Home Programs Five-Country Focus Northern Uganda: Displaced by Two Decades of War

Background

In 1986, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group claiming to represent the ethnic Acholi minority from northern Uganda, formed. Its goal was to overthrow the government and rule the country along the lines of the Biblical Ten Commandments. The resulting conflict between the LRA and the national army, the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF), lasted for more than 20 years and led to the displacement of more than 1.5 million people, approximately 90 percent of the Acholi population. Their displacement was provoked by the violence inflicted on them by both the LRA and government operations, notably the relocation of the civilian population to “protection camps” under UPDF control.

The LRA persistently targeted civilians in northern Uganda subjecting them to indiscriminate killings and abuse, including the abduction of more than 20,000 children to serve in the rebel forces as soldiers, sex slaves and porters. Soldiers of the UPDF deployed to the internally displaced persons’ (IDP) camps have also committed abuses, including rape and killing, and have largely been given impunity.

Since a 2006 ceasefire, the situation has become relatively stable and hundreds of thousands of people have returned home or moved to “decongestion camps.” However, thousands are still living in internally displaced persons’ camps. The Women's Refugee Commission was told in May 2009 that the situation is more dire for returnees than it is for IDPs in camps since the camps have easier access to services than dispersed rural communities.

The leader of the LRA has refused to sign the Final Peace Agreement; sustainable peace is not yet certain.

The Women's Refugee Commission in Northern Uganda

Our work in northern Uganda has focused on reproductive health, education, young people and livelihoods. Some highlights include:

• In 2009, our reproductive health team conducted a site visit to the north to follow-up on recommendations from its 2007 reproductive health assessment and additional recommendations from the 2008 follow-up.
• With Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), the Women's Refugee Commission  undertook a vocational training assessment and produced a Market Assessment Toolkit, both focusing on the livelihoods needs of youth, in 2008.
• In 2008, our reproductive health team followed up with recommendations from its 2007 reproductive health assessment.
• We contributed to the Machel +10 follow-up youth report ("Will you listen?": Young Voices from Conflict Zones) in 2007.
• Our reproductive health team conducted an on-the-ground assessment in 2007.
• We published a report on “night commuters,” children and adolescents who left their camps and villages to sleep in towns, where they would be safer, in 2005.
• We conducted an education assessment for displaced children and adolescents in 2005.
• As part of our Global Survey on Education in Emergencies, we conducted a case study in 2004.
• With American Jewish World Services we conducted a capacity-building project with four local youth groups. 2002 - 2004.
• We conducted an adolescent participatory research study in 2001, working with adolescent researchers to learn about the primary needs of and suggested solutions proposed by displaced and refugee youth in Northern Uganda.
• One member of our Youth Advisory Group is from Uganda.

Future Plans

• Uganda-based NGO staff will participate in the East Africa Regional Livelihoods Workshop in Nairobi
• Field testing of Market Assessment Toolkit for Youth with Norwegian Refugee Committee and other partners in Northern Uganda
• Subgrant livelihoods pilot project American Refugee Committee
• Subgrant livelihoods pilot project International Rescue Committee
• Livelihoods country-level workshop and ongoing mentoring
• Future youth assessment
• Possible site of Task Force SAFE feasibility study—alternatives to firewood for cooking (in conjunction with World Food Program)

How You Can Take Action

One of our priorities is to advocate for the needs of people displaced within their own country, often for many years. Help raise awareness and resources for internally displaced women, children and young people in northern Uganda and elsewhere.

Reports

• Youth and Sustainable Livelihoods: Linking Vocational Training Programs to Market Opportunities in Northern Uganda (2008)
• Market Assessment Toolkit for Vocational Training Providers and Youth: Linking Vocational Training Programs to Market Opportunities (2008)
• "We Want Birth Control": Reproductive Health Findings in Northern Uganda (2007)
• “We Want Birth Control”: Reproductive Health Findings in Northern Uganda Report to contributors in Luo
• Listening to Youth: The Experiences of Young People in Northern Uganda (2007)
• Listening to Youth: The Experiences of Young People in Northern Uganda Report to contributors in English (2007)
• Listening to Youth: The Experiences of Young People in Northern Uganda Report to contributors in Luo (2007)
• "Will you listen?": Young Voices from Conflict Zones (Machel + 10 report) (2007)
• Learning in a War Zone: Education in Northern Uganda (2005)
• Resilience in the Darkness: An Update on Child and Adolescent Night Commuters in Northern Uganda (2005)
• Global Survey on Education (2004)
• Against All Odds: Surviving the War on Adolescents (participatory research study) (2001)
• "Our Children Are Missing": Uganda Delegation Report (1999)

Photo Essay

Browse our photo essay on reproductive health in northern Uganda.

Selected Media Coverage

• Whole generations may miss out on the chance for education. Letter to the Financial Times (January 2008)
• Uganda’s Children. Letter to the Philadelphia Inquirer (October 2007)
• Making Childbirth Safe, Everywhere. Letter to the New York Times (March 2007)
• Young Victims of Uganda Conflict. Letter to The Times (of London) (July 2003)

Last updated June 2009

See our other Focus on Five countries:

Liberia

Jordan

South Sudan

Thai- Burma border