HRVs Trained on Community Access to Justice

On 2-3 March, 2012, a team of 18 Human Rights Volunteers gathered in Gulu to receive further training on the protection of human rights, documentation of human rights abuses and success stories, and monitoring and evaluation of GWED-G’s Community Access to Justice program. This team of community members has been together for over two years in Lamogi Sub-county, Amuru District, Uganda working to promote fair and efficient legal assistance.

GWED-G’s Human Rights Volunteers (HRVs) are positioned in each parish of Lamogi Sub-county and serve as advocates and mediators for fellow community members facing human rights abuses and violations. The issues they encounter range from land and property conflicts between family members to rape and defilement of adolescent girls. In addition to HRVs, the Community Access to Justice program incorporates community dialogues aimed at sensitizing the Lamogi community on their rights to access fair and timely justice. The combination of regular community dialogues, accessible Human Rights Volunteers, and strong networks of citizens, police, local leaders, and civil society organizations is meant to provide a comprehensive system targeting rural communities to demand for their rights.

The program is in its final year of funding, but already the HRVs have indicated that the number of cases of human rights abuses and violations in their respective areas have been steadily declining since the program’s induction in 2010.