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Uganda: For decades, Uganda's economy suffered from devastating economic policies and instability, leaving it one of the world's poorest countries. Uganda began economic reforms; growth has been robust. In 2008, Uganda recorded 7% growth despite the global downturn and regional instability. Over one half of Uganda's population lives slightly below the international poverty line of USD $1.25 a day.
Respect for human rights in Uganda has been advanced significantly since the mid-1980s. There are, however, numerous areas which continue to attract concern. Conflict in the north continues to generate reports of abuses by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army and the Ugandan army. A UN official accused the LRA (2009) of appalling brutality in the DRC. The number of internally displaced persons is about 1.4 million. Torture is a widespread practice amongst security organizations. Attacks on political freedom, including the arrest and beating of opposition Members of Parliament, has led to international criticism, culminating in 2005 in a decision by the British government to withhold part of its aid. The arrest of the main opposition leader Kizza Besigye and the besiegement of the High Court during a hearing of Besigye's case by a heavily armed security forces - before the 2006 elections - led to condemnation.
Recently, grassroots organizations have raised awareness about the children who were kidnapped by the LRA to work as soldiers or be used as wives. Thousands of children as young as eight were captured and forced to kill. The documentary Invisible Children illustrates the terrible lives of the children, known as night commuters, who still to this day leave their villages and walk many miles each night to avoid abduction.
The US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants reported several violations of refugee rights in 2007, including forcible deportations by the Ugandan government and violence directed against refugees.
The challenges to peace and justice in Uganda reflect those of other nations in the world today: Economic development and stability, human rights, the recovery from war, peacekeeping, significant challenges to leadership, and the overarching need to advance toward the MDGs.
The need for informed and skilled conflict resolution from trained professionals with specific skills including peacebuilding, conflict resolution, ethics, community-building, economic development, international relations, collaboration, NGO management is paramount. This need is unending, and it is being met incrementally.
The Rotary Ambassadorial Peace Scholarship will help to fund an intensive 30 unit Master's degree in Peace and Justice Studies at the University of San Diego's Kroc School of Peace Studies. Within a solid foundation of peace and justice studies and research methodology (9 units), students develop specialties in one of four areas: Human Rights, Crisis Analysis and Conflict Resolution, Development, or Human Security.
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