Northern youths lament "unimaginable misery"

Insecurity, abductions, displacement and the poor level of education available to them are the key concerns of young people in northern Uganda, whose lives have been shaped by inter-related conflicts there and in neighbouring southern Sudan over the last two decades, according to a report released on Friday by the US-based Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children (WCRWC).

"More than 11,000 children from northern Uganda — with adolescents as the prime targets — have been abducted and forced into soldiering and sexual slavery," said Jane Lowicki, senior coordinator for the Children and Adolescents Project at the WCRWC and author of the report, released in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

"Against All Odds: Surviving the War on Adolescents", was the first-ever report conducted by Ugandan and Sudanese adolescents, who were themselves eyewitnesses, victims and survivors of the 15-year conflict which continued to rage in northern Uganda, she said.

"All adolescents in the region are struggling to survive and support themselves," said Lowicki. "These young people are waiting for protection from abduction, sexual violence and HIV/AIDS. They call for peace and ask for skills training and education."

The report referred specifically to interviews carried out with over 2,000 adolescents and adults between May and July this year on the situation of adolescents in Gulu, Kitgum and Pader districts, but the neighbouring districts of Moyo, Arua, Adjumani, Lira and Apac were facing a similar situation, the WCRWC stated.

"The insecurity of armed conflict, where adolescents are principal targets for murder, abduction, forced recruitment and sexual enslavement", is the top concern of Ugandan and Sudanese young people in northern Uganda, according to the report.

Abduction, murder and insecurity caused by the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) was the principal fear, it said. However, Sudanese youths - there are some 200,000 Sudanese refugees in Uganda - faced both abduction by the LRA and forced recruitment by the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), abetted by the Ugandan government, for the SPLA's war against the Sudanese government, it said.

War, massive displacement, HIV/AIDS, poverty and lack of development has created a world of "unimaginable misery" for youths, who are shouldering enormous responsibility for themselves, their families and the community as a whole, according to the report.

The situation for hundreds of thousands of displaced people in "protected villages" is particularly bad, since they lack "full-scale recognition and attention" from the Ugandan government and are "also without any designated international agency responsible for their care and protection".

The youths surveyed called for the international community - and especially the governments of Uganda and Sudan - to act swiftly to lift their burden, and for all combatants to commit themselves to peace, it said.

With the Sudanese government ending its support for the LRA, tighter Ugandan army control of the border between the two countries and increasing divisions within the LRA, "the pattern of [youth] abduction had changed and, currently, often involved forced labour and shorter-term captivity" - as opposed to forced movement to Sudan for training and indoctrination, it added.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) this week welcomed the "temporary lull in insecurity" in northern Uganda, which, it said, provided an opportunity to consolidate recent political and social gains that might lead to sustained peace.

This could include "a serious commitment towards political accommodation" and heavy investment in marginalised areas "to correct regional disparities, raise standards of living... restore confidence and trust, and to achieve physical security through social security," it said.

"There are windows of opportunity and we need to keep them open," OCHA added.

The research also revealed that young people believed northern Uganda was facing an education crisis, "requiring an emergency response to get young people back to school and save their communities from further ruin".

Insecurity prevents people from attending school, teachers have been killed, pupils abducted from classrooms and school buildings destroyed. Adults also reported that, with limited resources, they often had to choose between eating and formal learning, the report said.

Society in northern Uganda is traditionally agricultural, and young people said their communities were suffering economically, because fear of attacks meant that people could no longer work their land freely. With so many people displaced, few could be self-sufficient, and there was an increasing, and untenable, dependence on humanitarian assistance, they added.

Adolescents are also exposed to terrible health risks, danger of sexual violence, psychological trauma and despair, according to Friday's report. The breakdown of traditional society had given rise to increased domestic violence, child abuse and sexual- and gender-based violence, it said.

Ugandan girls, particularly in displacement camps, said they were being raped, sexually assaulted, exploited and led into prostitution, principally by Ugandan army soldiers, but also by other adult males and by adolescent boys, it added.

The research showed that adolescents were crying out for peace in northern Uganda and southern Sudan to allow them transform their lives, according to Friday's report.

This would require, it said: donor support for targeted assistance to address the dire situation affecting adolescents; Ugandan government action to deliver protection and care for marginalised populations in the north; participation of youths in NGO and government programmes; concrete investment in economic development in the north; and, the strong and steadfast political will of the governments of Uganda and Sudan.

The adolescents recommended political and peace talks between warring factions, accompanied by a cease-fire. This should be followed by a rehabilitation programme to address social and economic differences in society, emphasising access to food, health, education and security, they said.

They also expressed the need to build "a culture of tolerance and reconciliation among the Acholi people" and all Ugandans through both civic education, and community and government action to support the amnesty process for rebels giving up their arms.

Friday's report and recommendations are intended to be used for advocacy purposes, to campaign on policy and programme issues in Uganda, and to contribute to international efforts to improve services and protection for refugee and displaced adolescents affected by armed conflict and persecution.

"Any hope for adolescents in northern Uganda depends on increased security, decongestion of displaced persons' camps and the creation of lasting peace," it stated.