I have been known to shed my share of tears over stories of human suffering, to ache for the voiceless victims whose eyes stare out at me from the pages of human interest stories. The story of the forgotten women and girl-children of Northern Uganda is therefore one that is close to my heart.
As an East African, an activist, and a woman, I am connected with these victims of Uganda’s nearly 20-year-old conflict. However, as an East African, an activist, and a woman, the crisis of the women and girl-children of Northern Uganda is one that I have only recently come to know and understand more fully. In the safety of my native Tanzania, the cries of these women and children go unheard; there has been no sounding of the alarm, no outrage that would spur action. As an activist and as a woman, we are often familiar with Rwanda, Sudan, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, but are rarely called to arms for the women and girl-children of Uganda. The situation in Northern Uganda has been called the “world’s biggest hostage situation.” The safety and security of women and girls in Northern Uganda has surpassed critical. The abductions and rapes of women and girls by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the random acts of sexual assault against women and girls in camps for the internally displaced (IDP camps) by the Uganda Peoples Defense Force (UDPF), government forces, LRA fighters, and community members have gone largely unnoticed and ignored. The support networks that are in place are underfunded and understaffed, and the lack of international attention has left the women and girl-children of Northern Uganda in a virtual nightmare for the past 20 years.
History of the Conflict
Uganda’s independence in 1962 ushered in 24 years of oppressive rule by two of Africa’s most notorious dictators, Milton Obote and Idi Amin. In a last ditch effort by Milton Obote to hold on to his second regime and stave off a coup, the army, made up of mostly Acholi soldiers from northern Uganda, massacred an estimated 100,000 to 300,000 people in an area known as Luwero Triangle, just north of the capital Kampala . The victims were members of the dominant Buganda ethnic group, and the area had been a base of support for the rebel group the National Resistance Movement (NRM) and its leader, Uganda’s current president, Yoweri Museveni. So when violence erupted in 1986 in northern Uganda, many in the rest of Uganda took little sympathy on the Acholi people. This included the current regime of President Museveni, whose army is accused of retribution attacks on Acholi once the NRM took power.
The sense of apathy on the part of Ugandans gave the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) the perfect opportunity to wage a campaign of terror on their own people. The LRA is made of Acholi fighters and child soldiers, and their leader, Joseph Kony, lacks any coherent ideology or objective. Kony has only expressed that he seeks to overthrow the current regime and redress the grievances of the Acholi people. The irony is that Kony and the LRA turned on the Acholi people because of their lack of support for the LRA’s campaign against the government, while the government, and several Ugandan citizens, have turned their back on the Acholi people because of their perceived support of the LRA and the atrocities committed at Luwero.
In the midst of all this are the victims of northern Uganda, the more than 1 million women and children who are terrorized daily in a conflict that the world has ignored for the past two decades.
Abductees
Since the LRA began its reign of terror in 1987, abductions have been a favorite method of gaining new soldiers and securing labor. The current numbers of the LRA forces range from 3,000 to 4,000, with between 70-80% being children. In looking at the overall impact of the conflict, reports estimate that over 20,000 children have been abducted since the conflict began. 12% of those who were abducted are said to be female, putting the total number of girls abducted at an estimated 2,400. Young girls, though making up a minority of the abductions, have always been the most vulnerable among the LRA captives. Young girls not only provide labor and serve as soldiers; they are usually the victims of rape and sexual assault and are often assigned to LRA soldiers as “wives.” These young girls are exposed to a number of STDs, including HIV. Their stories, along with the women and girls in the IDP camps, directly contribute to Uganda’s increasing number of HIV/AIDS infections. In continuations of the cycle of violence, these young girls often give birth to children who are born in the bush. It is reported that more than 800 children have been born to LRA “wives.” These children grow up to be soldiers and perpetrators themselves. The young girls also become participants in the conflict by participating in the capture and beatings of new female recruits. Like the male captives, female captives are often beaten and brutally worked, often to the point of death.
While many LRA captives have escaped, the welfare of these former captives is precarious at best. Often faced with stigmas their communities place on them, attempts to re-join their communities are wrought with problems. For example, although former female captives are reportedly treated better than former male captives, those women returning from the bush with children are likely to face rejection. These women have difficulty adjusting to civilian lifestyle, and the stigma of HIV often hinders their chances of marriage or reuniting with husbands. One World Vision rehabilitation center reported that in between 2002 and 2003, 50% of the girls being helped had STDs . The longer their stay with the LRA, however, the higher the rates of infection.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
Women and girls are among the most vulnerable group in any conflict. In the case of Northern Uganda, not only do they face the threat of capture by the LRA, they also face assault and rape in the IDP camps, on the road, in the fields, and in the “safe spaces” night commuters travel to in order to avoid abduction. There have been several reports of sexual assault and gang rapes at the hands of UPDF soldiers and other government forces. The fact that the perpetrators have been government forces has meant the victims’ attackers have not only evaded arrest, but they often come into contact with their victims on a regular basis. With an estimated 1.6 million displaced persons in Northern Uganda, there are about 77 IDP camps in the region. Each of these overcrowded IDP camps houses thousands of IDPs but is only guarded by a handful of soldiers. In this type of environment, violence, especially rape and sexual assault are common. In September 2004, the Gulu District Sub Working Group on Sexual and Gender – Based Violence, in partnership with UNICEF, conducted research in Gulu’s most populated IDP camp, Pabbo, which houses approximately 63,000 people and only six soldiers. The results of their study were alarming. They found sexual assault and rape rampant in the camp. Cases were documented from women and girls between the ages of 4 and 36. Of the participants questioned, the study found that six out of ten had been victims of sexual assault. Attackers were identified as husbands, friends, teachers, community leaders, and soldiers. Sexual assaults also occurred when women and girls ventured outside of Pabbo, as they risked attacks by the LRA and government forces, who often demand “sex in exchange for security.”
The impact of the conflict in Northern Uganda has not been lost on the humanitarian community, which is fighting an uphill battle to raise awareness to the plight of women and children in Uganda. Amnesty International is central to that struggle. Through work with Amnesty International, a symposium was held on the impact of the conflict in Northern Uganda in October 2005. Included in this symposium was a film screening and discussion of the film “Soldier Child,” which deals with the use of child soldiers in Northern Uganda. Amnesty also participated in the Gulu Walk, a march that took place on October 22 in various cities around the world in support of the night commuters in Northern Uganda. Amnesty International has also produced actions directed at arms trafficking in the Great Lakes region (which include Uganda) and has a current action directed at the persecution of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) groups and persons in Uganda. In addition, Amnesty International is in the process of producing actions on advocating the use of condoms in preventing HIV/AIDS in Uganda, and action surrounding the upcoming Universal Children’s Day, as well as an action on the violence against women and girls in Northern Uganda.
Amnesty International’s Web site on Uganda has updates on current events in Uganda as well as Amnesty International’s latest actions in the country: http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/uganda/index.do.
There is also Amnesty International’s Online Action network, which allows members to stay up to date with Amnesty International’s current actions: http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/join. Please join Amnesty International in making change a reality in Uganda.