Towards a rights-based approach in the implementation of the DDR program in Uganda; A critical Assesment

TOWARDS A RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DDR PROGRAM IN UGANDA

• By Moses Kalanzi
  
  Abstract
  The conflict in Uganda has persisted for long and many means have been employed to bring the conflict to an end. These include the military offensive, Peace talks and Amnesty. This commitment of part of the Ugandan people to end untold suffering has much gained momentum with the last innitiative of granting Amnesty to combatants and collaborators with the prospect of ensuring lasting peace and reconciliation in the country. In this study the researchers seek to investigate the human rights dimension in the implementation of the Amnesty Act 2000. The purpose of this work is to address the institutional and legal barriers to the implementation of the Amnesty Act 2000. The study is not an attack on the workings of the Amnesty Commision but rather developed to act as a guide to the successful implementation of the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintergration Programmes.
  
  In the analysis the study recommned a rights-based approach to the implementation of the DDR and recommends to increase the role of civilian actors in the implementation of the Act. Its the recommendation of this research that funding to lubricate the succesful implementation of the DDR be increased.
  
  Objectives of the study
  The research was carried out with the aim of :
• Analysing the social, economic and political dimensions involved in the ressetlement and rehabilitation of rebels and the Human rights issue.
• Evaluating of the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintergration Programes as tools in ensuring lasting peace and reconciliation and finding solutions to the succesful implementation of the Amnesty Act.
• Examining the challenges faced in reintergarting former combatants in areas affected by the conflicts in Uganda and implications to human rights preservation.
  Justification
  The occurrence of the armed conflict in Uganda for the last 22 years perpetuated by various insurgents fighting the NRM government has exerted untold suffering on the peoples of Uganda most especially the regions of Northern Uganda and some parts of Western Uganda. For example,the conflict between the Ugandan government and the LRA, which began in 1986, has devastated the country's north, leaving over 1.7 million people displaced, an estimated 100,000 dead and 75,000 others abducted by rebels. With the enactment of the Amnesty Act 2000, 'it has come to represent for many ugandans the hope that the conflict in the country can be ended peacefully'1( handbook) However despite the progress, the absence of a succesful Human rights -based Intergration and Demobilisation Policy may foil an erstwhile remarkable venture by encouraging ex-combatants to return to the bush. Its is the aim of this study to chart out ways of harmonising the paradox and to find solutions to the loopholes prevalent in the implementation of the Amnesty Act 2000.
  Methodology
  The complexity and delicacy of the subject required the researchers to adopt a multiplicity of methods in collecting the relevant data. The researchers adopted primary and secondary research methods, which consisted of interview,discussion and use of existing literature on the topic and the internet. The reseachers used textbooks available from current and past researches on the subject. Extracting the relevant data was limited by the fact that most of the available research studies were committed to tracing the loopholes of the Amnesty Act rather than attaching importance to the implementation of the Act. Other works were highly subjective thus irrelevant to the researchers.
  The researchers atempted to discuss issues related to the subject after research to harmonise findings soas to generate relevance on the topic. It was from the discussions that clarity and a deeper understanding of the human rights issue eveolving in the implementation of the Amnesty Act 2000.This was however without constraint as some discussants lacked facts though efforts were made to correct them.
  The focus of the study was to understand how Human rights issues were handled in the implementation of DDR. The areas of study were selected by the members and each member was assigned a particular area for contribution.
  The interview carried out was therefore designed to enable the student researchers have an insight into the workings of the Amnesty Commision and how the commision handles the Human rights issue. The researchers sought to understand the risks and opportunities involved in the implementation of the mandate of the Commission.
  The research was conducted from early April to early May 2008 which also worked to constrain the resources available to the researchers bearing time. Our findings are not exhaustive nor fully representative of the workings of the Amnesty Commision. The reesearch however offers insight into the operations and limitations faced by the Commission.
  Introduction
  The conflict in Uganda borrows substantially from the colonial past in definition of its causes which fragmented the country along religious and tribal lines. It is no exaggeration that most of the insurgent groups are fighting along these colonial-demarcated lines. For example '95% of LRA fighters are Acholi'{Profiles of the parties to the conflict Balam Nyeko and Okello Lucima (2002) http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/northern-uganda/profiles.phpA number of insurgent groups have been fighting the Museveni regime since 1986. These include UNRF, UPDA, LRA, HSM,UPA,WNBF, ADF. As a response to the persistent insurgency in Uganda, the government enacted the Amnesty Act in the year 2000. This move was to pardon, exempt and discharge former rebels who voluntarily give up fighting the government through military means from criminal prosecution or any from of punishment from the state. The blanket amnesty that the government offered to all people engaged in rebellions against the government of Uganda, including the LRA covers all rebel movements since the 26 th day of January 1986.
  The Amnesty Act 2000.
  The unacceptably high costs of civil war have caused Ugandans to re-assess approaches to resolving conflict(Barney Afako (2002 Reconciliation and justice: ‘Mato oput’ and the Amnesty Act,http://c-r.org/our-work/accord/northern-uganda/reconciliation-justice.php )The Act owes its origins to the commitment of the people of Uganda to seek reconciliation with those who have inflicted so much pain and suffering through conflict.(handbookp.1)Many concerns regarding the best way to achieve a sustainable peace in northern Uganda revolved around the need to end the cyclic violence and impunity that had plagued Uganda since independence.The first attempt was the Amnesty Statute of 1987, which was passed by the National Resistance Council (NRC), to encourage various fighting groups and sponsors of insurgency to cease their activities. When the government introduced an Amnesty Bill in 1998, it was revisiting an old political formula of offering pardons to insurgents as a means of ending intractable conflict. Previous de facto and de jure amnesties under the National Resistance Movement (NRM) had offered general and specific pardons to groups that had engaged in rebellion, notably the UPDM/A and the UPF/UPA. The failure of the military strategy to end conflict formed the basis for the enactment of the Amnesty Act 2000 by the parliament of Uganda to grant Amnesty to Ugandans who participated in acts of rebellion in various parts of the country since january 26th 1986. The Amnesty commision established to facilitate the implementation of the Amnesty Act 2000. The functions of the commsion are enshrined in Article 9 listed as (a) to monitor programmmes of -demobilsation, reintergration and ressetlement of reporters. Its the purpose of this work to study the preservation and violation of humna rights in the implementation of these programmes.
  ,Disarmament, Demobilisation, Reintergration Programs and the human rights issue.
  Disarmament is the first phase of DDR, and logically precedes demobilization and reintegration, the Thesaurus dictionary defines disarmament as the 'act of reducing or depriving of arms' (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/disarmament)Demobilization refers to the process by which parties to a conflict begin to disband their military structures and combatants begin the transformation into civilian life. It generally entails registration of former combatants; some kind of assistance to enable them to meet their immediate basic needs; discharge, and transportation to their home communities. It may be followed by recruitment into a new, unified military force.After ex-combatants have been demobilized, they are effectively and sustainably reintegrated into civilian life to prevent a new escalation of the conflict. In the short term, ex-combatants who do not find peaceful ways of making a living are likely to return to conflict. thus the process of reintergration. The demobilisation of ex-combatants in Uganda gives minimal attention to human rights issues. These include sexual abuse, ethnic intorelance, torture and the abuse of the right to life.
  Social Stigmatisation
  In spite of the culture of peace and discourses of forgiveness and reconciliation within recipient communities, there are real tensions around reintegration and reconciliation surrounding the return of ex-abductees. Experiences within the LRA may have fundamentally altered the manner in which exabductees function as members within a family or as constituents within a community.(Violence, reconciliation and identity: The reintegration of Lord's Resistance Army child abductees in Northern UgandaInstitute for Security Studies (ISSDate: 10 Dec 2003http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/OCHA-64C9TC?OpenDocument )There have been cases of stigmatisation of ex-combatants by the victims of the attrocities and the communities in general.Community members have concerns that this reintergration may be negative, and that ex-abductees may be aggressive or violent as a result of the violence they themselves were exposed to.
  Women's rights and the DDR
  Among the demobilised ex-combatants one group is particularly invisible – women and girls associated with illegal armed groups. The current demobilisation process does not adequately address the consequences of the sexual violence they have suffered before, during and after conflict. Reintegrating into a society with rigidly gendered social structures will put enormous stress on women who have been accustomed to freer modes of behavior and fairer divisions of labor.(The Demobilization and Reintegration of Women Combatants, Wives of Male Soldiers and War Widows: A Checklist http://action.web.ca/home/cpcc/attach/The%20Demobilisation%20and%20Reintegration%20of%20Women%20Combatants,%20Wives%20of%20Male%20Soldiers%20and%20War%20Widows%20A%20Checklist.htmVanessa Farr "Gendering Demilitarization." )Each of the DDR processes involves and has implications for women, whether they participated in combat, have family members who did, or are members of a community trying to integrate former combatants. While some women joined armed groups of their own free will, large numbers were abducted into combat and/or forced to become sexual and domestic slaves. But no matter how they came to military groups, almost all of them are neglected during the DDR process.(13) 13) Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration, United Nations Development Fund for Women, www.WomenWarPeace.org (Reference to demobilisation in Mozambique (and Sierra Leone?).
  DDR and children's rights.
  Thousands of children have been used as child soldiers and child soldiers themselves are also accused of human rights abuses including unlawful killings, rape and other forms of sexual violence as well as widespread pillaging and looting.It is argued that DDR can succeed only if it addresses the needs of all child soldiers, including those who circumvent the official process, child soldiers who demobilise as adults, and girl soldiers. The handling of returnee child soildiers in Uganda has been obstracted by the re-recruitment of fromer child-soildiers into the army. According to UNICEF' many former child soldiers in Uganda who have been freed from the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have been drawn again into armed conflict – this time with the national army' ( Child soldiers trapped in vicious cycle of war KAMPALA, Uganda, 16 http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/uganda_25184.html0). Those opposed to this mechanism ground their allegations on the perception that the government is using the reintegrated ex-combatants into the military ranks, as human shields in the process of military confrontation with their former abductors. Nevertheless, Uganda’s former child soldiers, haunted by exposure to violence at a young age, often find little solace when reintegrated into their home communities. When they return home, the nightmare continues, as they face stigmatization from their family and peers. The government of Uganda has not come up with a comprehensive plan for reintegration of ex-combatants back into their communities.
  Denial of the right to Amnesty and forced Amnesty
  Despite the eligiblity of some ex-combatants and collaborators to get amnesty enshrined under the Amnesty Act 2000 3(1) , the security agencies and Amnesty commision have denied this right which constitutes a violation of human rights. The classical case of Africanus Gabula, who reportedly belonged to a group called Kirimuttu, whom the commision failed to pardon is a case in point.(Treason convict seeks amnesty Monday, 24th March, 2008). At other times Amnesty has been used as a political gimmick to dissuade political dissent aimed at the Government of Uganda. Dr. Kiiza Besigye, an FDC politician believes that, his co-accused in the treason trial against the government of Uganda were subjected to torture to confess to belonging to a rebel group PRA hence forced to apply for amnesty to bail them out.( Nine more PRA suspects freed Friday, 16th February,2007 In february 2008, former UNRF combatants threatened to 'withdraw NRM support' if the government failed to pay their long overdue gratuity.(Ex-soldiers threaten to withdraw NRM support WAROM FELIX OKELLO monitor, February 5, 2008) This weakens the assumption of fairness in granting Amnesty and is likely to affect the legitimacy of the Amnesty Commission.
  
  Recommendations
  From the foregoing, the issue of human rights in the implementation of the Amnesty Act still has many loopholes; the need to correct these is still enormous. The following is recomended-
  
  For sustainable resettlement and reintegration of the FAPs and IDPs to be attained, there must be security guarantee for both their lives and property. The government and its development partners need to have in mind a fall-back position on how to deal with the same community in case the Juba peace talks that have raised hopes for peaceful end of the war fail.
  Sensitization training should be made available to community members in order to address the negative attitudes that clearly exist and impede community based reintegration and reconciliation with the ex-combatants.
  Ex-combatants should create groups of their own, with elected leadership, which can interact directly with local leadership and NGOs. The ex-combatants groups should be able to critically assess their own needs and inform the parties of their intentions. This would also help to avoid duplicity in programming. Health concerns regarding HIV/AIDS and malaria, water and sanitation and other basic health services are prevalent in the camps.
  There is a general consensus within the war affected communities to grant full amnesty to the FAPs especially those who were in the lower ranks of the LRA because most of them were victims of abduction against there will. It is imperative to note that, "the Amnesty Act 2002 of Uganda empowers the Amnesty commission to promote appropriate mechanisms of reconciliation in the affected communities".
  It is crucial to break away from a simplistic view of perpetrators and victims, for some women have been both. Policymakers must recognize that many of the women and girls who participated actively in the conflict have also been victims of sexual violence. It is essential to recognize that not all women, whether ex-combatants, wives of ex-fighters, or war widows, will meet similar challenges after demobilization. The differences between women their capacities, experience, length of service, connection to, or disconnection from communities of origin, number of dependants, geographic location after demobilization, and levels of physical and psychological stress, will all influence how well they will manage their new lives. Given this, when training and rehabilitation programs are planned, they should expect to encounter, and aim to accommodate, differences.
  Ex-combatants must be systematized and analyzed from a gender perspective. Such analysis is essential for informing future reintegration efforts, bearing in mind the high number of female combatants in the If the Uganda DDR process is to become inclusive it should ensure a holistic gender-focused, "because girls and women bear heavy responsibilities for rebuilding social and cultural infrastructures and are significantly affected by post-war decisions, they must be publicly recognised and empowered as key actors"( Reconstructing fragile lives: Girls social reintegration in northern Uganda nad Sierra leone Susan Mackay)
  If the needs of a traumatized war generation are not adequately addressed they too will pose a threat to prospects of long term peace. Children’s rights need to be preserved for the successful implementation of the DDR and for ensuring lasting peace and reconciliation. It is argued that DDR can succeed only if it addresses the needs of all child soldiers. They should be separated from other ex-combatants, so that their special needs can be addressed and so they can avoid abuse by military authorities, who may force them to enroll in new military forces; quickly discharged and reinserted into society; placed in long-term reintegration programs that give priority to family reunification; provided with long-term psychological support, to help them recover from the negative experience of war and to limit asocial attitudes and aggressive behaviors; provided with education and professional training, which offer children with no professional experience an opportunity for a sustainable livelihood.
  Conclusion.
  The challenge of implementing the Amnesty law is formidable. It rests on the commitment of all stakeholders in the peace and reconciliation process. The violations of human rights in the implementation of the Amnesty law 2000 can still be overcome with a commitment from government, war-affected communities. There's still need to involve the international community. Funding needs to be increased to the Amnesty Commission to improve on and increase on the available resources for the successful execution of its mandate.
  This was developed as part of an academic research innitiative undertaken by the author as a student Makerere University between June-November 2008