Screening of “The Rescue," a documentary on LRA leader Joseph Kony's child soldiers in Uganda.
Speaker: Joanna R. Quinn is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, and Director of the Centre for Transitional Justice and Post-Conflict Reconstruction at The University of Western Ontario. She teaches courses including International Human Rights, Genocide, and Transitional Justice. She earned an Honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Waterloo, a Master of Arts from Acadia University, and a Ph.D. from McMaster University. Since 1998, Dr. Quinn has been engaged in research that considers the role of acknowledgement in overcoming the causes of conflict, which has the potential to affect real and lasting change. She argues that only when past disputes have been acknowledged, can individuals and their communities begin once again to form relationships with their neighbours and to participate in the social activities and civic structures of society, finally defeating the deep-rooted conflicts which have served to paralyse that society. And it is these networks of civic engagement which will lead to the rebuilding of a sustainable society. Her current research considers the role of traditional practices of acknowledgement and justice in Uganda and in Fiji.
About the film:
For 23 years, the government of Uganda and a rebel group called the Lords Resistance Army, led by a man named Joseph Kony, has engaged in Africa’s longest war. In recent years, peace was seemingly within reach, largely due to the Juba Peace Talks that began in July 2006. However, despite a ceasefire signed between the LRA and Ugandan government, efforts toward peace through the Juba Peace Talks were stalled on several occasions by Kony’s refusal to sign the final peace agreement. Kony’s absence at the peace agreement signing on November 29, 2008 proved his promises to be futile and ultimately disabled the peace talks. Furthermore, the ICC has obtained evidence that Kony used the ceasefire during the peace talks to regroup, regain strength and resume child abductions. Joseph Kony is the world’s first individual indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.