http://www.webcom.com/hrin/parker/sub01wsu.html a lawyer's
view/assessment of how Uganda breaches international law, chapter and
verse.
UNITED NATIONS SUB-COMMISSION ON THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Fifty-third session
Agenda item 2
Forced Displacement in Northern Uganda
Written statement submitted by International Educational Development, A
non-governmental organization on the Roster
1. Introduction. Civil war has ravaged Uganda's northern districts since
the National Resistance Army/Movement took power under Yoweri Museveni in
1986. The latest phase of the war, waged by the Lord's Resistance Army
(LRA), has lasted more than a decade and has been characterized by widely
publicized atrocities committed by the LRA, including the forced
abductions of thousands of children, massacres of civilians, and
widespread rape, mutilation, and looting. International Educational
Development/Humanitarian Law Project (IED/HLP) has just completed a
two-month fact-finding mission to the conflict zone, and we present herein
a brief analysis of our findings in relation to Uganda's adherence to
human rights and humanitarian law.
2. The Ugandan Government's counterinsurgency has been brutal, and the
civilian population, primarily of Gulu and Kitgum districts, has found
itself caught between the violence of the LRA on the one side and the
violence of the Ugandan Army, called the Ugandan People's Defense Forces
(UPDF), on the other. The abuses by the UPDF are now coming to light,
despite denials by the Ugandan Government and silence from the
international community. IED/HLP especially acknowledges the statement
made by the Secretary General's Special Representative for Children in
Armed Conflict at the Commission in April 2001 regarding these matters.
3. The UPDF has forcefully displaced the civilian population of the north
several times in the course of the war, the most recent round beginning in
1996. Approximately 350,000 of Gulu district's 400,000 people have been
forced into what the Government calls protected camps, ranging in size
from 1000 to over 50,000 individuals. Although the Government claims that
people came to the camps of their own volition, those interviewed by
IED/HLP unanimously made clear that the UPDF had forced them into the
camps, often by bombing and burning villages and murdering, beating, and
threatening those who would not comply. Moreover, at present the UPDF does
not allow people to return to their homes and regularly kills, tortures,
or threatens those found outside the camps.
4. Security. The camps confront a massive security crisis; the Ugandan
military simply does not protect the interned civilians. When we visited
Pabbo, a camp about 22 miles north of Gulu Town in Gulu district and
containing around 50,000 civilians, only 40-50 reserve troops guarded the
entire camp. The LRA can, and frequently does, attack at will. These
reserve forces, the Home Guard, are poorly trained, undisciplined, and
paid the equivalent of about US$17 per month. Lax recruitment procedures
enable children as young as 12 and 13 to enlist, officials admitted.
5. The UPDF not only fails to protect the civilians, but it terrorizes
them itself. In Pabbo, every reported rape, robbery, and three quarters of
the murders since 1998 were alleged to be committed by UPDF soldiers. We
and other NGOs have documented extensive and systemic extrajudicial
executions, beatings, rapes, and death threats against the camp population
by the Ugandan army; in fact, abuses by both sides are so common that
villagers flee upon encountering any soldier in the bush, whether LRA or
UPDF.
6. UPDF soldiers commit these crimes with impunity. The Uganda Human
Rights Commission (UHRC) has no presence in the camps. Victims' access to
police is difficult, and those making complaints against the UPDF can be
subject to harassment, torture, and execution. When a complaint is made
against a soldier, the UPDF commanding officer must detain the suspect; if
the officer refuses to cooperate, there is no appeal. It is common for
accused soldiers to either flee to other barracks or to be transferred out
of the district to avoid prosecution.
7. The camps make the civilians an easy target for both the LRA and the
UPDF. We were informed by the UHRC that it had notified the President of
the security problems in the camps, but to date nothing has been done to
protect the interned civilians. Considering the Ugandan Government's
extensive military resources, we conclude that the lack of security in the
camps is, for some reason, intentional.
8. Status of Camps under the Ugandan Constitution. The 1995 Ugandan
Constitution guarantees a wide range of rights, including rights to the
freedom of movement throughout Uganda (Article 29), privacy of person and
home (Article 27), and security of property (Article 26). Article 46
states that these rights are subject to derogation only when Parliament is
taking measures that are reasonably justifiable for
