Prog. Manager | Refugee Law Project Staff | SOAS Alumni | Online Radio Talkshow Host | Gender & Sexuality Activist

“Our Parents Do Not Know” Homeschooling fatigue among refugee children during COVID-19.

2020 National Learning Event Report
In case you missed the 2020 National Virtual Learning Event on Child Protection, and/or the presentation made during the event by Mr. Onen David Ongwech (RLP’s Programme Manager Gender & Sexuality), we are pleased to share a copy of the presentation titled; “Our Parents Do Not Know” Homeschooling fatigue among refugee children during COVID-19 induced lockdown”. The 2020 National Virtual Learning Event on Child Wellbeing took place from 25 – 26 Nov 2020 and was co-hosted by the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development and the National Child Protection Working Group (NCPWG) guided by the theme “Child wellbeing during and Post COVID-19 Context in Uganda”.
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2020 National Virtual Learning Event on Child Wellbeing

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The 2020 National Virtual Learning Event on Child Wellbeing starts today 25 – 26 Nov 2020. The event is co-hosted by the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development and the National Child Protection Working Group (NCPWG) guided by the theme “Child wellbeing during and Post COVID-19 Context in Uganda”. I’m glad my abstract titled “Our Parents Do Not Know” Homeschooling fatigue among refugee children during COVID-19 induced lockdown was accepted.
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16th Annual UG Counsellors Conference [26-27 November 2020]

UCA 2020 Poster
Refugee Law Project, with support from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is thus proud to partner with Uganda Counseling Association to use the occasion of the 16thAnnual Counsellors conference from 26-27 November 2020 to focus the attention of Uganda’s counselling professionals on “Attaining a Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body amidst Covid19: Focus on Forced Migration, Mental Health and Gender”. The conference, which will run from 8:30am to 2:30pm East African Time on both days, will be a blend of physical and online participants and presentations. 
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Peacekeepers as allies in tackling sexual violence in conflict

Peacekeepers as allies in tackling sexual violence in conflict
When peacekeepers are equipped to understand, respond to and prevent some of the dynamics that can destabilise an often fragile peace, then their value is greatly enhanced in post-conflict situations. This is particularly the case if they are able to engage pro-actively on issues of conflict-related sexual violence and its ‘post-conflict’ manifestations in the form of sexual exploitation and abuse. The report offers testimony to the value of such training endeavours, as well as to the importance of the International Protocol as a guiding document around which to organise both the content and the process.
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“Hard and Unbearable”: COVID-19 Induced Challenges as told by Refugee and Host Support Group Leaders

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Since the first case of COVID-19 was detected in Uganda, lives have and continue to change dramatically. With several measures and televised Presidential directives, the #StayHome mantra continues to impact lives in various ways. Refugees and host communities have not been spared – if any, the pandemic has worsened the already biting challenges and vulnerabilities. With some vulnerable communities in ‘hard-to-reach’ places at the receiving end of the directives and its associated enforcement and curfew, many of the things happening in and around refugee-hosting areas haven’t made it to the media. Many refugees and hosts are mired in inadequately documented challenges. While communities have not resigned themselves to the hurdles at hand and are adopting numerous creative coping mechanisms, the ways in which such resilience and positive coping mechanisms can be supported and replicated elsewhere by government, civil society, and international actors requires further exploration.
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What if we responded to sexual violence in conflict as an existential threat? Statement for International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, 2020

Participant showing his message3
In the statement to mark the occasion, RLP asked the question; What if we responded to sexual violence in conflict as an existential threat? The press statement took a critical look at what the national and international response to COVID-19 has taught us thus far about our collective potential to end sexual violence in conflict. If we can mobilise the resources and will to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, if we can close airports and public transport to better control the virus, couldn’t we do the same to better control sexual violence in conflict? While COVID-19 has directly harmed our capacity to respond to survivor needs in the short term, it has also made clear that to eliminate sexual violence in conflict we need a sea change in how it is perceived. We need to see it as the existential threat it undoubtedly is, and invest time, effort and resources correspondingly.
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Why are children being chased away from community-related awareness raising events?

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Robinson Ocira, a Project Assistant based in the Kiryandongo Office, poses the question; Why are children being chased away from community related awareness raising events? Particularly disturbing in Robinson’s exploration of the discrimination and exclusion children are subjected to during community related events is the fact that sometimes the discrimination is directed to the children by the very organisations that are meant to protect and promote the rights of all including children.
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NO JUSTIFICATION FOR TORTURE – Press statement for International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

Chief Guest warns public servants against torture
Despite the existing legal frameworks prohibiting torture, torture continues to be used in conflict situations and even during supposedly peaceful times. Even prior to the pandemic, incidents of torture by security organs featured in the news. In the last three months, however, these appear to have been exacerbated by the pandemic, with Uganda’s national news dominated by the ordeals of citizens who have been tortured by security organs such as the Police and Local Defense Units (LDUs) in the name of enforcing presidential directives related to COVID-19. Uganda is not alone in this; other countries such as Kenya and India have also seen incidents of torture of civilians in the course of enforcing of COVID-19 directives. What happens when an institution like Uganda Police Force, one of the institutions mandated to receive cases of torture, is itself implicated in violating the non-derogable right to freedom from torture?
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Child-friendly Justice in Unfriendly Environments? A call for practical solutions for vulnerable young people on the Day of the African Child, 2020

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Children come into contact with the justice system for various reasons. The 2019 Situation Analysis on Children in Uganda shows that 27% of children have been exposed to a crime. Despite the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) position that ‘putting children in prison should only be the last resort and for the shortest time possible’, there are children in many of Uganda’s detention facilities. Whereas many children come into contact with the law, many more suffer at the handsof adult abusers. UNICEF’s 2018 situation analysis shows that 44 percent of girls and 59 percent of boys aged 13-17 years had experienced physical violence in 2018. The outbreak of COVID-19 has further heightened the challenges as reporting and response mechanisms are temporarily affected.
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