Information based on the 2011 report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council (A/65/820-S/2011/250) published 23 April 2011. More detailed information can be found in the report.
In line with the Action Plan on Children Associated with Armed Forces that the Government of Uganda and the United Nations signed in 2007, the Special Monitoring and Reporting Team has continued its visits to Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPD) installations to ensure that its recruitment measures are implemented and that the cessation of the recruitment and use of children is respected And in fact, in 2010, neither the FDPO nor the local defense units recruited or used children.
Outside of Uganda, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) continued to commit violations against children in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. Despite repeated calls from the international community for the LRA to unconditionally release the children in its ranks, no progress has yet been made in this direction.
In the Central African Republic, in the south-east and particularly in the prefectures of Mbomou and Haut-Mbomou as well as in parts of the prefecture of Haute-Kotto, 138 Central African children were kidnapped by the LRA. In 2010, 12 children, including 4 girls (one with a child born in captivity), escaped from the LRA were repatriated to Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda and returned to their families with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Multiple LRA attacks against the civilian population, which left children dead and injured, were documented during the period under review.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, 49 children were reported to have been kidnapped, recruited and used by the LRA in 2010. In addition, 233 child abductions it had committed before 2010 were proven as areas of Orientale province were become accessible again. The number of children escaped from the LRA (282 – 146 boys and 136 girls – including 1 from Central Africa and 2 from Sudan) increased compared to 2008 and 2009 thanks in particular to the tightening of military operations carried out against the LRA. In 2010, only 47 children separated from the LRA said they had served as fighters and 244 said they had been forced into forced labor, while in 2009 the majority of abducted children were reported to have served as fighters. Finally, 96 children said they had been victims of sexual exploitation.
In the Western Equatoria state of South Sudan, 27 children, including 21 girls, were abducted by the LRA in 2010. Two Sudanese girls fled LRA captivity with babies. LRA attacks were reported to have killed two children and injured one. Nine girls were raped or sexually abused while in captivity. In all, 24 children, including 2 young Congolese, were rescued by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and the UPDF during military operations in 2010.
Concerning the protection of children, several concerns relating to the military offensives of the UPDF against the LRA in neighboring countries (see A/64/742-S/2010/181), in particular regarding the repatriation to Uganda of Ugandan women and children rescued or escaped from the LRA, were raised by the UN before the Ugandan Government. These concerns were reiterated during her May 2010 visit to Uganda by my Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict in her meeting with the Chief of the Uganda Defense Forces, General Aronda Nyakayrima. It was thus agreed that the UN would draw up a draft of standing instructions for the reception and care of vulnerable women and children separated from the LRA in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and the Central African Republic. This text was presented to the FDPO in September but had not been approved when this report was written. In 2010, the majority (77%) of children and young mothers formerly associated with the LRA were repatriated to Uganda, through the Directorate of Military Intelligence or UPDF child protection units, rather than immediately entrusted to child protection officers. According to the testimonies given by two children, there are some who spent more than two months with the FDPO or the Directorate of Military Intelligence before being entrusted to child protection organizations. According to the testimonies given by two children, there are some who spent more than two months with the FDPO or the Directorate of Military Intelligence before being entrusted to child protection organizations.
In South Sudan, repatriation and reintegration activities for children kidnapped by the LRA are carried out by the social development ministries of each state: return to the community of origin in neighboring states or countries, interim care, counseling for trauma victims, tracing of families and reunification with them. However, the scope of these activities and the UN’s means to assist ministries remain limited due to lack of funds. It is therefore urgent to expand institutional and human resources to enable these children to benefit from psychosocial reintegration programs.
Parties to the conflict in Uganda
