Stephen Oola is currently a Senior Advisor on Legal and Constitutional Affairs at the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) overseeing the implementation of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan. He is also the co-founder and director of Amani Institute, a think-tank based in Gulu, northern Uganda. Oola is an Advocate (Attorney) in the High Court of Uganda. Between 2013 and 2016, Oola was head of the Conflict, Transitional Justice and Governance Program at the Refugee Law Project (RLP), School of Law, Makerere University in Kampala. Previously, he led the Research and Advocacy Department at RLP from 2010-2012 and conducted a countrywide reconciliation and transitional justice audit in Uganda (2011-2012). From 2007-2009, Oola was the Transitional Justice Lawyer at RLP.
Oola holds a LLB (Hons) Degree from Makerere University, Master of Arts in International Peace Studies from the University of Notre Dame, USA. A Pre-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Antwerp, Belgium (2012), Oola’s interest and expertise is on Transitional Justice, Peacebuilding and Development in Africa. Oola led the drafting of the proposed National Reconciliation Bill for Uganda, the African Union Transitional Justice Policy Framework, and the JMEC’s M&E Strategy for South Sudan. Oola is also a member of African Commission on Human & People’s Rights Advisory Committee on the Study on Transitional Justice in Africa.

Selected publications:

• In the Shadow of Kwoyelo’s Trial: The ICC and Complementary in Uganda, in C. De Vos, S. Kendall and C. Stahn (eds.) Contested Justice: The Politics and Practice of International Criminal Court Interventions (pp. 147-170), Cambridge University Press, 2015.
• A Conflict-Sensitive Justice: Adjudicating Traditional Justice in Transitional Contexts, in S. Oola et. al (eds.) Where Law Meets Reality: Forging African Transitional Justice (pp. 53-63). Pambazuka Press, 2012.
• The Role of Civil Society in Advocating Justice in Uganda, Paper Presented at the Advocating Justice: Civil Society and Transitional Justice in Africa, organised by ATJRN, Johannesburg, August 30-31, 2010.
• Conflicting Justice Systems and the Peace Process in northern Uganda. Activating Human Rights and Peace Conference Proceedings, December 2008.
• ICC and Bashir: The Aura or Audition of International Justice in Africa, Oxford Transitional Justice Working Paper Series, November 2008.