Formal Participation, De Facto Exclusion?

Drawing on extensive consultations with relevant stakeholders in Uganda, this chapter seeks to understand how the international standardisation of transitional justice has impacted domestic transitional justice processes in Uganda, and notably victims’ roles therein. It zooms in on the increasingly sanitised involvement and participation of local stakeholders, including victims. The chapter shows how, despite the presence of language such as ‘local consultation’, ‘participation’, and ‘victims-centeredness’, a genuine intention among decision-makers to give meaningful effect to such principles has been missing. As such, formal ‘compliance’ with ideas about civil society and victim participation, as endorsed by international standards and guidelines about transitional justice, has not resulted in outcomes that met the expectations and demands of most local civil society and victim groups in Uganda. The chapter focuses mainly on the process surrounding the adoption of Uganda’s Transitional Justice Policy, but adds perspectives from other relevant frameworks and processes where particularly relevant.