Meet Albertina.

Your friends might ask you, "What is your cool friend doing in an African country?" and you might freeze up and realize you don't even know.  Have no fear, I compiled a short description of the history of Northern Uganda to explain the context in which IJM Gulu works, the injustice we are fighting, how IJM Gulu fights this injustice and the case description of one of our clients, Albertina.

IJM Gulu Description:

In order to understand the context in which International Justice Mission protects widows and orphans from property grabbing in Northern Uganda, it is crucial to understand the civil war that plagued this part of the country for years. 

The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), under a man named Joseph Kony, aimed to overthrow the Ugandan government by abducting child soldiers, amputating limbs and other body parts and raping women in a brutal campaign that eventually materialized into a civil war.  Children were forced to walk to local churches before nightfall in order to avoid abductions at night.  These became known as “night commutes”.  Approximately 90% of the LRA’s recruits were children.  Thousands of people were displaced and put in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps.  Under the harsh camp conditions, thousands of children died of preventable diseases, the spread of sexually transmitted diseases was proliferated and many women were coerced into bartering sex for necessities.  During the years 2005 and 2006, the LRA was forced out of Uganda and into the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic and what would become the Republic of South Sudan.  The post-traumatic stress that resulted from these events has become embedded in the culture of Northern Uganda and the war set the region years behind in development and infrastructure and, thus, proliferated the issue of property grabbing.

For a family living in poverty, a house and a small patch of land provide a crucial source of shelter, food and income.  But in Uganda, when a man dies, it is common for neighbors, relatives and other community members to steal the home and property from his widow and orphans--a devastating crime commonly known as property grabbing.

In Northern Uganda, this crime has been exacerbated by the Lord’s Resistance Army, which forced millions (78% of the population) to flee their homes. Families returned after having spent years in the IDP camps only to discover that their homes had been stolen by more powerful neighbors who threatened violence. Police and courts are ill-equipped and often slow to respond to the needs of these vulnerable families, particularly widows and orphans. 65% of the land in Northern Uganda is currently disputed.

Not only does property grabbing leave victims homeless, destitute and extremely vulnerable to other forms of abuse, it's a violent crime.  In an IJM study, nearly 1 out of 5 victims of property grabbing reported that the theft of their property involved a murder attempt on his or her life, and nearly 1 out of every 3 had threats of violence made against their children by perpetrators.

How does IJM Gulu help fight this injustice?

We rescue widows and orphans from violence and help Local Council leaders (the community-level representatives of the justice system), police and courts restore the vulnerable families to the homes that have been stolen from them. This can mean moving women and children into safe houses while we work to stop the threats.

We bring criminals to justice by working with police and prosecutors to take them to court. IJM attorneys help build strong cases by gathering evidence that proves a widow’s rights and will expose the criminal’s actions.

We restore survivors by providing counseling, ensuring that children can go to school, and helping women begin income-generating projects. Once families are safe on their land, we empower them through training and by providing resources to rebuild their lives.

We strengthen justice systems by working with police, courts, land authorities and other local leaders to dramatically improve the justice system response to property grabbing so women and children are safe. We also work with the media and churches to train communities on their rights.

Case Description: Albertina

Albertina is a 76-year-old widow, weighing no more than 80 pounds.  Her husband died in an IDP camp in 2004 and, when Albertina and her family returned home in 2006, they found the husband's relatives living on her land.

IJM took on Albertina’s case. Her husband's relatives, the perpetrators in this case, used violence to keep Albertina from reclaiming her land. The prosecutor only charged criminal trespass, which is a low-level crime and did not capture all of the abuses against Albertina.

The case came up in March 2015, but there were no hearings until February 2016 due to various typical setbacks (i.e. the magistrate would not show up, witnesses would not come, etc). In late 2015, IJM attorneys became concerned that Albertina was becoming mentally incompetent. She was not responding to questions and was not interested in the case. Her family told us she was losing her mind. Our aftercare team pushed to get her a medical evaluation. During that evaluation, we learned that she had a badly infected eardrum that was causing her tremendous pain. The pain and infection caused symptoms similar to mental illness. IJM paid for a surgery that alleviated the pain and brought Albertina back to "sanity". She was then found competent to testify.

In April 2016, IJM spoke with witnesses and they agreed to testify, but the perpetrators threatened to kill them if they testified. Thereafter, they refused to show up in court. IJM moved the court to arrest them for witness tampering. The court arrested them and took them into custody.  Without notice or proper procedure, one of the perps was released in July with no explanation. IJM uncovered evidence that the judge had been bribed to release him. The harassment continued against Albertina and her family.

The wives of the perpetrators encouraged their children to throw rocks at and physically abuse Albertina’s dependents at school. These wives later accused Albertina’s dependents of giving their children poisoned mangoes. The children’s ailment was later confirmed to be malaria.

On August 10th, Albertina and one of her daughters, Lalam Grace, were in the garden when Adong Santa, the wife of one of the perpetrators, assaulted the two of them with a cane.  This incident was reported to the police.

On a later date, Adong Santa assaulted Albertina again. IJM filed a new case against of assault against her.

Four days later, Adong Santa reported that Albertina, 3 other women and 2 men (all 5 her dependents) had committed crimes of aggravated robbery and rape.  Medical reports the next day were not consistent with these accusations. Albertina is weak and almost blind. There were no witnesses or physical evidence to corroborate the claims.  The Resident State Attorney told the head of our legal department that he did not look at the folder when he sanctioned the charges. It was obvious that police and prosecution had been bribed in the case (yet again).

On August 23rd, Albertina and her 5 relatives were arrested and put in jail.  Because these were capital charges, the only person who could revoke them was the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) who is at the top of the public prosecution hierarchy.  In addition, most of our cases are taken at the magistrate level, but capital charges must be tried in high court.  This means there is a minimum of at least 6 months jail time for the accused before the case can be heard in the high court.

Meanwhile, 10 children under the age of 12 were left in the bush at Albertina’s compound because all of the adults had been arrested on false charges. There was no one to protect them. IJM aftercare intervened and hired police guards to stay at the house and guard the children and the property.

On August 24th, IJM contacted the DPP and sent him the memo the following day.

On August 31st, he contacted our Field Office Director, Will Lathrop, and withdrew the charges.

On September 1st, they were released!

This was a huge victory, but the case is still ongoing and we are battling death threats to Albertina and her dependents as well as government corruption and inefficiency.

“When we first met Albertina, she was hopeless.  Now, she is a fighter.”

-Ajok Cathy, Aftercare

I got the honor and privilege of photographing her release from prison.  Albertina is why we are here. She is why I am here.  Here are some of the photos I took:

Interns bought bread and for the 10 dependents left at home without supervision (ages range from 5 to 15) and food for Albertina and her family sitting in jail.

Albertina and family in prison.

IJM Gulu celebrating the release with little Albertina.