Browsing by Author "Opinia, Sylvia"

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    Gender Justice and Reconciliation in Northern Uganda
    (The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR), 2011) Opinia, Sylvia; Bubenzer, Friederike
    This policy brief assesses the gender‐specific transitional justice (TJ) needs of survivors of gender‐based violence in Northern Uganda. From November 2010 to February 2011, the Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP), in collaboration with the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR), organized a series of consultations with victims of conflict in Northern Uganda, entitled ‘Enhancing Grassroots Involvement in Transitional Justice Debates.’ The consultations, held in the Acholi/Lango, Teso, and West Nile sub‐regions, focused on truth‐telling, traditional justice, reparations and gender justice within the context of Uganda’s transitional justice processes.2 As part of the consultations, a separate session was held on the topic of gender justice and the extent to which it does / does not presently feature in Uganda’s transitional justice framework. Discussions at the consultations highlighted the need for Uganda’s unique gender relations and dynamics to be closely scrutinized and taken into consideration by policy‐makers in the development of transitional justice mechanisms.
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    Policy recommendations for addressing the rights of the missing and their families in northern Uganda
    (Justice and Reconciliation Project, 2014) Jessee, Erin; Opinia, Sylvia; Alexander, Katherine; Ojok, Boniface; Nyeko, Oryem
    It is difficult to determine how many civilians were abducted or separated from their families and went missing as a result of the 1986-2006 conflict in northern Uganda between the infamous rebel force, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), and the armed forces of the Government of Uganda, the National Resistance Army (NRA). The LRA relied on a strategy of abducting children for use as child soldiers in order to maintain their military strength and terrorise the civilian population, while the NRA is accused of various forms of brutality including such acts as abduction, forceful recruitment, rape, torture and child soldiering during the earlier years of the war.2 Reports estimate that 24,000 to 38,000 children have been abducted and forcibly recruited as child soldiers by the LRA alone across northern Uganda.3 By 2007, 22,759 children and adults had registered through the reception centres in the region as returned abductees.4 The fates of the remaining thousands of abductees, both children and adults, are unknown.