During a ceremony held today at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the Ugandan leading war victims activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Victor Ochen was formally named Global Goals Ambassador for Peace and Justice. On 25 September 2015, world leaders will adopt a set of 17 global goals to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice and address climate change as part of a new sustainable development agenda that build on the eight Millennium Development Goals. In this framework, the Global Goals public awareness campaign, founded by Richard Curtis, aims to share these goals around the world alongside communities who stand to benefit the most from their implementation. As Ambassador for Goal 16, “Peace and Justice”, Victor Ochen will lead a march of thousands of people in Northern Uganda culminating with a commemoration at the Barlonyo massacre memorial site in Lira district, which is a symbolic for Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) atrocities committed in the country.

Statement by Alison Smith, International Criminal Justice Director for No Peace Without Justice:

“No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) and the Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty (NRPTT) warmly congratulate our longstanding partner and friend Victor Ochen for his appointment by the United Nations as Global Goals Ambassador for Peace and Justice.

“This appointment is a sign of recognition for victims and survivors of unbearable atrocities who struggle to regain their dignity as well as devote their lives to support their fellow survivors and affected communities in overcoming vulnerability and in anchoring their future in peaceful post-conflict recovery and development. It is a good signal that the UN has chosen a powerful voice from within the victims communities who has empowered others around the world to have their voices heard.

“We are proud to have been working side by side with Victor Ochen, whose determination to promote transitional justice and a human rights culture in Northern Uganda and beyond has been fuelled by having been a war victim himself growing up in a refugee camp. Through the African Youth Initiative Network, which he founded in 2005, Victor Ochen has consistently shown both commitment and effectiveness in his efforts to address the needs and trauma of war victims, in particular children and women, and advance their rehabilitation and active empowerment through peace and justice.

“We are certain that his outstanding qualifications and skills, as well as vision and determination, will be a great help in the worldwide fight to advance human rights, rule of law, justice and accountability. There really isn’t a better person to fulfil this role. NPWJ and the NRPTT extend their full support to Victor as he embarks on this new endeavour”.

For further information, please contact Alison Smith on asmith@npwj.org or +32 (0)2 548 39 12 or Nicola Giovannini (Press & Public Affairs Coordinator) on ngiovannini@npwj.org or +32-2-548-3915.