Trial Justice: The International Criminal Court and the Lord's Resistance Army
... For over two decades there has been a prolonged civil war in northern Uganda, covering the whole of Acholiland, 1 between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Uganda government forces. The LRA war has been characterised by violence and brutality, leading to the displacement of the local population (Finnsrom, 2003;MSF, 2004;Refugee Law Project, 2004;UNICEF, 2004;Allen, 2006). For the period 1996-2004 an estimated 1.2 million people in the region were displaced and in Gulu district alone, over 400,000 people (almost 90% of the population) lived in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) 2 and temporary settlements in towns (Refugee Law Project, 2004, p 1;UNICEF, 2004, p 5). ...
... Market places and agro-processing plants were destroyed or rendered inaccessible; trade was constrained. The number of those of working age was diminished through abduction and deaths; food insecurity and poverty increased (WFP, 2004, p 7;Allen, 2006). The displacement locations lacked not only sources of income but also other basic necessities such as healthcare, education and dayto-day security. ...
... Especially for the rural populations, the encampment type of settlement organised by the government as part of a military strategy to 'protect' the civilian population largely lacked basic facilities and services essential for subsistence (Finnstrom, 2005;Allen, 2006, pp 56-7). The Ugandan government made no advance arrangements for provision of appropriate health services, sanitation and food in any of the designated locations (MSF, 2004;Refugee Law Project, 2004), resulting in new conditions characterised by lack of access to land, spatial congestion, hunger and entrenched poverty. ...
... In 1979, a grand coalition involving Tanzania and various anti-Amin groups successfully overthrew Amin, paving the way for Obote's return to power following a disputed (some claim rigged) election (Allen, 2006, pp 28-29). ...
... By the end of 1986, Alice claimed to have around 18,000 members under her control and the next year she staged a "crusade" -in October 1987 around 10,000 soldiers advanced toward country's capital, but were defeated some 130 km from Kampala. Alice escaped and has lived in Kenya ever since (Allen, 2006, pp 30-36). ...
... Lukoya was Alice's father and also claiming spiritual powers. He formed so called Lord's Army, which was defeated in 1989 and Lukoya himself was imprisoned for several years (Allen, 2006, pp 36-37). ...
One of the longest-running terrorist groups on the African continent is the Lord’s Resistance Army, originating from Uganda. Using the Christianity combined with local animism and Islam as the basis of their ideology and focusing at first on the protection of the Acholi people, this group evolved from fighting their enemies to oppressing their own people. Initially an internal conflict, the activities of the Lord’s Resistance Army spread throughout the region through a proxy war between neighbouring countries, until eventually international intervention was called for. Based on the Conflict Assessment Framework, combined with other methods, this armed conflict is analysed, showing the progress of the conflict through the time.
... The elders ensure that the negotiation process is fair and that both parties feel heard and respected. This stage underscores the Acholi belief in the power of dialogue and mutual understanding as essential elements of conflict resolution (Allen, 2006). ...
... This public celebration of reconciliation reinforces the restored harmony and solidarity within the community. The ceremony serves as a powerful reminder of the Acholi values of forgiveness, unity, and collective well-being (Allen, 2006). ...
This study examines the diverse and dynamic landscape of conflict resolution mechanisms within the African continent. Using the case study qualitative research approach, sourced from secondary sources were analyzed using historical and content data analysis. The study revealed that conflict resolution in traditional African societies provide opportunities to interact with conflicting parties, promote consensus-building, social bridge reconstructions and enactment of order in the society. Additionally, the study identifies the challenges and opportunities in merging indigenous and modern conflict resolution strategies. These include cultural compatibility, capacity building, and the creation of inclusive frameworks that respect and leverage the strengths of both approaches. The study concludes that indigenous methods offer a strong substitute or supplement to official state processes and foreign interventions because of their focus on restorative justice, community involvement, and communication. The study recommends a hybrid model that harnesses the rich heritage of African conflict resolution mechanisms alongside contemporary strategies, aiming to create more resilient and adaptable solutions to the continent's complex conflicts. Introduction Conflict is as old as humanity; it is a continual component of existence. Africa, due to its various cultures, intricate political systems, and past colonial legacies, has had a wide range of conflicts, from interethnic confrontations to civil wars, insurgencies, political instability and terrorism. These diversities in Africa's history have created a tense and complicated socio-political terrain within the continent such that the continent has witnessed an array of conflicts post colonialism. Nwolise (2005) contends that before the disruption by colonial administration, traditional African cultures were known to uphold peace in their areas through traditional practices. African communities had developed systems for monitoring, preventing, managing, and resolving conflicts as well as mechanisms for peace education, confidence-building, peacemaking, and peace building. The decisions reached by these traditional institutions were final and binding on all parties. However, according to him, these indigenous methods were sidelined and lost credibility in many communities as a result of the imposition of western legal and political institutions during and after colonial control. Hence, post-colonial Africa has witnessed increased interstate wars, civil wars, political instability, ethnic rivalries, socioeconomic inequality, and more recently, terrorism and insurgencies.
... The conflict involving the LRA started in the mid 1980s and continued until peace negotiations in 2006 (Allen 1991, 2006, Allen and Vlassenroot 2010. When those failed, the LRA's attacks resumed, but across Uganda's borders in South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo, and in the Central African Republic. ...
... Previous ethnographic research by the authors before, and during, the LRA conflict, usefully informed the research presented here (see, for example, Allen 1991, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2015a, 2015b, Parker 1996a, 1996b, Allen and Schomerus 2006, Atingo 2008, Allen and Vlassenroot 2010). An aspect of that earlier research had been to assess the activities of all the reception centres, and to observe the return of abducted children and young adults. ...
This article focuses on young people who returned from the Lord’s Resistance Army in northern Uganda, mostly as children, over ten years ago. They are, by definition, resilient, because they have survived, but there are important variations. For the most part, those who managed to gain status in the LRA, are those most likely to present themselves as ‘resilient’ according to notions of self-reliance and entrepreneurialism. The majority are not in this position. They are mainly living in rural locations, and commonly face social rejection and extreme poverty. Supporting normative models of resilience has exacerbated deprivation of the most vulnerable.
... Defeated Northern soldiers (largely of the Acholi and Langi ethnic groups) retreated back to their homelands, with many forming armed resistance groups in opposition to the new government. By 1988, those who had not been defeated (or signed peace agreements with the NRA) gathered under the leadership of Joseph Kony, in what would later become the Lord's Resistance Army (Allen, 2013). ...
... Kony belonged to the Acholi ethnic group, and it was the districts of Gulu and Kitgum (Acholi-land) which would become the initial focal point of the war. 4 Although the LRA's stated aim was to overthrow the NRA government, Kony increasingly targeted the civilian population, proclaiming that Acholi society must be 'purified' to overcome its oppressors (Doom and Vlassenroot, 1999;Allen, 2013). ...
This paper finds evidence of severe health deficits among young children who were exposed to the Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency in Northern Uganda (1987–2007). We employ a difference-in-differences approach to estimate a 0.74 standard deviation deficit in height-for-age z-scores among children exposed to the fighting for a period of more than 9 months. Extending our analysis, we use a mediation model to investigate the transmission mechanisms through which the war may have affected childhood nutrition. We find support for the hypothesis that deficits occurred partly through changes in the frequency at which younger children received solid or semi-solid foods.
... Fearful of conflict re-emerging as ex-combatants returned home, leaders from the majority Acholi ethnic group proposed adapting a ritual called mato oput to use in reconciling ex-combatants with local residents (see Liu Institute for Global Issues et al. 2005). The proposal was controversial, and the cultural experts who expressed perspectives included Acholi leaders who stood to regain authority if the ritual was widely adopted; expatriate and local Catholic Church leaders; peacemakers who opposed the ICC; and anthropologists who differed among themselves as to claims about mato oput's authenticity and efficacy (see, e.g., Allen 2006;Branch 2014). Disagreement among cultural experts raised questions about the ethics of promoting remedies deemed culturally appropriate yet with questionable associations. ...
... In another attempt to restore peace, on 16 December 2003, the Ugandan government referred the situation in the north to the International Criminal Court (ICC). On 8 July 2005, the ICC prosecutor officially issued arrest warrants for Joseph Kony and his top four allies/commanders for war crimes and crimes against humanity (Allen, 2005). On 6 December 2016, Trial Chamber IX of the ICC commenced its trial against Dominic Ongwen, one of the five LRA commanders indicted. ...
... However, I prefer to use the terms like "difficult", "conflict" or "traumatic" because of the characterisation of Africa as the "dark continent" that has been problematised. In terms of justice, much has already been written about the role of the International Criminal Court with its first cases taking place within Uganda (Allen 2013;Branch 2007;Armstrong 2014, to name a few). Other justice-based contributions on complementarity courts (Moffett 2016) or concerning traditional justice mechanisms (Afako 2002;Latigo 2008) seek to reveal the domestic and cultural forms of lustration (Tshimba 2015). ...
This thesis consists of a collection of seven essays that address issues of representation, memorialisation and symbolic reparations. Employing a primarily ethnographic approach, it reveals different forms and functions of memory in the aftermath of mass violence. Together, these essays argue for a more nuanced way of understanding how governments, survivors, heritage practitioners, humanitarians, artists and development actors utilise conflict memories, sometimes revealing narrative gaps entrenched in silence. These insights are useful for a better conceptualisation of symbolic repair within the fields of transitional justice, critical heritage and memory studies. Each essay, addresses different geographical and material aspects of conflict memory to create a mosaic of perspectives with a primary focus on Uganda. The Ugandan case studies explore three regions of the country: the Luwero Triangle, Northern Uganda and the Rwenzori Mountain region. Each case shows the need to approach memory work with different types of evidence, including museum displays, monuments, material culture remains from humanitarian assistance, oral literature, sites of trauma, artworks and popular culture. Such evidence both informs the analysis and extends the kinds of data suitable for critical heritage research. Taken together, the essays in this thesis argue that in nations recovering from multiple violent conflicts, whose recovery is absent of holistic statedriven processes for memorialisation, it is critical to understand the everyday negotiations of memory as well as the artistic approaches to repair. Furthermore, the collection highlights the significant role that globalised systems of representation, assistance and peacebuilding have on memory projects within and outside the Ugandan context. Overall, this thesis constitutes a critique of the expectations placed on memory work to repair societies, given the contextual and political barriers to implementing conventional memory projects. By its end, it advocates for a less didactic and more dialogical approach to memorialisation, making space for meaningful work that does not mimic Euro-American models of remembrance.
... These ceremonies are systems for reconciliation and justice. Forgiveness is the core element, since punishment increases violence according to traditional leaders (Allen, 2006). Rituals facilitate social reintegration and lay the foundation for the emergence of a stable and economically sustainable community. ...
The 21-year conflict with the Lord's Resistance Army caused terrible experiences for people in northern Uganda. After the war, people returned home but with continuing mental and interpersonal problems they have found it difficult to engage in activities that would improve their wellbeing, relationships and their community's social fabric. Disharmony on all levels appears to obstruct recovery and peaceful coexistence. This study examines an intervention implemented by TPO Uganda in northern Uganda addressing mental health challenges, conflict mediation and economic empowerment. The research consisted of 23 individual in-depth interviews and 16 focus group discussions, supported by a quantitative questionnaire completed by people who had participated in the intervention. There were strong indications that psychosocial support interventions for traumatic experiences and postconflict difficulties are essential for peacebuilding and economic development. Participants of the study were found to have considerably fewer mental complaints, better coping mechanisms to manage stress and the ability to relate in a satisfactory way with their intimate partners and family members than before the intervention. In addition, they had supportive relationships with their group members and other community members.
... In another attempt to restore peace, on 16 December 2003, the Ugandan government referred the situation in the north to the International Criminal Court (ICC). On 8 July 2005, the ICC prosecutor officially issued arrest warrants for Joseph Kony and his top four allies/commanders for war crimes and crimes against humanity (Allen, 2005). On 6 December 2016, Trial Chamber IX of the ICC commenced its trial against Dominic Ongwen, one of the five LRA commanders indicted. ...
Many studies have documented and analyzed the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) forced conjugal association patterns and practices (“forced marriage”). However, the focus has been on the experiences of abducted girls forced to serve as conjugal partners to commanders (“forced wives”). The experiences of children born as a result of these relationships are under-investigated. Receptor communities in northern Uganda are assumed to be places of hope, comfort, and protection for these children. However, they can also be hostile, leaving the children in precarious and vulnerable situations. This article draws from ethnographic fieldwork in the Acholi region and interviews with formerly abducted mothers focusing on their children's integration processes and experiences. It argues that return is not integration, as it often coincides with further exclusion and alienation. In Uganda's patriarchal and patrilineal social systems, children with no paternal lineage are viewed as of lower status. Stigmatization facing children born of the LRA captivity condemns them to this status, consequently excluding them from mainstream society. Findings show that stigma remains central to the life experiences of these children several years after the end of the conflict in 2006. Their persistent stigmatization is linked to broader discriminatory socio-cultural and patriarchal ideas and practices.
... Acholi people are connected by their shared language, social norms and customs. Acholi culture has also been analysed by scholars who critique the incongruence between culture and international justice norms (Allen 2006), sometimes advocating for traditional forms of reconciliation (Baines 2010). While this grouping of Acholi is not monolithic, it provides a social-cultural framework to reveal a contrast in forms of representation. ...
This paper interrogates the wounds inflicted by the representation of the war between the Lord’s Resistance Army and the Government of Uganda. The paper presents Kanyo, Love and Gang Kikome and Other Things We Left Behind, artistic works within the exhibition When We Return, as a staging ground to interrogate symbolic repair. Gang Kikome and Other Things We Left Behind is an artwork-as-archive of items that were used by the inhabitants of settlement camps during the war between the LRA and the GoU but that were left behind once the camps were disbanded. The objects are a materiality of humanitarian aid; the artwork presents these objects of assistance as cultural artefacts. Kanyo, Love is an artwork about the aftermath of war through an exploration of the courtship gifts received by former wives of the LRA. The work critiques the silencing of affect in the frozen-in-time narrative of forced marriage and abduction that are superimposed onto the women. Curating the work as a knowledge register adds artistic and curatorial knowledge to existing research, reporting and archives on the war. It inserts artwork in the voids within the heritagisation of Uganda’s conflict past.
... Previous and on-going ethnographic fieldwork undertaken by members of the team in northern Uganda informed the design of in-depth, semi-structured interview schedules as well as the interpretation of data. Some of this fieldwork dates back to the 1980s (for example, [53]) and, taken together, it addresses a broad range of issues on health, well-being and justice in the wake of protracted war and conflict (for example, [54][55][56][57][58][59][60]). Insights emerging from participant observation fieldwork carried out in GUSCO in 2004GUSCO in , 2005GUSCO in and 2006 by MP, TA and JA also informed the design of the interviews and interpretation of data emerging from semi-structured interviews. ...
Background
Much has been written about the short-term challenges facing children returning ‘home’ from rebel fighting groups, but little is known about the longer term day to day realities of return. This article presents findings from the first long-term assessment of the social and economic challenges facing an officially registered group of children who passed through an internationally-financed reception centre after a period of time with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
Methods
Records from a reception centre were used to trace a random sample of individuals to their current location. Two hundred and thirty in-depth semi-structured interviews were carried out and 40 follow-up interviews between 2013 and 2016 . Interviews were informed by long-term ethnographic research in the region. These interviews were subsequently coded and analysed to describe the long-term day to day realities of return.
Results
At the time of interview, 90% of formerly abducted people returned ‘home’ six or more years ago, and 75% returned nine or more years ago. The majority have managed to access family land for farming, but concerns about what they may have done to survive whilst living with the LRA adversely affects their day-to-day lives. However, some important differences were noted: those men and women who spent less time with the LRA are more likely to live on ancestral land with close relatives; and they are more likely to report experiencing stigma and a spiritual affliction called ‘cen’. In contrast, those who spent the longest time with the LRA are less likely to report these problems, they are mainly living in urban locations and tend to manage slightly better. Children born of war are vulnerable to abuse, irrespective of current residence.
Conclusions
Research findings question the merits of post-conflict reintegration programmes emphasising immediate family reunifications, without follow-up monitoring, social protection, education and skills training. By overlooking the diverse experiences of those who lived and fought with the LRA, and failing to anticipate or respond to the long term socio-political and economic challenges facing children on their return, reception centre processes not only failed to foster social reintegration, but they also inadvertently exacerbated the vulnerability of returning children.
... Despite the fact that the atrocities of the LRA have been widely documented, ICC activities on Uganda have been accepted by some domestic and international opposition due to the heated debate on what may constitute justice for the war-turn communities of Northern Uganda and whether the ICC has helped or hindered the pursuit of peace agreement. 174 Sudan ICC assumed jurisdiction in Sudan by the instrumentality of UN Security Council since Sudan is not party to the Rome Statute of ICC. UN Security Council Resolution 1593 of 2005, referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC prosecutor. ...
Humanity for ages was caught in a paradoxical epoch of self destruction and reckless impunity, occasioned by man, to man of same human family. This grave impunity enjoyed and thrived on the wings of global ambivalence and tyranny of silence, as there existed no unified regulatory regime for prohibition, prevention and sanction. At the wake of a new era of awareness and globalization, the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment for the Crime of Genocide, 1948 was adopted. This was to put an end to reckless genocidal atrocities and sadistic fantacies of tyrannical rulers. No instrument of law was ever heralded and celebrated like the Genocide Convention. Pitiably however, the act of genocide became a reoccurring decimal for so many reasons, amongst which is the inherent loopholes in the law of genocide itself. These loopholes are the concern of this paper. Consequently, this paper examines the international legal regime on genocide, with a bird’s eye view on the principal treaty, statutes of adhoc tribunals and statute of permanent international criminal court (ICC). This is with a view of identifying loopholes in the laws and making prescription for strengthening them. The paper observed that, the law only protects certain category of persons. Political groups, social groups and trade groups were not protected. It was also found that the law of genocide only emphasizes and envisages the happening of genocide events. No any provision in the entire laws contemplates preventive measures. The paper therefore, recommends that the laws of genocide should have a broader protective shield, which provides for protection of all groups. The paper also recommends that the laws of genocide should be invested with a legal teeth and fierce legal claws to pursue genocide prevention, rather than waiting for the tumultuous combat of curative measures.
... Yet, there is little to no in-depth analysis of the LRA's activities in the country. This is very different from the LRA's activities in Uganda and South Sudan, which have been analysed in a wide range of excellent books (Allen 2006, Allen and Vlassenroot 2010, Atkinson 2009, Baines 2017, Branch 2011, Dolan 2009, Dubal 2018, Finnstrom 2008, Porter 2016. This paper wants to address this gap, by focussing on one particular question, circulating prominently among actors directly and indirectly involved with the LRA conflict in the DRC: was the LRA supported by the Congolese authorities? ...
While much has been written about the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), hardly any analyses focus on the rebel group's activities in (northeastern) Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)-although the rebel group conducted some of the biggest massacres in its history in the country, and continues to be active there. This analysis focusses on a consistent claim which is made among many actors in the DRC: that the LRA was invited, and supported, by the Congolese authorities. This analysis reviews this claim, by zooming in on the available evidence, such as the circumstances in which the rebel group arrived in the country. It concludes that, while freelancing individuals indeed might have brokered such an agreement, institutional Congolese government support to the LRA was (most probably) not the case. Yet, it shows the murky circumstances which allowed such claims to emerge, involving war entrepreneurs, freelancing government officials, ineffective protection, and a government more interested in state security rather than human security.
... 20 See Acholi Religious Leaders' Peace Initiative et al., n.d.;Amnesty Commission 2009. 21 They sought to facilitate a negotiated settlement between the government and the LRA and to assist the surrender or desertion of LRA fighters or their 'reintegration', not least with a view to reintegrating the thousands of former child soldiers and abductees in Acholiland; see Amnesty Commission 2009; Acholi Religious Leaders' Peace Initiative et al. n.d.;Allen 2006;Quinn 2013. 22 Formally, the amnesty law of 2000, like earlier amnesties, did not cover human rights violations committed by state officials or those committed prior to an armed rebellion, but in political practice there was a strong tendency to understand it that way (Rice 2009: 137, 234). ...
The Acholi of northern Uganda, whose cultural heritage is rich in literature and the performing arts, are emerging from more than two decades of war, and there is a desire and need to nurture a culture of peace. Over the last four years, numerous organizations and individuals in Uganda have incorporated the arts into conflict resolution, community reconciliation, and psycho-social healing. These creative approaches, designed to encourage reconciliation, have varied enormously, as have the degrees to which northern communities have accepted and taken ownership of them. A careful analysis of their resonance and impacts has been largely overlooked and underrepresented in scholarship. Therefore, based on research conducted in Uganda from 2007 to 2009, the influx of projects involving the creative arts are comparatively and critically evaluated by assessing what is global, what is local, and what is gender-, place-, and age-specific, as well as how the projects’ funding sources affect their short- and long-term sustainability. This paper concludes with recommendations for future programs rooted in the arts and possible implications of this evaluation for other post-conflict reconstruction strategies in Africa today.
Why do some of the world's least powerful countries invite international scrutiny of their adherence to norms on whose violation their governments rely to remain in power? Examining decisions by leaders in Uganda, Sierra Leone, and Georgia, Valerie Freeland concludes that these states invited outside attention with the intention to manipulate it. Their countries' global peripherality and their domestic rule by patronage introduces both challenges and strategies for addressing them. Rulers who attempt this manipulation of scrutiny succeed when their patronage networks make them illegible to outsiders, and when powerful actors become willing participants in the charade as they need a success case to lend them credibility. Freeland argues that, when substantive norm-violations are rebranded as examples of compliance, what it means to comply with human rights and good governance norms becomes increasingly incoherent and, as a result, less able to constrain future norm-violators.
The post-Cold War international justice project is underpinned by the goal of overcoming impunity, an important part of which involves setting aside the historically evolved norm that rank or station will protect individuals from criminal responsibility. One of the primary forums where this plays out is the international criminal court. International relations theory is generally absent from discussions about the degree to which tensions between the legally evolved immunity for heads of state and the emerging idea that gross violations of human rights should trump claims of immunity, inform the relationship between order and justice. This paper proposes that the English School of International Relations provides the ideal framework to overcome this theoretical absence, and that in turn it is best suited to explain competing explanations of this tension, as it relates to order and justice, and broader limitations of the international criminal justice project.
Scholars commonly argue that international law and organizations promote democracy by helping dictators to credibly commit to accountability, individual rights, and transparency. Yet dictators routinely join treaties and international organizations without transitioning to democracy. International law and organizations can generate asymmetric costs for domestic actors because international rules often apply to both governments and non-state actors, yet dictators can limit how these rules are upheld at the domestic and international level. We argue that dictators are most likely to join such treaties and international organizations when they face strong domestic political competition. We illustrate our argument using the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has extensive powers to prosecute individuals for international crimes, including crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes. We show that ICC investigations and prosecutions have become a tool for incumbent dictators to target their domestic opponents. We examine the implications of our theory for multiple outcome variables, including the decision to join the ICC, violence, and the survival of dictators in power. Our evidence suggests that dictators are most likely to join the ICC when they face strong political opponents and are subsequently less likely to commit violence and more likely to survive in office.
Efforts to moderate conflict are as old as conflict itself. Throughout the ages, restraint in warfare has been informed by religious and ethical considerations, chivalry and class, and, increasingly since the mid-19th century, a body of customary and treaty law variously referred to as the laws of war, the law of armed conflict (LOAC) or international humanitarian law (IHL). As they evolved from the mid-19th century, these laws were increasingly underpinned by humanitarianism, then in the mid-20th century, were assumed to be universal. But violations of these restraints are also as old as conflict itself. The history of conflict is replete with examples of exclusions from protections designed to moderate warfare. This edited volume explores the degree to which protections in modern warfare might be informed by notions of 'civility' and 'barbarism', or, to put it another way, asks if only those deemed to be civilised are afforded protections prescribed by the laws of war?
The chapter examines how the arts, specifically drama, have articulated the influence of religion in view of peacebuilding and development in post-conflict Northern Uganda. The arts encompass performative cultural and individual dimensions of transitional processes and include drama, theatre, poetry, folklore, music, dance, film, body art, museums, photography, and other kinds of artistic installations. The case study for this chapter is a drama, Silent Voices (2019), by a Ugandan playwright Adong Judith. The chapter, therefore, uses play-text analysis to examine how the play speaks to the influence of religion in peacebuilding in the context of the conflict in Northern Uganda. During the conflict, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group commanded by Joseph Kony, against the Government of Uganda (GoU), used Christian ideologies in the form of Biblical allusions to indoctrinate abductees into terrorizing locals, under the guise of fulfilling the Lord’s command to liberate Uganda from the government. In the aftermath of the conflict, the GoU and religious institutions employed Christian ideologies to foster peace. The play underscores the contradiction in using religion for violence and peace alike, and enables an understanding that the contradiction is detrimental to sustainable development. The chapter concludes that the arts can be used as blueprints to understand lived-experiences and concerns of victims of conflict in the quest for peace and sustainable development, particularly Sustainable Development Goal 16 on Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions.
Background
Exposure to potentially traumatic events and daily stressors in humanitarian settings puts refugees and asylum seekers (henceforth collectively referred to as refugees) at increased risk for mental disorders. Little is known about how mental disorder prevalence compares between refugees and national populations who live in the same settings and are exposed to many of the same daily challenges. We aimed to compare the proportions of refugees and Ugandan nationals screening positive for mental disorders in a Ugandan refugee settlement to inform targeted health interventions. Given displacement’s disruptive effect on social networks and the importance of social support for mental health, we also aimed to assess social support.
Methods
Refugees and Ugandan nationals voluntarily testing for HIV at health centers in Nakivale Refugee Settlement were screened for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD CheckList-6 – Civilian Version [PCL-6]), depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [PHQ-9]), anxiety (General Anxiety Disorder-7 [GAD-7]), and lack of social support (Brief Social Support Scale [BS6]). The association between refugee versus Ugandan national status and the four outcomes was assessed using log-binomial regression.
Results
Screening surveys were completed by 5,513 participants, including 3,622 refugees and 1,891 Ugandan nationals. A positive screen for PTSD, depression, anxiety and lack of social support was found for 2,388 (44%), 1,337 (25%), 1,241 (23%) and 631 (12%) participants, respectively. Refugee status was associated with a higher prevalence of a positive screen for PTSD (prevalence ratio (PR)=1.15; 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.08-1.23), depression (PR=1.22; 95% CI=1.11-1.36), anxiety (PR=1.28; 95% CI=1.14-1.42), and lack of social support (PR=1.50; 95% CI=1.27-1.78). When adjusted for the other outcomes, the higher prevalence of a positive screen for PTSD, anxiety and lack of social support for refugees remained statistically significant.
Conclusions
Elevated symptoms of mental disorders are found among refugees and Ugandan nationals testing for HIV in Nakivale Refugee Settlement. The significant association between refugee status and PTSD, anxiety and lack of social support symptoms highlights the distinct needs of this population. To determine the prevalence of mental disorders in these populations, comprehensive assessment, including psychological and neuropsychological testing, is needed.
Modern law seems to be designed to keep emotions at bay. The Sentimental Court argues the exact opposite: that the law is not designed to cast out affective dynamics, but to create them. Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork - both during the trial of former Lord's Resistance Army commander Dominic Ongwen at the International Criminal Court's headquarters in The Netherlands and in rural northern Uganda at the scenes of violence - this book is an in-depth investigation of the affective life of legalized transitional justice interventions in Africa. Jonas Bens argues that the law purposefully creates, mobilizes, shapes, and transforms atmospheres and sentiments, and further discusses how we should think about the future of law and justice in our colonial present by focusing on the politics of atmosphere and sentiment in which they are entangled.
The International Criminal Court emerged in the early twenty-first century as an ambitious and permanent institution with a mandate to address mass atrocity crimes such as genocide and crimes against humanity. Although designed to exercise jurisdiction only in instances where states do not pursue these crimes themselves (and are unwilling or unable to do so), the Court's interventions, particularly in African states, have raised questions about the social value of its work and its political dimensions and effects. Bringing together scholars and practitioners who specialise on the ICC, this collection offers a diverse account of its interventions: from investigations to trials and from the Court's Hague-based centre to the networks of actors who sustain its activities. Exploring connections with transitional justice and international relations, and drawing upon critical insights from the interpretive social sciences, it offers a novel perspective on the ICC's work. This title is also available as Open Access.
The International Criminal Court emerged in the early twenty-first century as an ambitious and permanent institution with a mandate to address mass atrocity crimes such as genocide and crimes against humanity. Although designed to exercise jurisdiction only in instances where states do not pursue these crimes themselves (and are unwilling or unable to do so), the Court's interventions, particularly in African states, have raised questions about the social value of its work and its political dimensions and effects. Bringing together scholars and practitioners who specialise on the ICC, this collection offers a diverse account of its interventions: from investigations to trials and from the Court's Hague-based centre to the networks of actors who sustain its activities. Exploring connections with transitional justice and international relations, and drawing upon critical insights from the interpretive social sciences, it offers a novel perspective on the ICC's work. This title is also available as Open Access.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. A burgeoning human rights movement followed, yielding many treaties and new international institutions and shaping the constitutions and laws of many states. Yet human rights continue to be contested politically and legally and there is substantial philosophical and theoretical debate over their foundations and implications. In this volume, distinguished philosophers, political scientists, international lawyers, environmentalists and anthropologists discuss some of the most difficult questions of human rights theory and practice: what do human rights require of the global economy? Does it make sense to secure them by force? What do they require in jus post bello contexts of transitional justice? Is global climate change a human rights issue? Is there a human right to democracy? Does the human rights movement constitute moral progress? For students of political philosophy, human rights, peace studies and international relations.
This paper assesses the impact of a human capital and cash transfer intervention on individual disempowerment. Using a randomised controlled trial across 120 villages in Northern Uganda, we take a multidimensional measurement approach to evaluate the impact of Women’s Income Generating Support Program on the empowerment of ultra-poor and conflict-affected women. Building on the findings of Blattman et al. (2016) who find positive effects of the program on microenterprise ownership and income, we investigate the effects of the program on women who were most disempowered through an analysis of the joint distribution of the impacts and the changes in deprivation profiles of the targeted populations. Using a measure of ten indicators in five dimensions, we find that the intervention is successful in reducing the average number of deprivations by 13.6% on average relative to the control group at endline. Our analysis show that the intervention was successful in reducing the incidence and the severity of disempowerment among those who experience it more severely. However, we find that, even at endline, most of the participants in the sample experienced deprivation in at least two of the ten indicators simultaneously and that the group dynamics arm of the program did not have a significant impact on the beneficiaries’ empowerment.
Viel ist bereits über den sogenannten LRA-Konflikt geschrieben worden, der von Mitte der 1980er Jahre bis in die 2000er Jahre hinein vor allem in Norduganda wütete. Doch trotz der beeindruckenden Menge an Veröffentlichungen, zu der auch eine große Anzahl wissenschaftlicher Publikationen zählt, besteht auf lokaler Ebene bis heute bei vielen Nordugander*innen der Eindruck, es sei bisher „noch nicht genug über diesen Krieg berichtet worden“. In meiner Masterarbeit, die ich im vorliegenden Artikel in ihren Eckpunkten und grundlegenden Erkenntnissen vorstelle, habe ich dieses Missverhältnis zum Ausgangspunkt genommen, um lokale und mediale Erzählungen über die damaligen Ereignisse zu untersuchen und zu hinterfragen, inwieweit diese „kleinen“ Einzelnarrative in den „größeren“ öffentlichen Diskursen, die sie umgeben, hinreichend erfasst sind und angemessen dargestellt werden. Im Mittelpunkt der Arbeit steht eine kritische Auseinandersetzung mit der Art und Weise, wie unterschiedliche Sichtweisen auf den Konflikt in der wissenschaftlichen Literatur gemeinhin beschrieben werden: nämlich als zwei sich gegenüberstehende konfligierende Diskurse. Wie ich argumentiere, birgt diese Darstellung die Gefahr, die Komplexität der Geschehnisse und ihrer Auswirkungen eher zu verschleiern als zu offenbaren, und vereinfacht die vielfältigen Interpretationen des Konflikts, die damals und heute in Uganda eine Rolle spiel(t)en.
Omar al-Bashir, the former president of Sudan, faces charges before the ICC on multiple counts of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide committed between 2003 and 2008. For over a decade, the ICC failed to secure cooperation from states, including Sudan, in having al-Bashir arrested and surrendered for trial before the ICC. The failure to arrest al-Bashir often centred on the controversial subject of immunity enjoyed by sitting presidents. In April 2019, Bashir was ousted from presidency, seemingly putting an end to the power he wielded as president, and effectively rendering moot the presidential immunity controversy surrounding him. Despite this, al-Bashir was not handed over to the ICC, as shortly after being ousted, criminal proceedings commenced against him in Sudan. The national court in Sudan convicted him of charges relating to financial irregularity and corruption. A two-year sentence was handed down against him. However, instead of the prison sentence, he was sent to a community reform centre because, in terms of Sudanese laws, custodial sentences are not applicable to convicts aged 70 years and above. With the ousting of al-Bashir from presidency, it could have been assumed that the challenge of handing him over for trial before the ICC would be a thing of the past. Indeed, the transitional government of Sudan has time and again intimated preparedness to cooperate with the ICC. However, al-Bashir is still not accessible to the ICC. The situation current in Sudan highlights a number of legal issues relating to: first, the nature of cooperation the ICC can expect from governments which are implicated in the commission of international crimes; and second, the cautionary tale that the past conduct of states like Uganda offers the ICC regarding Sudan, in as far as use of international criminal justice for national political gain is concerned. Having addressed these issues, it is concluded that overcoming the challenge of holding sitting presidents to account may not be as simplistic as ousting them from office. Some of these dictatorial regimes have been in existence for decades and the influence they wield does not automatically vanish after they have been ousted. Like al-Bashir, these many years enable them to construct a strong and complex national web; so complex that dismantling one part of it exposes many others. These ‘others’ would rather keep the web intact than be exposed. This state of affairs underscores the need for a thorough acknowledgement and evaluation of the political dimensions in states that the ICC is involved in.KeywordsSudanal-BashirICCCooperationUgandaNational politics
This examination investigates why the Governors of the United States of America take part in the International Criminal Court to protect basic liberties (ICC). The International Criminal Court (ICC), a subsidiary of various worldwide associations, employs critical positions and opportunities. Considering how forcefully nations ensure their autonomy, it is shocking that the International Criminal Court (ICC) was established and operationalized in a brief timeframe. (As indicated by this hypothesis, a country's dependence organization, which is contained different nations that decide the upsides of a country as far as assets, is a causal factor and the customary justification for a nation's passage to worldwide associations. This examination presents an assortment of perspectives on the upsides of accomplishing the necessities through business ties defensive organizations, and acknowledged support in global associations. Utilizing an occasion history investigation of the month-to-month information from 1998 to 2004, we find that reliance networks significantly affect a state's choice to sign and support the International Criminal Court. State responsibility is influenced by certain kinds of sanction costs; regardless, numerous customary state responsibility thoughts have gotten minimal exploratory help.
Women’s land rights remain a highly contentious issue across much of contemporary Africa. Often, social infrastructures, namely the law, culture and patriarchy, are impugned for excluding women from the land. While sometimes culture sustains social injustices, it also paradoxically provides the scale of justice. With reference to post-war Acholi society, I question the role of patriarchy in buttressing the temporariness of women on the land by anchoring my discussion in three Acholi cultural expressions. First, the metaphor that lutino anyira turu obiya, girl children are speargrass blossoms which indicates that girls are considered as ephemeral in natal lands since they emigrate in marriage and gain land rights in their nuptial lands. Second, the metaphor of lutino awobe okutu lang’oo – boy children are cordia africana thorn bushes, which is a plant associated with permanency and territoriality. Third, the proverb gang ber ki mon, the home is good with women. The femininisation of home-making in this proverb indicates how gender dynamism in Acholi utilises femininity as an organising principle and that patriarchy safeguards land rights through marriage, ancestry and kinship.
In this article, we put forward the framework of the 'marketplace of post-conflict assistance' as a conceptual, analytical and heuristic tool to better understand the holistic dynamics that take place in humanitarian and post-conflict contexts, where a variety of different actors offer various forms of services and assistance. With this conceptual framework, we seek to emphasize the relational and interactional dynamics between providers of services and intended beneficiaries in contexts where there are often a variety of different ways to conceptualize and manage problems stemming from years of armed conflict. We show this through one in-depth case study of a family who have struggled for years with mental illness/spiritual problems in the years during and after the armed conflict in Northern Uganda. By framing the post-conflict space through the marketplace metaphor, it becomes possible to gain a more holistic and dynamic understanding of the ways in which people try out different options to manage issues related to years of armed conflict and seek healing. Importantly, this framework also recognizes the agency that people exercise in doing so, and how communities and service-providers in humanitarian, developmental and post-conflict contexts relate to each other.
This paper discusses the deferral power of the Security Council under Article 16 of the Rome Statute. It analyses the drafting history, provision and practice of Article 16 with a view to identifying the requirements that a situation should meet before the article may be invoked by the Security Council. The purpose is to provide guidance on the legal terrain within which the Security Council is authorised to act under Article 16, especially in light of its inconsistent invocation of the deferral power. The paper argues: firstly, that, being a creature of the law, the Security Council is governed and qualified by the law; and secondly, that Article 16 has unambiguously provided the parameters within which the Security Council should exercise its deferral power.
A growing literature on wartime social change has shown how changes in social institutions can have post‐war effects, but there is limited knowledge on how such changes shape the lives of rural young people. The Acholi region in northern Uganda experienced two decades of armed conflict and forced displacement. Based on qualitative field research, this article analyses the role of family dynamics for the educational and livelihood trajectories of Acholi youth in rural areas, during and after the war. The article demonstrates how young people's opportunities during the war were directly affected by insecurity, and indirectly through the disruption of family life. At present, young people are still ‘struggling’: they work hard to respond to family obligations, which ultimately undermines their chances to progress. The social embeddedness of young people in family relations mediates the ability of young men and women to make use of opportunities in a context of underdevelopment.
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Sustaining peace after long-term violence poses a unique challenge to development projects. In a post-war nation like Uganda, this is particularly difficult with the scale of war and the discontent of citizens against ruling powers. This chapter uses the case of the Rwenzori region and the exhibition Travelling Testimonies to glimpse into efforts for transition and justice. Understanding struggles for self-determination and NGO cultural interventions after war helps to see where transformation needs to happen and how peace is regularly disrupted. Thus, effective sustainable development must include a series of intangible and micro-level acts of togetherness that reframe notions of justice and work toward local healing before addressing the place of the citizen in the post-war nation.
This paper considers how the international criminal trial emerges as a site for contesting historical and political narratives, and how the proceedings against Dominic Ongwen in the International Criminal Court gives us yet another opportunity to do so. It focuses on how the criminal trial appears to reinforce the hegemony of some contested historical narratives over others in attempting to deal with the past. It is suggested that the conflict in Uganda as well as what is currently happening in the Ongwen trial cannot be understood in isolation from, on the one hand, interregional and factional struggles within the Ugandan territory and, on the other hand, a postcolonial logic. Departing from this nexus, the paper introduces, discusses, and analyzes the strategy of rupture as developed by Jacques Vergès. By scrutinizing the legal strategies employed by Ongwen and his defense team, the paper argues that their strategies demonstrate the ways in which historical and political narratives are susceptible to 'rupture' by counternarratives put forth by defendants who refuse to play their part in the global justice drama by pointing to the struggle for larger contextual issues. In the setting of the Ongwen trial, this paper argues that by tapping into the victim-perpetrator narrative, Ongwen's defense team are, wittingly or unwittingly, 'rupturing' the binaries in international criminal law. The paper concludes by arguing that the Court may need to find a new approach to 'courtroom historiography' if it is going to survive, either with or without the Global South.
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