Uganda

Provides a listing of articles on restorative justice developments in Uganda. Articles appear in the order in which they were added to the site with the most recent appearing first.

Baines, Erin K.. The Haunting of Alice: Local Approaches to Justice and Reconciliation in Northern Uganda.

Through the story of a former rebel fighter, this article examines some of the justice and reconciliation challenges in northern Uganda today. While talks between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and Government of Uganda have generated the best chance for peace in the 20-year conflict, the International Criminal Court’s indictment of rebel leaders threatens this process. The rebels refuse to disarm if indicted; the Chief Prosecutor refuses to withdraw indictments as he believes withdrawal will foster impunity. To resolve this dilemma, local cultural and religious leaders advocate adapting local justice and reconciliation mechanisms to the situation, arguing that these will both hold rebels accountable and achieve peace. However, little is known about local justice processes or their potential to foster reconciliation in war-torn northern Uganda. On the basis of participatory research (2004–2006) with war-affected persons, the article seeks to address this gap, illustrating the potential and limitations of such locally relevant mechanisms. (author's abstract)

Beke, Dirk. Legislation and Decentralisation in Uganda: From Resistance Councils to Elected Local Councils with Guaranteed Representation

By analyzing the legislation process of decentralization in Uganda, Dirk Beke aims in this chapter to contribute to legal anthropology in the field of public law in Africa. He conducts his analysis not through a discussion of formal legal procedures in Uganda, but through examination of the legislative process in its political and social environment, as well as through exploration of the impact of the new rules on Ugandan society and government. More specifically, Beke looks at the origin, objectives, recent evolution, and implementation of legislation concerning decentralization in Uganda. Decentralization is an important component of the wider policy reform that started in 1986 after more than twenty years of dictatorship and civil war. While Beke does deal with certain elements of traditional leadership in his analysis, he focuses on the political environment and the role of other local actors, such as non-governmental organizations and foreign donors.

Chapman, Chris and Kagaha, Alexander. Resolving conflicts using traditional mechanismsin the Karamoja and Teso regions of Uganda.

This study is the result of intensive research and consultations with community representatives and local and national government officials in Karamoja and Teso regions of northeast Uganda. The conclusions of the research can be summarised as follows: The formal state mechanisms for justice and conflict resolution are not adequately implanted in the two regions. They struggle to cope with the present level of conflicts.; In some cases the state apparatus is mistrusted by local communities due to associations with past abuses.; Traditional, community-based mechanisms for regulating conflicts and providing justice have been used in these communities for centuries, if not millennia; These mechanisms have struggled to keep up with the increasing intensity and violence of conflicts, environmental degradation, and displacement of communities, and have suffered in particular with the marginalisation of elders as a result of small arms influxes and conflicts between the roles of community elders and the formal representatives of the state. There are also accusations that traditional mechanisms in some cases entrench elitism and paternalism.; Nevertheless, interviewees were virtually unanimous in their opinion that these mechanisms are an essential part of conflict and justice regulation in these communities, because they are accessible where often the state is absent, and because, being based on traditional principles of spirituality and peaceful coexistence, the outcomes are respected by community members.; Furthermore, they focus on the rehabilitation of community members and the rebuilding of broken relationships within the community.; These mechanisms can work alongside and complement the formal apparatus of the state; as such the state should support them and find ways of promoting this complementarity.(excerpt)

Community Service in Uganda

On November 6th 2001, the Deputy Chief Justice of Uganda announced the official implementation of Community Service orders in Uganda. The announcement marked the culmination of several years of development and preparation. Originally intended to lower prison populations and provide more humane treatment for offenders, the new policies provide space for participation by victims and the community, while creating room for the growing use of restorative process.

Deputy Chief Justice Of Uganda. National Community Service Committee

Community service is part of penal reform in this country, which will ultimately contribute to the improvement of the rule of law in the country. The decision to include community service among punishments for offences in the crime was taken for various reasons.

Edanyu, G. Wilson and Sita, N. Masamba. Awareness and attitude of the public towards community service: Research Sub-Committee's report

This document stems from a pilot research project on community service. The research had two aims: (1) gather public opinion about the introduction of a community service law in Uganda; and (2) evaluate different activities carried out since 1997 related to the actual introduction of community service. Data on public opinion were collected through a questionnaire (the questions and analysis of the collected data are in the report) and administered to a representative sample of the population in Uganda. The questions sought information on how people heard about the community service initiative and what they thought of it.

Fiechter, Jean-Rodolphe W.. The role of traditional justice in Uganda, given Rwanda's experience of gacaca.

On 24 July 2009, the Rwandan government announced “that it will stop taking new gacaca cases as of 31 July 2009 and that it intends to wind down gacaca operations within five months” . While the Rwandan experiment with modernized traditional justice, adapted to achieve mass justice over mass atrocity, is about to end, Uganda is setting up a transitional justice framework including traditional justice mechanisms such as mato oput, to address the atrocities committed during the last 20 years in the north of the country. I take the opportunity, after examining shortly the role of criminal prosecution in the ambit of transitional justice, and exposing the main characteristics of traditional justice, to have a close look at the mechanisms set up by Rwanda. What goals did the government pursue, how did it implement gacaca and how did this mechanism work in practice? The lessons from gacaca will help us to understand what priorities Uganda should set on its way to peace, if and how it should implement mato oput, and what pitfalls ought to be avoided. (excerpt)

Greenawalt, Alexander K. A.. Complementarity in Crisis: Uganda, alternative justice, and the international criminal court.

In recent years, the government of Uganda has been engaged in peace talks with the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) to end the nation's devastating civil war. By most accounts, the talks have represented the best chance yet to realize a conclusive end to the twenty-year conflict, but negotiations have frequently stalled because of the still unresolved question of accountability for serious crimes.' In 2005, the International Criminal Court (ICC or Court) issued arrest warrants for a handful of LRA leaders accused of crimes against humanity and other grave offenses. Although it was Uganda that initially referred the matter to the ICC, the government later took the position that it would seek withdrawal of the ICC warrants if the accused agreed to undergo a traditional tribal justice ritual that requires a public confession and an apology without threat of incarceration. More recent developments in Uganda indicate a plan to supplement traditional justice with more formal court proceedings for those accused of the most serious crimes. (Excerpt).

Hovil, Lucy and Quinn, Joanna. Peace First, Justice Later: Traditional Justice in Northern Uganda

The following report seeks to engage in the current debate on issues of post-conflict reconstruction and appropriate mechanisms of justice within northern Uganda. It begins by outlining both the goals of any reconstruction phase, as well as defining the two words, peace and justice. It then argues that there is a clear order in which they should happen: peace needs to be secured before justice can be decided upon and carried out. This sequencing explains, in part, the apparent contradictions that emerged both between different individuals, and within the same interview: the separating out of restorative and retributive aspects of justice is seen to be false. It therefore considers the current and potential role of traditional, or localised, mechanisms of justice within the conflict zone and in any future period of transition. While findings indicate that many individuals still recognise the relevance of such mechanisms, they are currently seen to have future rather than current value: there was consensus that many of the values and processes underpinning traditional mechanisms have been displaced along with the people of the conflict-affected area. That said, many are of the opinion that they should play a significant role in any postconflict phase. The report is based on field research conducted in October and November 2004, and March 2005, predominantly in the northern districts of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader. A total of 109 interviews were conduced with a wide spectrum of individuals, including local government officials, religious and cultural leaders and, most importantly, civilians currently living in the IDP camps. (Author's abstract)

Kasande, Kihika Sarah. Centring women's rights in transitional justice processes in Northern Uganda: FIDA-Uganda's experience.

Accountability for gender crimes remains a critical challenge for most post-conflict societies.1 The pervasive violations that women experience during armed conflicts are rarely integrated into transitional justice processes, which entrenches existing inequalities and fosters a culture of impunity for gender crimes.2 This paper highlights the advocacy strategies and activities implemented by FIDA-Uganda to engender transitional justice mechanisms in northern Uganda in order to end impunity for gender crimes. (author's abstract)

Latigo, James Ojera. Northern Uganda: tradition-based practices in the Acholi region.

Between 1994 and 1996, when it became increasingly apparent that no end to the conflict was in sight, many peace-loving people in the community and some Acholi in the diaspora began to explore plausible ways and means of ending the conflict peacefully. Organizations like the Kacoke Madit (an Acholi term meaning ‘Big Meeting’) emerged. Other initiatives included the so-called peace forums.(excerpt)

Liebmann, Marian. Developing a Ugandan Victim-Offender Mediation Model

Marian Liebmann has worked in the criminal justice field with victims and offenders for more than twenty years. Her experience includes involvement with restorative justice and mediation training in general, and with Mediation UK in particular. In this pamphlet she looks at the development of victim-offender mediation in Uganda. The project originated with Save the Children (UK) in Uganda. From working with children, members of this organization felt that awareness of victims and restorative justice was inadequate in Uganda. This led to an effort in August 2002 to train community leaders and Local Council (Village) courts in victim-offender mediation skills. Liebmann describes the legislative background in Uganda to the project, the structure of the training, and her participation as a trainer.

Liebmann, Marian. Restorative Justice Takes Off in Uganda

This report covers the background and activities of a project in Uganda which sought to facilitate implementation of the Children Statute 1996. During a three-week trip, the author conducted training in victim-offender mediation skills, including training of trainers from Masaka, and also piloted a Training Manual. The workshops involved role plays and discussion of cultural aspects such as seating arrangements, concern about corruption, and verbal participation of the young offender.

Liebmann, Marian. Restorative Justice in Uganda and Russia

This paper is based on one training visit to Uganda in 1999 and two training visits to Russia, one in 1999 and the other in 2001. The reflections are drawn from personal experience and therefore may not convey the total picture in these countries.

Liebmann, Marian. Visit to Uganda 31 July- 28 August 2002. Victim Offender Mediation Skills Training Full Report

As indicated in the title, this paper is Marian Liebmann's report on her visit to Uganda in 2002 to conduct skills training in victim offender mediation. This visit followed a trip to Uganda by Liebmann in 1999, at the behest of the Restorative Justice Initiative, in which she provided training for criminal justice professionals. Subsequent to that, Save the Children (a UK organization with work in Uganda) asked Grace Kiconco Sirrah of Restorative Justice Initiative to write a manual to be used to train people all around Uganda in victim offender mediation. The impetus for this manual and training was the Children Statute 1996 in Uganda, a significant and promising piece of legislation, but poorly understood and practiced because there was little awareness of victims' rights and needs or of restorative justice. Liebmann reports on her involvement in the testing of the use of this manual for training in Uganda. In particular, she describes in detail the pilot training project over a three-week period in various locations in Uganda.

Liu Institute for Global Issues.. Roco Wat I Acoli. Restoring Relationships in Acholi-land: Traditional Approaches to Justice and Reintegration.

This report, Roco Wat I Acoli, provides a much needed analysis of what traditional justice in northern Uganda is, how it is currently practiced and what value it could add. It documents existing practices of traditional justice in 16 internally displaced persons camps in Northern Uganda. It further examines how some of these rituals have been adapted to promote the reintegration of former rebels. It does so in order to provide an initial assessment of whether or not traditional rituals and ceremonies could be further adapted in the context of the enduring 19-year old conflict. (excerpt)

Minister of Internal Affairs. Statutory Instrument. The Community Service Regulations

Statutory instrument regulating the use of community service orders in Uganda.

National Community Service Committee . Workshop Report for the National Community Service Programme

A workshop to review the National Community Service Project document covering the pilot phase was held on December 17-18, 2001 at the Jokas Hotel near Kampala.

National Community Service Committee. Community Service Programme: An Update National Community Service Committee.

This document provides an overview of the efforts to establish the use of community service orders in Uganda.

Oola, Stephen. The coalition for reconciliation in Uganda: Important lessons for proactive civil society engagement in catalysing transitional justice discourse.

This paper focuses on civil society organizations’ (CSOs) advocacy efforts in shaping the transitional justice terrain in Uganda. It explores a coalition of civil society organizations—the Coalition for Reconciliation in Uganda (CORU)—how it strategized, operated and succeeded in galvanizing support for and championing the cause for peace, justice and reconciliation in Uganda. What makes CORU an example of a proactive CSO coalition? How did it organize better than other CSO coalitions to survive non-governmental organization (NGO) funding politics and bureaucracy? What challenges did CORU face and how did it respond? What came out of CORU and lessons learnt? By sharing CORU’s experiences, some of the above questions might be addressed, but a whole range of other factors equally account for the current state of transitional justice as a discourse in Uganda. My aim is to demonstrate CORU as an example of proactive civil society organizations’ engagement with each other and with relevant stakeholders to push forward the unpopular transitional justice agenda in the prevailing context in Uganda. What can be considered CORU’s successes and weaknesses should be understood in light of the nature of the conflict in Uganda, the role of the state and other non-state actors and the local and international politics involved in the transitional justice debate in Uganda. (excerpt)