AFRICA-EUROPE FAITH AND JUSTICE NETWORK
RESEAU FOI ET JUSTICE AFRIQUE-EUROPE

174, rue Joseph II
B-1000 Bruxelles - Belgique
Tel. 32-2 234 6810 Fax 32-2 231 1413
aefjn@aefjn.org http://www.aefjn.org

UGANDA ANTENNA

FAITH AND JUSTICE NEWSLETTER
Issue no 16 - August 2003

"We do not inherit the earth from our parents, we borrow it from our children". (Saint-Exupéry)

Extreme Poverty a Denial of Human Rights

Franciscans International (FI) has again urged the United Nations (UN) to give explicit attention to the issue of extreme poverty and not relegate it to a discussion on poverty in general. Saying that extreme poverty is a denial of human rights, FI and a host of other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have called for the UN to develop international standards for combating extreme poverty.

The appeal came in a written intervention submitted at the 55th session of the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights underway in Geneva from 28 July to 15 August. Br Yves Soudan, OFM on August 8 said that "extreme poverty is a specific issue which calls for a specific response."
"The main issue," said Br Soudan, a professor at the Human Rights Institute in Lyons, "is to reaffirm the human dignity of persons by enabling them and their communities to exercise their economic, political, social, civil and cultural rights."

He pointed out that extreme poverty -as distinguished from poverty in general- means people increasingly become unable to exercise such rights over a long period of time, sometimes for several generations. FI has insisted that the Sub-Commission not blur the distinction.

Br Soudan urged states to initiate community-empowering measures that "respect the inherent dignity of individuals and their communities." He said extreme poverty "should not be limited to short-term remedies" aimed at "basic survival", but must be tackled by "comprehensive action".

Stories about peace and reconciliation

The Justice and Peace Commission of Gulu Archdiocese would like to publish a little booklet with stories about peace and reconciliation from various African traditions. In this matter we would like to invite organizations from all around the continent to join contribute.

We would like to give out a small book containing traditional stories about handling conflicts, about peace and reconciliation as well as related topics.

If you are interested in it, we would be glad to receive one or two (or more, if you feel like it) stories from you. Your task would be to collect these stories and send them to us either by e-mail or postal system. For us it would be good if you could give us some data as to from which ethnic group and which area you got the story. We would take care of the editing, lay-outing and actual publishing of the book. Each contributing organization would receive 5 books as a little appreciation. We hope that we have enough stories collected by the end of October. That would give us the month of November in order to edit the material and work on the layout. The artist could come up with the illustrations and the book would be out before Christmas. Interested?

Contact Address:Justice and Peace Commission
Gulu Archdiocese
P.O. Box 200 Gulu - Uganda
Tel: -077-742 913 or 077-766 644
E-mail: jpcgulu@infocom.co.ug

At the invitation of the Justice and Peace Commission of Gulu Archdiocese, a group of Religious from Kampala attended a peace day celebration which took place on Saturday, August 23, 2003 in Kaunda Ground in Gulu with the Justice and Peace clubs of secondary schools in Gulu. After a march for Peace through the town, a series of moving plays and poems were delivered to express the sufferings of all people and especially the Youth who have never known peace since their birth, and are the victims of a senseless war. The motto was "If you want Peace, work for Peace". We went there to show the solidarity of the whole of Uganda. The "guest of honour" were the Youth themselves.

A Proposal for training Faith and Justice Advocates

1. Background
At a meeting of the core-group of ARU-JPIC Commission held on the 28/6/'03 it was decided that ARU would try to contribute more effectively to the promotion of Justice and Peace in Uganda. Jim Mc Tiernan, M.Afr. was asked by the meeting to prepare an initial workshop to set the ball rolling. He developed the initial request for a workshop to a more comprehensive proposal. He came up with the following suggestion. What do you think of the proposal?

2. Proposal
We could aim at contributing effectively and creatively towards the promotion of a culture in Uganda, where peace, fairness and inclusiveness flourishes. Our particular desire is the empowerment of young Lay and Religious people to engage effectively at grassroots level to do what needs to be done to promote JPIC. They will gain the vision and energy for this venture through:

- Imbibing in the rich tradition of our Church's Social Teaching, it's Spirituality and Community.
- Exploring and applying contemporary social, economic and legal theory.
- We aim at enabling multipliers of JPIC ideals to contribute effectively in nation building.

A. Approach

- Experiential learning: sharing studies, group work, role-play, etc. Essential to the programme is that Advocates be wholeheartedly engaged in worthwhile and substantial enterprises or projects where they can be guided and evaluated in acquiring the appropriate skills and strategies necessary to impact effectively in their environment.
- Our training programme could combine guidance in exploring theory while actively applying it in a community project. The course would take 3 months, with a follow up evaluation 9 months later. Classes, input, guidance and evaluation could take place on Saturdays only. The Course need not be residential. Outside lecturers (from UMU, Makerere, etc.) would be invited to input on some areas beyond the competence of ARU.

B. Content
- Social Analysis
- African Traditional Conflict Resolution.
- The essentials of economic literacy.
- Psycho-Drama/Culture-Theatre as a means to exploring issues.
- Essential concepts of Justice, Peace, Rights and of a healthy environment.
- Justice and Peace in Scripture and Catholic Social Teaching.

C. Advocacy: The objectives of Advocacy

- The main aim of Advocacy is to promote and facilitate public awareness on policy issues and enable participation of the public in policy dialogue and implementation.
- Promote a culture of open and active debate at local and national level so as to enhance a just distribution of resources. Promote transparency of public funds at local and national levels.
- Assist Government Representatives and MPs with pertinent information on issues sensitive to our Christian Community.
- Be a lobbying presence for important issues.
- Contribute to the budget debate.
· For such lobbying JPIC would need to employ 1 or 2 suitably qualified persons who are dedicated to the spirit of JPIC.