Invisible Children Uganda welcomed Luis Moreno Ocampo, the former chief prosector of the International Criminal Court (ICC), to northern Uganda at the end of March. Ocampo, who led the indictment of Joseph Kony and his top commanders for war crimes, shared his support for helping communities heal from the trauma the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has caused throughout the region.
Ocampo also served as the guest of honor at the graduation celebration for Invisible Children’s Legacy Scholarship Program and a special event entitled “Dine with Ocampo, Educate a Child” to kick off local fundraising efforts in support of our programs and to demonstrate Ocampo’s support for education as a means of development.
Ocampo congratulates a graduate of the Legacy Scholarship Program on her award as one of the best performing students.
Invisible Children’s Regional Ambassador Jolly O. Grace Andruville welcomed Ocampo to the graduation by explaining how she has long encouraged Ocampo to visit Uganda.
“[I said] ‘Why don’t you come and see how we can do something in northern Uganda?’ And he said…when you’re ready…I am ready to come and see,” Jolly said.
What is perhaps the most important part of Ocampo’s visit was time he spent visiting the Barlonyo and Lukodi memorial sites. These sites, along with others throughout the region, are places where where hundreds of innocent people were killed at the hands of the LRA. The massacres were committed nearly 10 years ago, but the sites serve as an important reminder of the atrocities committed and the trauma many still suffer.
A memorial are the Lukodi massacre site in northern Uganda depicts the names of the victims. Hundreds more were killed in similar massacres across the region at the hands of Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army.
“The crimes in Barlonyo are crimes against Lango people, are crimes against Ugandan people, but also are crimes against humanity. That is what the law says. When you kill this number of people, it’s a crime against humanity and that is why I, as the chief prosector of the International Criminal Court, intervened,” Ocampo said.
When he learned of massacres in Uganda, Ocampo investigated the crimes, which ultimately led to the arrest warrant for Kony and his top four commanders in 2005. Even though he is no longer serving as chief prosecutor, Ocampo remains committed to making sure war-affected communities achieve justice.
“At the beginning people were thinking there were 200 people killed in Barlonyo, but we know there are much more killed. We can document that,” he said. “We can document the killing, the abductions and the looting and we can present this to the International Criminal Court. We can request to expand the arrest warrants, the number of victims and the number of crimes and document well…for all the world to know what happened here.”
Ocampo announced that he is interested in serving as a legal representative for those affected by Kony and his commanders when they are prosecuted. In the meantime, he emphasized that storytelling is an important mechanism to help affected communities work through their pain. He hopes to organize international and local lawyers to gather evidence to “make very clear” what happened in places like Barlonyo and Lukodi.
Ocampo recognized Invisible Children for its role in recovery efforts in northern Uganda and protection of communities throughout central Africa. He applauded our role in putting pressure on international governments in order to prioritize ending the LRA conflict and for bringing LRA atrocities into the international spotlight.
Think people should hear about this?