other LRA abductees. Furthermore, there is an overall loss of morale for victims to participate in the trial process as a result of the conditions imposed by the ICC Trust Fund. They posed questions such as “what justice will I get from the trial?”  Questions like these reflect the inadequacy of information disseminated to the victims, which has resulted in a lack of understanding by the victims of the mechanism itself.

Victims also believe the UPDF should be held accountable for their suffering. In their view, the ICC is working for the Government of Uganda by using government resources as evidence to prosecute Dominic Ongwen. According to the victims, if the Government was able to track Ongwen’s communications with the LRA leader when planning to attack a village, then why didn’t the UPDF respond to protect the civilians or inform civilians of the planned attack? Consequently, victims are dissatisfied and disappointed with Ugandan Government’s submission of evidence to the ICC. Victims also believe the ICC process is selective justice. They questioned why only Dominic Ongwen is being tried and why other commanders who were more culpable were given amnesty

Contrasting interests in the Ongwen trial has resulted in segregation between victims and local communities. While victims wish to see Ongwen punished and held accountable for his actions, local communities either want Ongwen to walk free or to be prosecuted through a local justice mechanism. The increasing tension between victims and local communities calls for reconciliation efforts.

Despite the ICC’s attempt to anonymise witnesses through voice distortion, victims can still be identified by those who have lived with them for a significant period of time. This has caused insecurity in potential witnesses, thereby discouraging participation in the trial process.

Identification and registration of witnesses have also proved to be problematic. Victims believe that legitimate victims are being excluded because local leaders and those in charge of witness identification and registration have abused the system by registering their friends and family to benefit from the trial.

JRP urges the ICC to strengthen its complementarity mechanism to promote co-existence irrespective of the court process. People should be prepared to co-exist regardless of whether Ongwen is found guilty.

In seeking to respond to some of the issues raised, JRP in partnership with ICC Women and in collaboration with the ICC’s Field Outreach Office in Uganda, we will be showing a private screening to victims of SGBV in the districts of Gulu, Amuru, Abok, Pader, and Nwoya. This initiative seeks to provide a more suitable environment for conflict-affected SGBV victims to follow the trial process and to freely express their views. JRP is confident that this initiative will empower victims of sexual violence to participate in the trial process, whilst encouraging them to advocate for justice and accountability for the injustices they suffered.

Providing a platform for important dialogues on gender-related issues

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Dialogue held at Pabo sub-county with WAN members, relatives and local leaders present. Photo by Patrick Odong/JRP.
Dialogue held at Pabo sub-county with WAN members, relatives and local leaders present. Photo by Patrick Odong/JRP.

As communities navigate a post-conflict journey together, it is key for a stage to be given for different groups within society to share their experiences, challenges and current journeys.

Recently, as part of the “Livelihood” project implemented by JRP and Women’s Advocacy Network (WAN), with funding from Uganda fund, four dialogues were organised in three districts: Pader, Nwoya, and Amuru. The formulation of these dialogues came about after feedback sessions conducted across various WAN groups had brought to light a number of common challenges faced by WAN members. It was conceived by JRP and WAN that such challenges should be discussed with members, local government and cultural officials, as well as spouses and supporting relatives as gender-related issues that need a holistic approach for them to be remedied.

Being mainly made up of victims of conflict-related SGBV, the WAN groups have been supported throughout this project in a number of ways. The project supports WAN groups in selecting an Income Generating Activity (IGA) for the group and building it together into a sustainable and efficient source of income for members. Throughout the project period, members have noticed that certain challenges are standing in the way of complete achievement of the project’s aims. Such common challenges highlighted included: jealousy, stigma, land conflict, lack of local authority assistance, and harming of animals distributed as part of project. During the dialogue, members were given the opportunity to elaborate on these points in order to help paint a clearer picture for those relatives and local leaders in attendance.

A key question posed to the groups was whether they felt they were experiencing such issues due to their identity as a victim of SGBV or whether it was due to their gender. Whilst some emphasized the role their gender plays in the challenges they face, most accentuated how being a victim of SGBV, and for many a returnee from LRA captivity, brought the most challenges. Although members perhaps did not agree completely, it is important that these members consider the gender aspect, so that effective remedies can be agreed upon.

When addressing the issues discussed that related to local land conflict or relations with the local authorities, local government officials were on hand to listen, respond and advise. Many of the local leaders acknowledged how they were formerly unaware of some of the problems the group faced and called for all groups to work closely with the local authority. Providing a space for discussion between the members and the local leaders proved promising and could be important for the future of the groups’ project implementation.

After such a long period of violence that impacted the lives of most in northern Uganda, it is necessary to aid in social reconstruction and reconciliation. In aiding groups to inform other members, relatives and important figures within the community on their activities, hopes and struggles, we hope communities within northern Uganda can build a bright and peaceful future together.

Gender Equality for All: A Report Based on a Consultative Dialogue with Stakeholders in Northern Uganda on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

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Gender Equality For All

This report is a result of a consultative dialogue between JRP, its partners and stakeholders. It focuses on the complex spectrum of conflict-related violence that continues to affect marginalised victims and survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Uganda.

We acknowledge that, albeit its importance,the dearth of initiatives on SGBV calls for an increase in interventions on conflict related SGBV in northern Uganda. The report argues that violence in general is intertwined with structural impediments that continue to pervasively affect societies in Northern Uganda long after the conflict ended. Inherently the continued prevalence of SGBV is a result of inequality that exists due to unequal power relations between men and women in matters such as land ownership, decision-making and community leadership, among others. Added to this is the importance of acknowledging that the widespread effects of rape and other forms of sexual violence such as forced marriage often result into unwanted pregnancies and children which leaves the majority of women suffering. Among young women who have returned from LRA captivity, the report also looks at the phenomenon of Children Born of War (CBW) whose needs and aspirations are often rarely factored into research and policy.

This report is a result of a series of consultations with stakeholders to disseminate the results of research findings based on fieldwork that JRP undertook over the past two years with funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. It incorporates the workshop deliberations in Lira, Gulu and Adjumani, outlining some of the critical steps necessary in SGBV programming for women, men and CBW as a result of the LRA conflict in Northern Uganda. Part of the vision that is critical for renewed programming is laid out at the end of the report that largely points out that women, men and children should co-exist in mutually empowering relationships; where all are valued as equal and active players in transformative gender relations emanating from social, cultural and economical barriers in society.

Key areas for programming

After engaging participants over three separate days, the following key areas for programming on SGBV were identified:

Embracing new dimensions on victimhood: Participants noted that everyone irrespective of sex or age can become a victim of SGBV. During conflict times, men too have become targets of SGBV, although the incidence remains prevalent among women and girls in Northern Uganda. More often than not, the mention of SGBV during conflict evokes images of women raped, but not the child born as a result of that rape. In terms of programming, children too must be seen as primary victims of rape, there is a chance that they shall be left out.

Coordination among stakeholders: It is vital to build synergies with other stakeholders, as this would eliminate the disconnect between the various aspects of programming. In particular, coordination is crucial between aspects such as redress for SGBV and others like humanitarian assistance and national/regional development; education; and health. In this way it is possible to identify linkages that are important for subsequent programming and how one programme can make a contribution to others.

Multi-sectoral response: There is need to embark on a multi-sectoral approach by ensuring that all partners play a role in prevention and response of SGBV in order to address unequal power relations that exacerbate violence and entrenches aspects of vulnerability for women, men and children. The multi-sectoral model calls for a holistic inter-organisational and inter-agency effort that promotes participation of all persons concerned and coordination across sectors, including (but not limited to) health, psychosocial, legal/justice and security.

Comprehensive and long-term response to violence: The importance of looking at the bigger picture of violence in Uganda and capturing its entire spectrum was emphasised. This would ensure that the exclusive focus on SGBV does not reinforce the perspective of women as victims, but also looks at the history, dimensions and manifestations of the conflict that spanned from pre-colonial times and was entrenched along racial and regional lines by successive regimes during periods following independence. This therefore calls for prioritising long-term approaches to address the root causes of conflict through a gendered lens.

Capacity building, empowerment and sensitisation: These are crucial avenues to ensure that the right human resources and expertise in dealing with SGBV are available; the local population is well informed to be able to challenge unequal power relations; and that crimes related to gender are openly acknowledged and taken on by society in order to avoid re-victimisation. This would go a long way in ensuring there is collective action at the community level as opposed to continuous dependence on outside support.

Participation and local ownership: It is important to realise that violence usually occurs within a cultural space. It is within these spaces that we need to articulate the needs of victims and survivors. Redress for SGBV should therefore avoid top-down models of programming such that planning, design and implementation resonate with local communities, ensuring that their practices and perceptions are taken into account without reinforcing the cultural identities of men as superior beings. It is also important to integrate programming in ways that are more inclusive and broader taking into consideration the gender perspective of the roles of men and women.

Download this report here (pdf).

Engaging Men and Boys in Redress for Conflict-SGBV in Northern Uganda

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Engaging Men and Boys in Redress for Conflict-SGBV in Northern Uganda, JRP Field Note 25, March 2017
Engaging Men and Boys in Redress for Conflict-SGBV in Northern Uganda, JRP Field Note 25, March 2017

This report presents the findings and recommendations from widespread consultations by the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) on the conflict experiences of men and boys in northern Uganda and how to effectively engage them in redress for conflict sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).

In the last 10 years in which JRP empowered conflict-affected communities in Uganda to participate in processes of justice, healing and reconciliation, especially through the Women’s Advocacy Network (WAN), most interventions explicitly targeted women and girls. This was largely because women and girls disproportionately suffered from conflict SGBV. Consequently, men and boys were minimally engaged in redress.

Preliminary discussions that JRP held with the communities in which it works revealed that men and boys often felt neglected in recovery interventions by civil society and government institutions. This led to their resentment and even hostility towards women and girls who were beneficiaries of post-conflict programmes and services.

In August 2015, JRP set out to better understand how men and boys could be engaged in redress for conflict SGBV in northern Uganda. The consultations explored the gendered experiences of men and boys during and as a result of the armed conflict; how it affected gender relations in communities and homes and how men and boys have been and could in future be engaged in redress.

A total of 161 respondents in Dzaipi sub-county in Adjumani district, Atanga sub-county in Pader district, Agweng sub-county in Lira district, and Gulu Municipality in Gulu District were consulted. A desk review was also done to assess comparative models for engaging men in gender-based violence prevention and response.

Key findings revealed that members of the community recognised men’s indispensable role in promoting gender equality and supported male engagement in redress for gendered conflict experiences as well as their involvement in the discourses for TJ, healing and reconciliation.

The recommendations focused on four key areas of improving relationships between women and men in the community; providing greater acknowledgment and redress; engaging men in redress for their experiences; and for engaging men in redress for women’s gendered experiences. The specific recommendations are summarised below under each are of focus.

Improving relationships between women and men in the community

  • Create safe spaces for men and women to discuss issues together such as meetings and gatherings where they would face each other and learn lessons together.
  • Organise community dialogue on gender and dealing with the past.
  • Provide mixed-sex trainings on conflict resolution and gender equality whereby the men and women would be educated together to reduce on the level of conflict in the homes.
  • Promote group sensitisation and peer support for members in the community.
  • Form initiatives for conflict mediation, healing and reconciliation through, for instance, peace building groups of duty bearers, communal meals and prayers for reconciliation and forgiveness.
  • Attend religious associations.
  • Provide support towards economic empowerment through livelihood projects to uplift people from abject poverty.
  • Enforce laws strictly especially those prohibiting alcoholism.
  • Establish rehabilitation centres to offer psychosocial support, counselling, grassroots information and education.
  • Advocate for behavioural change to address moral decadence across all the communities attributed to encampment and urbanisation.
  • Provide reparations and/or assistance to victims of conflict.
  • Create community projects to bring people together and provide information.

Providing greater acknowledgment and redress

  • Create community projects in a way that will not only acknowledge the pain of the war but also bring people together.
  • Form groups for collective advocacy especially in seeking material support for recovery; for training; truth telling and reconciliation,
  • Identify and engage male activists to understand their rights and responsibilities as well as create a better understanding of men’s problems in order to get solutions.
  • Integrate men’s empowerment into programmes of development partners and stakeholders by involving them in community meetings and WAN groups.
  • Put in place peer support forums for men to speak out and share their problems and concerns.
  • Implement community and family projects as a means of providing acknowledgement and redress.
  • Increase support towards formal and vocational education/training.
  • Implement affirmative action targeting men and boys in development and reintegration projects.
  • Provide reparation in terms of social services by government as well as awareness creation and legal aid services by NGOs.
  • Collect information on numbers and current status of conflict survivors to inform project design and funding support to enable them to receive appropriate support and redress.
  • Set up rehabilitation centres for psychosocial support to children and adults with mental health issues.

Engaging men in redress for their experiences

  • Form male groups for them to get counselling, gather and share opinions on issues concerning them, with influential or role models leading advocacy for the groups and mentoring members.
  • Form mixed groups of men and women so that they can share experiences.
  • Involve men and boys in training, workshops and other experience-sharing activities of WAN and other stakeholders.
  • Engage role models to educate fellow men about the importance of groups; inspire and encourage them to air out their concerns and demand their right to receive recovery support.

Engaging men in redress for women’s gendered experiences

  • Engage men in their spouses’ group activities so that they are informed and their understanding is enhanced on women’s redress issues in order for them to advocate for women’s rights; curb domestic violence and give views on how to support women.
  • Train men and build their capacity on peace building.
  • Initiate group projects of men and women for them to understand women’s rights; have a common understanding of goals; and share how to collectively achieve them.
  • Advocate for behavioural change to refrain from gossip and instead get involved in meetings where women share their stories, experiences and issues.
  • Involve men and women in joint Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) as a way to achieve economic independence and in order to allow them to prepare well for their future and that of their children.
  • It is hoped that through the report, future interventions that mainstream gender equality would address not only women’s gendered experiences, but also that of men and boys, ensuring that efforts for recovery and rehabilitation do not exclude or undermine men’s and boys’ gendered experiences.

Improving relationships between women and men in the community

  • Create safe spaces for men and women to discuss issues together such as meetings and gatherings where they would face each other and learn lessons together.
  • Organise community dialogue on gender and dealing with the past.
  • Provide mixed-sex trainings on conflict resolution and gender equality whereby the men and women would be educated together to reduce on the level of conflict in the homes.
  • Promote group sensitisation and peer support for members in the community.
  • Form initiatives for conflict mediation, healing and reconciliation through, for instance, peace building groups of duty bearers, communal meals and prayers for reconciliation and forgiveness.
  • Attend religious associations.
  • Provide support towards economic empowerment through livelihood projects to uplift people from abject poverty.
  • Enforce laws strictly especially those prohibiting alcoholism.
  • Establish rehabilitation centres to offer psychosocial support, counselling, grassroots information and education.
  • Advocate for behavioural change to address moral decadence across all the communities attributed to encampment and urbanisation.
  • Provide reparations and/or assistance to victims of conflict.
  • Create community projects to bring people together and provide information.

Download this field note here (pdf)

Coping Alone: Personal ways of seeking redress for survivors of conflict-SGBV

Field Notes,
Coping Alone Personal ways of seeking redress for survivors of conflict-SGBV, JRP Field Note 24
Coping Alone: Personal ways of seeking redress for survivors of conflict-SGBV, JRP Field Note 24

For over 20 years, the people of Northern Uganda, especially women and children, have been direct victims of a conflict between the Government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels. Thousands of victims suffered violations related to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).

Numerous studies have documented the increased acknowledgment of and response to the prevalence of SGBV during conflicts worldwide as well as the nature of these violations.  Despite this, little is known about the ways in which survivors of conflict SGBV seek redress and justice for their experiences, how they cope with the aftermath of the violence and the challenging obstacles they face in so doing. Findings suggest that even after wars and conflicts formally end, survivors of SGBV continue to experience re-victimisation and human rights violations in their respective local communities.

This field note draws upon 12 individual and group storytelling sessions with 103 survivors of conflict SGBV from Adjumani, Pader and Lira districts. It narrates survivors’ search for redress for SGBV during and after conflict and identifies the emergent patterns and themes across narratives. It concludes with recommendations for government, community and civil society stakeholders in order to increase survivors’ access to redress and accountability during and after conflict.

This field note is organised into 3 sections that narrate the stories of conflict SGBV survivors in search of redress during and after conflict, and identify the emerging patterns and themes across narratives. It also highlights ways in which survivors through their own initiatives cope with daily re-victimisation. The report concludes with recommendations for local government actors, the community and civil society stakeholders for increasing survivors’ access to redress. Names of the survivors have been changed in the field note for confidentiality purposes.

Key findings

  • The search for redress for survivors of SGBV is impeded by a number of factors which are mainly physical, psychological, socio-cultural and economic.
  • Due to lack of social and familial support systems, survivors of SGBV turn to their own ways of survival, some of which are non-constructive and not uplifting.
  • The attainment of redress is faced with physical, psychological, socio-cultural and economic challenges.
  • The accounts of SGBV survivors indicate that re-victimisation includes stigmatisation, rejection by family members, fending for children alone, domestic violence and land grabbing.
  • Constructive way of attaining redress or coping include peer support, counselling and psycho-social support, livelihood means, talking to couples, divine inspiration such as prayers and support from local authorities.
  • Non-constructive ways of coping or attaining redress include alcoholism, drug abuse, isolation and aggressiveness.

Recommendations

Highlighting the factors that should be taken into consideration for the benefit of survivors of SGBV, the field note presents the following recommendations:

Community leaders should ensure that reported cases of sexual violence and other forms of human rights violation within the communities are prosecuted.

Community leaders should establish support systems for all survivors of SGBV; resolve the daily challenges they encounter; as well as facilitate their search for redress and full reintegration within the communities.

Social conditions should also be adequately improved in order to provide for SGBV survivors at least the basics such as education, access to training as a means of capacity building and jobs to support themselves.

Stakeholders should foster and encourage counselling groups since it was established that counselling was an effective trajectory through which redress can be obtained for many victims.

Training and psychological preparation of the community which is vital in ensuring that returnees are not re-victimised or rejected both by the communities and their families or regarded as threats.

Community leaders should strongly advise against the practice of abuse of women and girls by establishing a supporting system and/or a platform that implicitly tackles women and girls’ abuse and inequalities in the communities and homes.

Download this Field Note here (pdf).

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.

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

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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

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.com.