Registration of Ongwen victims to start in 2 weeks

KAMPALA, UGANDA | THE INDEPENDENT | Registration of potential victims of former Lord’s Resistance Army, LRA commander, Dominic Ongwen, will begin in two weeks.

Maria Mabinty Kamara, the International Criminal Court’s Outreach Officer and Spokesperson for Uganda, told journalists in Gulu via Zoom on Tuesday, after the Appeals Chamber at the ICC maintained the order of reparations granted by the trial chamber to victims of Ongwen on Monday.

The registration, which will start in two weeks, is the first phase of the pilot registration. Depending on the challenges and opportunities the clerks will face on the ground, the number of clerks or the registration strategy can be changed.

“I believe along the line, depending on the experiences, the practical realities that are met on the ground, there might be a possibility of retweaking the strategy, increasing the numbers, or changing the strategy in such a way that a lot more people will be involved in the process,” Kamara said.

Kamara said at least 30 clerks have been trained by the ICC to help in the registration process. According to Kamara, the clerics comprise networks of victims, members of victims’ associations, victims themselves, or former camp leaders.

It is believed that these people “are better placed to a large extent to vet or identify persons who potentially might be victims.”

Kamara, however, clarified that the roles of the clerks will only stop at identifying, registering, filling the forms and filing the stories of potential victims, while another team at the ICC will verify the registration to get the real victims.

The Victims Participation and Reparations Section (VPRS), team responsible for assisting victims in participating in ICC proceedings and seeking reparations for the harm they have suffered, was initially given two years to assess the eligibility of the victims.

However, Kamara explained that a year had elapsed without the validation of the victims because they were still in the process of putting together the structures, recruiting, training, and ensuring that all the consultations were done to make sure the process was flawless when it started.

She explained that since a year has already gone by, the VPRS team will likely ask for an extension of the timeframe for the registration, for them to continue the administrative and eligibility assessment or registration.

Kamara said it is not known how long the registration will take, drawing from similar experiences in other countries.

The ICC estimates that 49,772 people are potentially eligible victims of Ongwen in the four case locations of Lukodi in Gulu district, Pajule in Pader district, Odek in Omoro district and Abok in Oyam district.

On February 28th, 2024, the ICC Trial Chamber IX ordered Ongwen to compensate the above victims 52.4 million euros, approximately 213 billion Shillings.

However, the same chamber found that Ongwen is indigent in compensating his victims, and encouraged the Trust Fund for Victims, TVF, to complement the reparation awards, to the extent possible, and engage in additional fundraising efforts capable of totally compensating the victims.

It is, however, not clear how much money the trust fund has raised to repair the victims.

“To tell you the truth, you cannot say the money is in there right now. But a lot of fundraising is happening, and the trust fund is also very committed to pushing these initiatives to ensure they get as much money as there is to start the implementation of the reparations,” Kamara said.

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