The European Union EU and its member countries have provided humanitarian assistance to communities affected by the LRA, though such support could be dramatically scaled up. France has provided support to the army of the Central African Republic, though not specifically for counter-LRA operations or protection of civilians in the affected areas. These countries can and should be doing more. All do some work on the LRA, though it is not the priority issue for any of the missions.
MONUSCO peacekeepers have conducted joint operations with the Congolese army to help protect civilians but have not been involved in efforts to apprehend LRA leaders since their failed attempt in The mission is planning to deploy two officers to Obo, in eastern CAR. While the UN missions have attempted to respond to LRA threats to civilians, it has rarely been a top priority for any of the missions and resources are often directed elsewhere.
More UN peacekeepers, enhanced resources, and improved coordination between UN missions and with national armed forces are urgently needed in LRA-affected areas if the UN is to improve its impact and play a greater, more effective role in protecting civilians from LRA attack. In late discussions began with the African Union, governments in the region, and other key partners about a more active AU role in coordinating and leading counter-LRA efforts.
Progress has been extremely slow. Two of them have since died: Lukwiya in and Otti in late , killed on orders from Kony. In their counterinsurgency campaigns against the LRA, Ugandan army soldiers committed serious abuses see below , although probably on a lesser scale than those by the LRA. While the ICC prosecutor has indicated that investigations in northern Uganda are ongoing, his office has not brought charges against any members of the Ugandan army. But the ICC prosecutor has not provided a sufficient public explanation about the status of these investigations.
Human Rights Watch has documented serious abuses by the Ugandan armed forces over the course of its year armed conflict with the LRA, including torture , rape, arbitrary detention, unlawful killings, and forced displacement of its citizens into camps with no protection and minimal humanitarian assistance. The Ugandan army was also responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law when its forces occupied eastern Congo and assisted armed groups there between and Ugandan soldiers also shot and killed peaceful protesters and bystanders during anti-government demonstrations in September and April , including in Gulu in northern Uganda.
In the Ugandan government enacted an amnesty for Ugandan citizens, including LRA fighters, involved in an armed rebellion against the state if they renounced their involvement. Since more than 12, people affiliated with the LRA have been granted amnesty, including a number of former high-ranking LRA commanders. Amnesties for war crimes and crimes against humanity violate international law, which rejects immunity from prosecution for the gravest crimes.
In Uganda established an International Crimes Division to try war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other crimes. Although national trials could make an important contribution to securing justice for crimes committed during the conflict in northern Uganda, serious legal obstacles have emerged that call into question whether the division can fulfill its potential as a meaningful forum to ensure accountability.
To date, only one case related to the conflict in northern Uganda has been brought before the International Crimes Division, that of Thomas Kwoyelo , a former LRA member captured in Congo in March who is charged with war crimes.
He remains in prison while an appeal against the Constitutional Court ruling is pending. The Ugandan army has said that soldiers who committed abuses in the course of the LRA conflict have been prosecuted and convicted, though it has been unwilling to provide details of such cases to Human Rights Watch or others. Human Rights Watch is aware of several instances in which soldiers were executed after being found guilty of crimes against civilians during the LRA conflict, following a verdict in a summary field court martial proceeding.
Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances. The use of child soldiers extends far beyond central Africa. The FARC rebels in Colombia, for example, have recruited children as young as seven and forced them into combat. It executes fighters who try to desert. The situation in a few countries is becoming notably worse. In Afghanistan, the Taliban has stepped up its use of children for suicide attacks. In Somalia, the Islamist armed group al-Shabaab has increasingly targeted children for forced recruitment, often abducting children as young as 10 from their homes or schools.
In recent years countries have ratified an international treaty pledging not to conscript or use children below age 18 in armed conflict, but 59 countries have yet to join. In the past five years the UN has negotiated action plans with 17 governments and armed groups in 10 countries to end their use of child soldiers.
Since the mids the number of countries where child soldiers have been used has dropped from approximately 30 to The UN Security Council has imposed sanctions against several individuals for recruiting and using child soldiers and established a special working group on children and armed conflict to pressure perpetrators to end their use of child soldiers.
In the United States adopted a law to prohibit some forms of military assistance to governments that recruit or use child soldiers or support militias that do so. The verdict will hopefully send a strong message to child soldier recruiters everywhere that using children in conflict could result in their prosecution and imprisonment. Another notorious recruiter of children is Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, who is awaiting a verdict from the Special Court for Sierra Leone on charges of recruiting child soldiers and other crimes.
The Special Court has already convicted eight others for recruiting and using child soldiers. However, individual commanders who recruit and use child soldiers are rarely punished by their home countries.
Kony, a minute video about Kony and the LRA, has received unprecedented interest and attention. To date over million people have clicked on it. The video has also sparked a lot of debate. He and other LRA leaders should be arrested and brought to justice. But the massive interest generated by the video could, and should, be harnessed to transform good intentions into concrete and effective action. Human Rights Watch will use its in-depth research on LRA atrocities and advocacy outreach to press policymakers in central Africa and around the world to apprehend those wanted by the ICC, protect civilians from further attacks, and assist in the rehabilitation of affected communities.
Get updates on human rights issues from around the globe. Join our movement today. Kony intended to barter the tusks for food, uniforms, and ammunition. This would be a lifeline for his fighters, who were attacking and often killing civilians to steal their food and clothing.
The journey from Garamba National Park was long and hazardous. On the way north to Kafia Kingi, they carried thirty-eight tusks, some as long as six feet and shoulder-saggingly heavy.
In November, , after more than four months of walking, the group finally made it back to Kafia Kingi, where a proud Binany delivered the load to his mentor. But the L. From interrogating the girls, Kony learned that his three lieutenants had disobeyed his strict constraints regarding sexual intercourse. Kony did not even let them recover; they were all skin and bones. And he killed them for what? Because of these women. His standing changed dramatically in , when Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir agreed to provide Kony with guns and ammunition in exchange for L.
To create his army, Kony ordered the abduction of thousands of young men and women throughout northern Uganda. Groups of L. The youngsters were often forced to kill their family members or friends, as a way to seal their entry into the rebel force and prevent them from ever leaving. By the late nineties, an estimated three thousand people were fighting in the L.
Kony was the supreme commander, exercising complete control over all his groups through a combination of martial discipline, spiritual guidance, and brainwashing.
Although he is often portrayed as messianic or even crazy, Kony has been a shrewd, if extremely predatory, operator, and has proven adaptable and resilient under extremely harsh conditions.
His stay in the middle of bush camps insures that he is the last to be attacked and the first to escape. Similarly, his insistence on not allowing fighters to sleep with young women is an attempt to control the spread of H. Taking on Uganda's LRA rebels. Africa Today podcasts.
Image source, Getty Images. What is he accused of? This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Polline was 12 when she was forced to become a child soldier. Uganda's atrocious war. Where is he from? Image source, AFP. This teenager had her lips, nose and ears cut off by the LRA. What does the LRA want? What that meant in practical terms was never clear. Fleeing Uganda's rebels. Why is he described by some as a 'prophet'?
Mr Kony sees himself as a spirit medium. Many LRA fighters were kidnapped from their families as children. Why has he used violence against his own people? Survivors of Uganda's LRA insurgency. What has happened to the LRA?
What about Kony? The Kony campaign built huge interest in the campaign to find Joseph Kony. Related Topics.
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