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Free the Abducted Children Before Christmas

posted: November 16, 2000

New York, NY

Up to 6,000 children abducted from Northern Uganda remain prisoners inside Sudan, despite firm promises for their release made two months ago by the governments of Sudan, Uganda, Egypt and Canada, three major humanitarian agencies reported today. The Friends of War-Affected Children from Northern Uganda* will call on the United Nations to start an immediate investigation into this appalling violation of child rights. The group will also ask the UN Security Council to put pressure on Sudan and Uganda to end the conflict and abductions in Northern Uganda.

Over 12,000 children have been abducted from Northern Uganda over the last 15 years to serve as child soldiers and slaves in the Lord's Resistance Army, a militia force supported by and based in Sudan. Up to 6,000 children still remain trapped in southern Sudan; they are deprived of their basic rights to security, family, health care and education, and are used to help the army of the Government of Sudan fight against the SPLA, a rebel Sudanese group.

A pattern of delays has sabotaged progress and destroyed the hopes raised at the recent International Conference for War-affected Children, hosted by the government of Canada. The governments of Sudan and Uganda made commitments to ensure the release and return of the abducted children and facilitate the return and resettlement of LRA members, including the abducted children. A meeting to implement the Sudan-Uganda agreement was to be held on October 30 in Khartoum. It was cancelled. A meeting called for October 20 to implement Egyptian monitoring at the border was cancelled. A long-promised meeting between Acholi elders from Northern Uganda and Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, was cancelled. So far only 16 Ugandan youth have been returned, and these are escapees from the streets of Khartoum, not from the actual LRA camps. Two of the three months covered in the agreement have passed, and nothing of substance has happened.

Over the last three years, the children and communities of Northern Uganda have witnessed time and again the same pattern of deceit: agreements are made under pressure to improve the public image of government leaders; a few children are released with great fanfare as a token gesture; and then the agreement is sabotaged. Meanwhile new abductions continue, and young people continue to experience extreme brutality themselves and are forced to commit the most horrendous acts of violence.

The United Nations can no longer turn a blind eye to what is happening. Last summer the Security Council passed a second resolution on children and armed conflict, resolution 1314, which called for the immediate release of children abducted to serve military purposes. Moreover, at the International Conference on War-affected Children, 138 countries adopted an Agenda for Action that includes the release of abducted children as one of 14 key points.

Words will not release the LRA children. Political action is needed. The Friends of the War-affected Children from Northern Uganda call for the following steps to be taken:

  1. Immediate investigation by the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, in keeping with Resolution 2000-60, including the LRA camps in Sudan as one of the affected areas to be investigated.

  1. Specific and sustained action by Olara Otunnu, the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, to follow up on the commitments he made at the International Conference on War-Affected Children in Winnipeg to help these children.

  2. Members of the Security Council demonstrate their commitment to Resolution 1314 by taking specific steps to put pressure on both Sudan and Uganda to end the abductions, release those still in captivity, and restore security to Northern Uganda.

*The Friends of the War-affected Children from Northern Uganda is being launched by The International Rescue Committee, World Vision Canada, and the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children. Other organizations will be invited to join in on-going advocacy initiatives until the children are released.