Projects

Short Description:

Overall goal

The project aims at advancing the ongoing work on Transitional Justice in Uganda. It strengthens and develops relevant skills of victims’ and civil society groups, state actors and institutions. Further, it increases the engagement between these actors, to facilitate the effective design and implementation of transitional justice processes. Specifically the agency of victims’ groups to meaningfully advocate for, participate in, and monitor the transitional justice processes on a national and international level will be improved.

Expected results

1) To ensure that the National Human Rights Documentation Project (HRDP) will contribute to realizing victims’ rights to acknowledgement and truth, guarantee the integration of victim priorities and perspectives into the HRDP, and facilitate the meaningful participation of civil society and victims;

2) Through increased capacity of and engagement between, victims, civil society and local authorities, ensure that local development programs in Acholi, Lango, Teso and West Nile more effectively reflect the redress needs of children born of conflict-related sexual violence and their mothers; and

3) Reduce impunity for international crimes by improving the effectiveness of domestic prosecutions of international crimes at the International Crimes Division (ICD) of the High Court and increasing victim engagement with the trials at the ICD and the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Target group / Beneficiaries

The intervention will directly benefit approximately 60 civil society groups, 20 victims’ groups, and 23 state institutions and 6 national and local media. A close coordination with the Justice, Law and Order Sector (JLOS) is envisioned. Around 4000 persons will directly benefit from the project; indirectly at least 25,000 persons. The main project partners are The Refugee Law Project (RLP), the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP), Uganda Coalition for the ICC (UCICC), Avocat San Frontiers (ASF), African Youth Initiative Network (AYINET) and the Women’s Advocacy Network (WAN). The target regions are Acholi, Lango, Teso and West Nile.

Activities

- Capacity building and support of the National Human Rights Documentation Project;

- Capacity building of victim organizations and victims, especially on the needs of children born out of conflict-related sexual violence, and their mothers;

- Capacity building of the International Crimes Division of the Uganda High Court;

- Knowledge building and increased involvement of victims in the proceedings before the International Criminal Court.

Context

The grave human rights violations of the conflict years 1986 and 2007 have largely remained unpunished. Many victims are still waiting for their reparation. In the course of the conflict between 1990 and 2006, about 66,000 children, women and men between the ages of 14 and 30 were kidnapped by the Lord Resistance Army. Many of them were forced to serve as child soldiers or sex slaves. Women and girls who have returned with children conflict-related sexual violence suffer from stigma and discrimination.