Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict |
KAMPALA, 13 Jun 2006 (IRIN) - Radhika Coomaraswamy is the
special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Children and
Armed Conflict. During her mission to Uganda from 3-10 June, Coomaraswamy
visited the north to assess the situation of children affected by the 20-year
conflict between the government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The
following excerpts are from an interview with IRIN on 10 June, at the end of her
visit.
QUESTION: How would you describe the situation in northern
Uganda?
ANSWER: Having spent a lot of time in Gulu and Pader
districts, I saw for myself some of the issues that relate primarily to the
armed conflict. I came with a much-focused mandate to look at children in the
context of armed conflict; I did not come to look at the general humanitarian
situation in the north. I talked to some of the children who were abducted, as
well as those living in the camps. They raised clearly the LRA abuses and
atrocities that could stand out in one's mind when you are talking with them.
Children have quite horrific tales they have to tell.
Secondly, I came
because of Security Council Resolution 1612, which set up a monitoring and
reporting mechanism to monitor grave violations against children during armed
conflict. The resolution also has an annex that lists parties that especially
recruit child soldiers and commit other grave violations. The resolution lists
both the Lord's Resistance Army and the government of Uganda especially with
regard to child recruitment. So I came to see for myself the situation on the
ground, see what can be done.
My findings to some extent are, firstly,
that there is no doubt that the LRA recruitment and use of children as well as
other abuses is perhaps the worst possible violation with regard to children in
armed conflict in northern Uganda. We as an office condemn these violations, and
we support the ICC [International Criminal Court] in dealing with these
issues.
With regard to the government of Uganda, we found that there is
no policy or programme that specifically deals with child recruitment. The
government of Uganda assured us that no such policy exists, and we did not find
any policy on the ground. However, we found that in Gulu and Pader, children are
being absorbed into the LDU [local defence units, government-allied militia
groups] especially, as well as the UPDF [Uganda People's Defence Forces, the
national army]. This is due to a number of factors, but there is a reality of
children being in the LDU and the UPDF. We have now negotiated with the
government of Uganda. I have just met with the president today, and we have
agreed on some principles to deal with the specific issue relating to child
combatants or child soldiers who may be in the LDU and the UPDF.
In
addition, we found there was a particular situation with vulnerable girls in
northern Uganda relating to sexual exploitation and violence. For that general
problem, we did speak to the government about reports from many young girls that
there is a situation of sexual exploitation on the part of military personnel.
We have had a discussion with government about sexual exploitation that takes
place and the need to get enforceable guidelines and training of military
personnel to prevent this exploitation of girls.
We discussed with local
government officials the issues of reintegration, child-headed households, the
humanitarian situation on the ground and the children's schooling and other
issues. But I came with a very specific task of getting this action plan and
getting a monitoring and reporting mechanism off the ground here, linked to that
action plan to some extent. In that sense we have been successful.
Q: What do you and the government think would remedy child
recruitment and abuse?
A: We agreed on four principles: The
government and Unicef [the UN Children's Fund] will work out an action plan for
the prevention, removal and integration of any child soldiers found in LDU or
UPDF; we have agreed that the government of Uganda will strengthen measures with
regard to taking disciplinary action against armed forces personnel who
knowingly recruit children in the LDU or UPDF; we have made arrangements to
strengthen existing procedures for access of designated personnel from Unicef,
from the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Uganda
Human Rights Commission to go to military installations for the purpose of
verifying whether there are children in the armed forces; and the government is
seriously considering enacting criminal legislation to prevent and to punish
those who abet the mobilisation of children into the armed forces.
Q: Based on your discussions with children in the north, how
serious is the problem of sexual violence?
A: There is sexual
violence, but I think there is even more sexual exploitation. What happens is
that people who have power then use that power to extract sexual favours,
promising a certain benefit. A lot of young girls are taken up by benefits
offered by military personnel and also officials, and they become pregnant at a
young age.
We have discussed with the government the need to strengthen
the disciplinary procedures, to devise enforceable guidelines and to train the
military personnel to deal with this problem on the ground. I must say there
were responses, and we hope they will take the necessary action. Unicef and
other agencies will follow up on this because we feel that sexual exploitation
and violence are important issues that came up when we talked to women in the
camps.
We also looked into problems relating to child-headed households
and special needs that children can face. It was also our concern about the
security situation and the need to make sure that the indicators from the camps,
especially with regard to children, are moved beyond the emergency levels so
that things like malnutrition, healthcare, education of children in the camps
are dealt with.
Q: What did the women and children tell you was
their preference with regard to peace?
A: Security is the issue
for most people, but at the same time they want justice. They get very angry
when people who have been terrorising them don't get tried. They support the
ICC. They have seen some [LRA] commanders who have come out and been treated
very well, and this angers many of them. There is that tension, and I think the
politicians need to understand that and deal with both those issues.
There are also some grievances about investment, employment and
education. Those issues should be part of the political package. If you want to
solve that problem in the long term, unless you have those employment figures
up, you get those education figures up, health figures up, there will always be
grievances and unhappiness.
Q: You have talked about the ICC, but
bearing in mind that more than 80 percent of the LRA are abducted children, how
do you balance what northern Uganda's traditional justice system provides and
what the ICC wants to achieve?
A: Sierra Leone is the formula for
that, which is that only those who have the greatest responsibility should be
tried by the ICC and the rest are tried in local truth and reconciliation
processes. They could have the traditional process, or they could want to
institute something like the South African truth and reconciliation commission.
But I think that those who bear the greatest responsibility have to be
prosecuted.
In northern Uganda, we also discussed issues relating to the
need to strengthen civilian processes, especially the judiciary and the police,
to make sure that crimes or violence against children are properly prosecuted in
the courts of law. We found that the justice system was not fully operational.
Q: What areas do you think require investment in this
respect?
A: We have to give those young people some alternatives
to joining the army or being sexually exploited. There must be investments so
they can have employment and other opportunities to move on.
On one hand
I want to say that Uganda has agreed today to some extent to take children out
of their armed forces. But also steps must be taken to improve the humanitarian
situation in northern Uganda to make sure that children can get back to their
normal life.
I had lively discussions with regard to the integration of
children into the community. This is the debate that will be taken at various
levels. We need to ensure that on one hand they [children] are not stigmatised
by being put together, but at the same time there are measures being taken to
deal with their vulnerability and special needs.
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