On April 26, the House International Relations Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations held a hearing on the dangers facing children in northern Uganda.
“Just as we have a moral obligation to rescue the suffering people of Darfur,” Subcommittee Chair Christopher Smith (R-NJ) stated, “we have a similar obligation not to ignore the terrorized population of northern Uganda…especially the children.” He explained that the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a group fighting in northern Uganda, has forced over 20,000 children to “serve as either soldiers or sexual slaves,” and cited statistics indicating that “three times more children under the age of five die in northern Uganda than in the rest of the country.” Rep. Smith said that he and other members of the House and Senate will introduce legislation soon concerning child soldiers.
Describing the situation as “one of the worst forgotten crises in the world,” Ranking Member Donald Payne (D-NJ) said that “the leadership of the LRA must be held accountable” for their “brutal campaign against innocent civilians.” Rep. Payne recalled his trip to Uganda twelve years ago when he met with some child soldiers who had escaped. “No child should be forced to kill anyone,” he stated. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Krilla confirmed that the State Department’s 2005 Country Report on Human Rights Practices for Uganda “reported on the LRA’s sexual exploitation of children, the use of child soldiers, the plight of the ‘night commuter’ children who travel long distances from their homes in search of protection from the LRA, and the overall deplorable conditions of the IDP [Internally Displaced Persons] camps, in which over 80 percent of the approximately 1.5 million occupants are women and children.” The U.S. is addressing the situation, he said, through humanitarian aid, support for the Ugandan People’s Defense Forces (UPDF), and pressure on the government of Uganda to protect civilians. Noting that in FY2005 “$78 million in bi-lateral assistance” was provided, Mr. Krilla added that the U.S. funds reception centers and counseling programs for children rescued from the LRA. Regarding the UPDF and LDU [Local Defense Unit] human rights abuses, “including rape of women and girls,” that were documented in the 2005 report, Mr. Krilla said that the U.S. has responded by providing funding for training the UPDF “in the areas of civil/military relations, military justice and human rights.”
Leonard Rogers, deputy assistant administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), highlighted programs for children abducted by the LRA, including girls used as sex slaves: “Many young girls held captive have become pregnant with the children of LRA combatants. These girls and their children face significant challenges trying to reintegrate into communities, a process made all the more difficult by the displacement and destitution still suffered by many of the abductees’ families. About 40 percent of the ex-abductees pass through reception centers for several weeks three such centers are supported by USAID and its implementing partners who provide technical oversight where programs partially address the traumatized youths’ considerable health, nutritional, and psychosocial needs before the children reunite with their families, often aided by family tracing services.” Mr. Rogers said that the president’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief provides support for HIV/AIDS programs in northern Uganda, adding, “The plan includes funding for the start-up of a $30 million, five-year program focused on delivery of services for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and Orphans and Vulnerable Children in conflict affected districts of Northern Uganda.”
A personal story of abduction and slavery was told by World Vision spokesperson, Grace Akallo, who was captured by the LRA in October 1996, at the age of fifteen: “I was forcibly marched into southern Sudan. We walked 4 days and 4 nights. There, the LRA had bases that were run and protected by forces allied with the Sudanese government in Khartoum. I, and the other girls captured with me, were trained to assemble and disassemble, clean and use guns. We were used as slave labor by the LRA and Sudanese government soldiers. We were forcibly given to senior LRA commanders as so-called ‘wives.’” Ms. Akallo said she managed to escape after having been “buried alive in a shallow grave.” She is now an undergraduate student in Boston.
Refugees International Senior Advocate and UN Representative Michelle Brown visited northern Uganda in February 2006. She reported, “The living conditions in the more than 200 internally displaced persons camps in northern Uganda are horrific. The camps are overcrowded and people do not have access to adequate health care, water, sanitation, education, livelihoods and protection…I visited with sick people in the camps who were unable to access appropriate health care, including reproductive health care and HIV/AIDS treatment; estimated HIV/AIDS rates in northern Uganda are higher than the national average.” Ms. Brown confirmed that reports of sexual exploitation and sexual violence by the Ugandan army are widespread, though trust in the army is increasing. Warning that “the conflict has now spread to neighboring countries,” Ms. Brown called for greater U.S. attention to the northern Ugandan crisis.
