R. Harvey, Human Rights Child Soldiers: The Beginning or the end (Childright, V ol 164, 2000) 50 Ibid p 1851 din 1919 [617173]

Introduction and historical background Throughout history, child soldiers were used in armed conflicts all over the world, problem that is still present nowadays. During the history of the African territory, violent conflicts have become a distinctive sign. Starting with the genocide in Rwanda, civil wars from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Congo, dictated the tumultuous faith of the continent. Both insurgent groups and the Government make use of child soldiers for fighting their constant conflicts. Today it is estimated that over 300 000 Child Soldiers exist in the world and are used as 1instruments of war in over 20 countries. Small boys are trained and used in armed conflicts throughout the African territory and young girls are forced into arranged marriages or are sexually exploited, feeding the needs of the Islamic State, Yemeni forces of opposition and Somaly rebels. The definition of a child soldier is defined as a person under the age of eighteen years old who is attached to a state’s armed group. The African continent is considered to be the epicenter of this global problem, as almost every state armed groups make use of those innocent children. A number of surveys conducted in the African states show that approx. 40% of all children from those states have served as soldiers in armed conflicts. Estimates shows that over 120 000 child soldiers between the ages of only seven up to 17 years old are spread on the entire continent, and it is believed that over 2 million children have been killed only in the last decade. The existence of child soldiers was reported in Rwanda, South Sudan, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Angola, Mozambique, Somalia, Algeria, Nigeria and Niger. The problem emerged on the African territory in the 1980s, when the decolonization process began as European empires finally withdrew and let the former colonies become independent nations. Independence brought a series of problems, which quickly turned into tribal violence, civil wars and ethnic genocide. Both the USSR and the USA tried to establish communist and capitalist control on the newly independent states. Wars based on ethnic rivalries and influential states fighting for power brought extraordinarily violent battles leading the rebel groups towards realizing the fact that young children were less capable of questioning the means of the war and could be easily manipulated and trained in losing any kind of empathy for their opponents. Child Soldiers in Africa, retrieved on June 18, 2019 from https://www.peacedirect.org/child_soldiers 1! din !119

Child soldiers become the perfect type of warriors, becoming a limitless source of recruitment and were soon to be the center of civil wars. CHAPTER I Child Soldiers in Africa I.1. Recruitment of child soldiers and Impact on Society Children are influenced on joining wars by numerous reasons such as indoctrination, ideology, religion, desire for revenge and vulnerability. 2The most common method of recruiting children is through abduction, an involuntary method of recruitment out of their own free will. Armed groups targeted children from poor backgrounds between the ages of 14 and 18. Children were often been taken away for military trainings and in most cases they were tortured and furthermore indoctrinated intro armed groups through fear. LRA often makes use of other children for abducting new ones and for terrorizing villages. Alcohol and drugs are utilized for the creation of efficient and effective soldiers. The drugs are effective as they would contribute in achieving a state of high confidence and is making them ready to pick up their weapons and kill. 3In other cases, children were forced into killing and even mutilating their own parents or relatives by cutting of their ears, hands or private parts. The sentiment of guilt traumatizes the children, making it impossible for them to return home in the future. Indoctrinated children were being forced into listening war songs for making them believe they are strong and intelligent commandos, being often required to learn and repeat the war songs for inspiring them. The LRA uses tactics of isolation, intimidation and beating for forcing children to obey their commands. Ilene Cohn, Child Soldiers: The Role of Children in Armed Conflicts, Oxford University Press, 2003, p. 238-43 Myriam Denov, Child Soldiers, Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front, Cambridge University Press, p.3100! din !219

Another form of recruitment is by voluntary acceptance. Children often seek to join the armed groups as it is the only chance for escaping poverty and home abuse. Little girls are trying to escape from arranged and forced marriages, constant rapes and choose the armed groups. Wessel argues that this type of recruitment shouldn’t be considered voluntary just because the kids are joining the groups out of their free will. These Children have been cheated into believing that armed groups will assure them comfort, only to discover later that it is the exact same opposite, having no other option. “Many children decide to join armed groups without explicit coercion, although their decisions cannot be regarded as voluntary because they are nearly always bounded by desperation and survival need.” 4An example of voluntary recruitment can be seen in Uganda, where young boys joined the LRA after their families and homes have been destroyed. Few children found the courage to return in their villages and families after they harmed them, and the ones who did so were stigmatized as rebels and the girls who had been raped and got pregnant were harassed or “regarded as if they were damaged goods.” 5The consequences of child soldiering on society and children is unimaginable. A special report from 1995 entitles “Boy Soldiers” stated that even if the children would survive such terrors and combats, it is too late to salvage their lives and mental state. They often become sociopaths, involving easily in violent acts according to Dodge, who states that the trauma suffered by them in childhood might affect the individual, and therefore the societies in which they live too. Educational consequences are often encountered as the battles led to the destruction of educational institutions. In times of conflict, it is almost impossible for the kids to develop interests in education. As a result of their limited education, children who were able to free themselves and find the will to return in schools are often placed in classes with younger children struggling to keep up even with them.
Micahel Wessels, Child Soldiers, Peace Education, and Post Conflict Reconstruction for Peace, vol. 44, 42005, pp 363-369 Newsweek Magazine, August 12, 2013, p.235! din !319

I.2. Role of girls in armed conflicts A large number of conflicts in Africa involved small aged girls both in the roles of combatants, slaves and service providers. Same as in the case of boys, they have joined the armed forces by abduction or voluntarily for gaining security after facing domestic violence. The girls are coming from poor or dysfunctional families with abusive parents, reports showing cases of molestation coming from their own father. They believed by the innocence of their age that joining armed groups would bring them benefits and protection, thinking that the soldiers were inviolable and untouchable. In the most cases, the girls that have joined those type of groups involuntarily have been taken as sex slaves which is used in wars as a “form of aggression through sexual act and not an act of sex through aggression. Rebels get satisfaction from dominating girls.” 6Sexual violence is only a small part of the horrendous experiences small girls face in wars as Wessells argues. They are forced to carry similar duties as boys, undergoing cruel trainings and harsh treatment. In Uganda, the LRA doesn’t want to take care of the pregnant girls, utilizing cruel methods for stopping the unwanted pregnancies as stomach pounding. “They see the pregnancy as slowing them down and another moth to feed.” 7They also perform a large number of duties such as cooking, spying, and carry the role of wives for the soldiers, being forced to work and fight. Ironically, they become victims and perpetrators, both at the same time. As in the case of boys, girls face difficulties in trying to return back home, because they are not wanted anymore after they faced constant rapes and therefore become impure. Even if they find the strength to return at home, they often turn to prostitution after the societies turn their backs, being unwilling to offer support.
Alicinda Honwana, Child Soldiers in Africa, University of Pennsylvania, 1997, p. 886 Michael Wessels, Child Soldiers: From Violence to Protection, Harvard University Press, 2006 p. 1007! din !419

I.3. Violence against children: child abuse, female genital mutilation, trafficking Violence against children is known internationally as a serious public health, human rights, and child protection concern. Article 19 of The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) obligates states parties to undertake all necessary measures to protect the child against all forms of violence, exploitation and abuse, including sexual abuse and sexual exploitation. Available information, however, including the United Nations Secretary-General’s (UNSG) World Report on Violence against Children, indicates that children continue to be exposed to high levels of violence like physical, emotional and sexual maltreatment over the world.8Violence remains a tough reality for thousands of children in Uganda. Children are being exposed many forms of violence, often permissible and buttressed by cultural beliefs and practices. Violence against children occurs on a large scale. Available evidence shows that children are routinely exposed to physical, sexual and emotional violence in their homes, schools, care and justice institutions, communities and place where children work. Physical abuse reflected in caning, 9slapping, kicking, pinching and burning exist both in schools and homes all over the country. For example, a 2005 study by Raising V oices and Save the Children found that 98% of the children in five different districts had experienced physical or emotional violence. About 60.4% of in-school children reported routinely being beaten and humiliated for reasons such as coming late or making noise in class, or to elicit required behavioural modification and expectations from the child. Within homes, children are physically punished for many reasons including disobedience, lying, answering back, stealing and fighting, and for failure to do domestic chores or poor performance in school. 10Sexual violence is also a big problem. According to the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey, almost one in four women aged 15 to 49 reported that their first sexual intercourse was forced 11against their will, and more than half of these first suffered sexual violence below the age of 18. The 2011 National Report on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence also indicates that between one-third and two-thirds of known sexual assault victims are of age 15 or younger.Another violation of human right is the practice of female genital mutilation, which reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women. The practice violates a person’s rights to health, security and physical integrity, the right to Walakira E.J, and Ddumba I. N (2012). Violence against Children in Uganda: A Decade of Research and Practice, 82002—2012. Kampala: Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development and UNICEF. Raising voices (2011), Preventing Violence against Women and Children, Annual Report 2011. 9 Ssennono, V . (2007) A Report on Child Labour in General Agriculture in Uganda. Kampala: International Labour 10Office/International Programme for Elimination of Child Labour. Raising voices (2011), Preventing Violence against Women and Children, Annual Report 2011. 11! din !519

be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the right to life when the procedure results in death. 12According to the World Health Organization, female genital mutilation is defined as “all procedures, which involve partial or total removal of the external genitalia and/or injury to the female genital organs whether for cultural or any non-therapeutic reasons.” Girls between 10 and 18 years old are expected to do this form of genital excision, according to tradition or culture, as an important step to adulthood. The practice is done in order to promote virginity and reduce marital infidelity due to the female’s reduced sexual desire as a result of the removal of the clitoris and in some cases other parts of the genital organ. However, the practice has several health complications. As a result of the procedure, complications can arise and can cause severe pain, shock, bleeding, infection and injury as well as long-term consequences such as infertility, infections, childbirth complications or death. 13In order to stop this practice, the government passed the FGM Act, 2010. The Act prohibits FGM practices and provides for protection of females who refuse to undergo FGM. For example, Section 3 of the Act creates an offence of Aggravated FGM whose punishment is life imprisonment. However, the effectiveness of legal prohibition is hampered by poor enforcement and the low levels of awareness of this legislation. Furthermore, child trafficking is also a serious problem in Uganda. Article 3(a) of the ‘Palermo Protocol’ (2000) defines trafficking as: ” the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” 14The country is both a source and destination for children trafficked. Internal trafficking is more common, and is characterized by the trafficking of children, especially girls, from poor rural areas to major cities. Trafficked children are recruited to serve as child soldiers, street beggars, bar and restaurant attendants, commercial sex workers, nude dancer or strippers and vendors, with no access to education, no freedom of movement and working long hours in poor conditions without being paid. There are also increasing incidences of child trafficking for ritual practices, including murder, which is framed as child sacrifice. Violence not only leads to the obvious signs of physical harm when children are victims, but often has implications for children’s psychological, emotional and social development, whether the children are direct victims, observers of violence or its aftermath, or have family or friends who are World Health Organization (WHO). Female Genital Mutilation: A Handbook for Frontline Workers. Geneva: WHO; 122000. Obermeyer, C. M (2005). The consequences of female circumcision for health and sexuality: An update on the 13evidence. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 2005; 7(5): 443–461 UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, 200214! din !619

victims. Only a small proportion of acts of violence against children are reported and investigated. This silence allow violence against children to continue unabated. The major problem is that we cannot stop it, even if numerous efforts have been undertaken by government and social partners to build a protective environment for children. CHAPTER II International Legal Framework Over the years, children have taken part in conflicts that have brought change in the world. International Law needs to protect children from engagement in conflict and keep them at a distance from any conflict. Nowadays, there are four kinds of International Law in relation to child soldiers. These are: international Human Rights law, International Humanitarian Law, International Criminal law, and International Labor law. All children should be protected by International law and the legal standards should be clear and universal to apply to all children of the world. International Law is able to protect children by putting in place a protocol that protects children from joining the army as many states use different tactics to camouflage the presence of children in their armies. Some of the excuses used are that children will not be in the battlefields or they will only train until they turn 18. II.1. International Humanitarian LawAt the time of formation of the post-World War II Geneva Conventions, the use of children in battle was considered an internal issue of a State. As a result, any international agreements prior to 1949, concerning the protection of children, were focused on children as civilians and not combatants. Adopted on 8 June 1977, the Geneva Convention Additional Protocol I (AP I) became the first international accord tackling the issue of children in combat, placing sanctions on individual States for such activity. Article 77 of AP I states: “The Parties to the conflict shall take all feasible measures in order that children who have not attained the age of fifteen years do not take a direct part in hostilities and, in particular, they shall refrain from recruiting them into their armed forces.”15 Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of 15International Armed Conflicts (Additional Protocol I), article 77(2), (8 June 1977). This Treaty will hereinafter be cited as Additional Protocol I. ! din !719

The terms of “Parties to the conflict”, “all feasible measures” and “direct part in hostilities” have been contested over the years. AP I is applicable solely in international armed conflicts, meaning those occurring across political borders. The Geneva Convention Additional Protocol II (AP II) was also adopted on 8 June 1977, and is a set of minimum standards applied to non-international armed conflicts occurring within the borders of one State. Article 4 states that children under 15 years ‘shall neither be recruited in the armed forces or groups’. This implies that armed rebel groups, in addition to States, are responsible for 16not recruiting children. Binding such groups to international law has proven difficult since rebel forces do not often have an allegiance to any State party to the treaty. This challenge introduces the importance of individual criminal responsibility in creating deterrence and compliance among potential perpetrators, regardless of their State or non-State affiliation.17The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) provides children with protection during times of war and peace.The CRC became the most ratified human rights treaty in history with 191 of the 193 participating nations ratifying it at record-breaking rates. The CRC addresses the use of child soldiers by providing that “State Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for rules of international humanitarian law applicable to them in armed conflicts which are relevant to the child.” 18II.2. UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) 1989 The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on November 1989 and entered into force on September, 1990. In January 2000, the convention had been ratified by 191 states, but Somalia and the United States of America decided to remain outside the treaty regime. Article 38(3) of the treaty addresses the issue of child soldiers and it states, “States parties shall refrain from recruiting any person who has not attained the age of fifteen years into their armed forces. In recruiting among those persons who have not attained the age of eighteen years, states parties shall endeavour to give priority to those that are the oldest.” 19 Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-16International Armed Conflicts (Additional Protocol II), article 3(c) (8 June 1977). Child Soldiers in Africa: A Global Approach to Human Rights Protection, Enforcement and Post-Conflict 17Reintegration, in African Journal of International and Comparative Law 18(2):113-142 · September 2010 Convention on the Rights of the Child, Nov. 20, 1989, Art. 38(1). 18 Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 Article 38(3) 19! din !819

Article 1 of the convention on the rights of the child states “for the purpose of the present conventions, a child means any human being below the age of eighteen years unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.” 20The Article 38 presents an anomaly in that it contradicts article 1 with regard to the age of a child and Article 1 refers to a child as any human being below the age of18. But, article 38 allows children to be conscripted into the army. The CRC in this instance has failed to protect the child from the harm caused by being a child soldier. This anomaly of article 38 of the CRC drive to the introduction of the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the involvement of children in armed conflict. This treaty was adopted by the UN Assembly on May 2000. Article 3 of the above protocol states: “states parties shall raise the minimum age in years for the voluntary recruitment of persons to their national armed forces from that set out in article 38(3) on the CRC, taking account of the principles contained in that article and recognize that under the convention, persons under 18 are entitled to special protection”. 21II.3. International Labor Organization This convention was adopted in June 1999 and came into force on 19th November, 2000. The convention commits each state that ratifies it to “take immediate and effective measures to secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour as a matter of urgency.” Recommendation 190 accompanying the convention encourages states to make the recruitment of children for use in armed conflict a criminal offence. This convention recognizes the children as any one below the age of 18 and the worst forms of child labour include “all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.” 22This convention in not addressing instances of voluntary recruitment and as in the case of many African states, there are children who voluntarily seek to be recruited into armed forces. (Article 1) 20 Ibid21 H. Steiner, P .Alston, International Human Rights in context. Law, Politics, Morals. (Oxford University Press, 22Oxford, 2000) pp 534-535! din !919

II.4. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on involvement of children in armed conflict The UN Assembly adopted this protocol on May 25th, 2000. This protocol prohibits the use of child soldiers, and as mentioned earlier in this chapter, there is an anomaly created by the CRC in specifying the exact age of recruitment to the armed forces. The optional protocol has been signed by 115 countries and ratified by 63. The main points of the protocol include: 1.Excludes compulsory recruitment of children under 18 years of age by the armed forces (governmental and non-governmental); 2.Obliges States which ratify to ensure that members of their armed forces under the age of 18 are not directly involved in the fight; 3.Intensifies voluntary engagement in armed forces at the age of 16 and includes specific measures that require proof of the willingness to enroll voluntarily and its parents; 4.Prohibit the recruitment or participation of any person under the age of 18 in groups of insurgency and rebel force ' in any circumstances. This protocol also clarifies the issue of voluntary enrollment to include permission of the child's parents.This will reduce the cases in which children are captured to voluntarily join the chip armies and will also reduce the cases of children joining the armies from the pressure of the companions. II.5. The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and The African Committee of experts on the rights and welfare of the child The Organization of African Unity (OAU) adopted the African Charter in 1990. It “States parties to the present charter shall take all necessary measures to ensure that no child shall take a direct part in hostilities and refrain in particular from recruiting any child”. It also states that a child is anyone below the age of 18 years. This has been noted as “the only regional treaty in the world which addresses the issue of Child Soldiers.” 23This committee was established on July 2001 and it is promoting the rights and welfare of the child. The committee is made up of eleven experts of high moral standing, serving in their independent and personal capacity that is on behalf of their states. HRW: Child Soldiers: International Legal standards governing Child Soldiers. Retrieved on June 16, 2019 from 23http://www.hrw- org/campaigns/crp/int-law.htm! din !1019

The committee has the advantages that it is given “broad powers to interpret the provisions of the Charter (AU) not only at the request of state parties and institutions of the AU but also to any other person or institution recognized by the AU.” 24II.6. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998) The Rome Statute gives the court jurisdiction over war crimes to recruit or register children under 15 in the national armed forces or to use them to actively participate in hostilities (Article 8). The court criminalizes all obligations, whether forced or voluntary. Also, it applies to everyone. It addresses the armed forces or opposition groups and therefore applies to both governmental and armed opposition groups. II.7 Challenges of protecting children in Africa The international laws as they exist currently are inadequate to protect all African children in conflict situations and more effective means of enforcement are also needed. The challenges facing children in the 21st century are immense and will need to be faced if we are to achieve the goal of child protection for all. Three specific constraints on child protection are: poverty, HIV/AIDS infection, and war. Armed conflict fuel the spread of HIV infection in many ways: by the disintegration of communities, displacement from home, separation of children from their families, and the destruction of schools and health services. Another contributing factor is rape and other human rights abuses that proliferate during wartime. Moreover, the impoverishment that results from conflict situations often leaves women and girls destitute. For many, trading sex for survival becomes the only option. 25In July 2000, the United Nations Security Council adopted resolution 1308, calling for effective long-term strategies on HIV/AIDS among peace- keeping,education, prevention and voluntary counselling, testing and treatment. Fighting HIV/AIDS is among UNICEF’s top priorities, guided G. Van Bueren, The International Law on the rights of the child,(Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands, 1995) 24p402 CHILDREN, ARMED CONFLICT AND HIV/AIDS, The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 2003 25September 2003 ! din !1119

by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the world’s most widely embraced human rights treaty. Uganda stands out prominently as a country that has suffered the worst effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, with 213 people from all sections of society dying of AIDS related illness every 24 hours. Although earlier gloomy predictions of the likely impact of HIV/AIDS have been questioned, its effects on institutional capacity, economic performance, decision-making, implementation processes, capacity for political management and the sheer viability of some nation-states remain valid concerns. 26The Children within African countries are generally at a higher risk of poverty, disease, malnutrition, becoming an orphan and have a higher mortality rate than seen in western developed nations. The poverty we refer is predominantly of a rural nature as many of Africa’s poorest live in rural areas and thus depend on subsistence farming to provide food and income. Poverty is singled out as the major reason for children’s involvement in hazardous work such as sex work and various informal sector activities. Poverty in its diverse forms creates conditions that make children very vulnerable, helpless and desperate to survive. Most civil wars occur in relatively poor countries, and socioeconomic status has for long been assumed to be associated with involvement in violent conflict. In the case of Uganda, the conflict in the northern part of the country has been notorious for recruitment of children into the Lords Resistance Army (LRA). This part of the country is significantly less developed than the south. II.8. Implementation and monitoring of legal frameworks Monitoring and implementation is essential in order for the legal frameworks to be complete. This insures that the legal standards are adhered and implemented. Some of the protocols and set standards failed without no monitoring body to ensure implementation. Monitoring bodies are composed of independent individuals or state officials. The individuals have an advantage over the state officials as they will not be compromised in any ways by the government. Individuals will not put at risk their jobs if they found it necessary to disagree with a position their governments have taken regarding a legal issue. If their governments are not adhering to a set of ICG,HIV/AIDS as a Security Issue in Africa: Lessons from Uganda26! din !1219

rules of conventions they have signed and ratified, then an independent individual will bring it to the attention of the international community without fear of losing a job or political favour. These conventions and protocols pertaining to child soldiers and other available legal standards were discussed in this chapter. CHAPTER III CASE STUDY: Uganda Africa has always been viewed as poor and underdeveloped. Numerous reasons have been assigned for this state of affairs. These include the continent’s history in relation to the rest of the world and its inability to provide the right kind of leadership and governance that will address its development needs. All throughout the history of the continent, statistics are persistent in showing the continent as one of the most underdeveloped in the world. 273.1 Case Study of Uganda Uganda is one of the most important cases as it is the state in which the children are most often used in armed conflicts as soldiers. Political instable in its territory is present since 1962 when its independence was declared from colonial rule under British Crown. Over the years, Uganda faced many conflicts where both the rebel groups and government parliamentary groups have used children to fight in their armies. Joseph Kony, The Leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has been accused of being the mastermind behind the abduction of children to become sex slaves and soldiers in his illegitimate force. He took the children to South Sudan in order to train them to fight in his army and later, returned to Uganda they attacked Northern villages. Joanna Quinn’s explanation in her article, 28“Getting to Peace? Negotiating with the LRA in Northern Uganda” describes the conflict as being one of the most longest-lasting and highly devastating : “The conflict in Acholiland began soon after Uganda’s last regime change in January 1986. It was trigged (in part) by the NRM’s methods for consolidating control over the northern parts of the country”. 29 Meredith, 200627 Michael Wessells, Child Soldiers: From Violence to Protection (Harvard University Press. Cambridge, MA, 282006). Quinn, J.R. (2009). Getting to Peace? Negotiating with the LRA in Northern Uganda, Hum Rights Review, 29Chapter 10, p.55-71.! din !1319

During the past two decades violence and rebel insurrections was brought by the LRA in Uganda. Spirituality was used by the LRA as part of its mode resistance. They are a “rebel group that wants to overthrow the government and install Ten Commandments as law”. The LRA used Mysticism 30and Christianity in order to achieve their goal. In the World Vision report, “Pawns of politics children, conflict and peace in northern Uganda” is written that “the result is a cultic manipulation of religion by the LRA in lieu of a political platform. The religious dimension has become an excuse for lack of action by authorities with mandates for child protection and conflict resolution”. The LRA’s way of working is children kidnapping in order to force them to become rebellions. The estimative number of children is 20 000. 31The child soldiers issue can be traced back to the colonial times, when the state of Uganda has often used violent behaviour against the political dissenters. The colonial government often offered to 32the Burganda’s tribe the top civil service positions in the central and southern parts of the country and the kingdom was centred in Kampala, the official capital of the country. The others tribes, like the Acholi and Lango of the North who were marginalized found the power throughout military force. Supported by the Southern Uganda, President Museveni took over power from Obote. The 33North faced The National Resistance movement of Museveni but resisted to it, even it caused conflicts of which Teso North’s boys and men took up armaments. Karamojong cattle raiders, were armed by Amin’s army that was engaged in advanced cattle rustling, using cattles for trading arms with Sudan. That was the moment when Uganda People’s Army (UPA) was used for fighting the Museveni to remove Obote from power. At that time of the conflicts, small boys had been utilised as information carriers and also for combating in the UPA. Museveni’s army didn’t wait long to respond to UPA’s attacks leading to many children decision for joining UPA which was offering them security in comparison with NRA’s action that had made them homeless. NRA’s action led to the emergence of child soldiers on the territory of Uganda. “Many child soldiers of the UPA took of joining the insurgence after NRA’s actions had left them homeless and in some cases parentless. Wax 200630 Dunn 2010, pham et al, 200831 Jo de Berry, Child Soldiers and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, (Annals of the American 32Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 575, Children’s Rights), May, 2001, pp. 92-105, Sage Publications, Inc. In association with the American Academy of Political and Social Science, p.94. Government of Uganda, The History of Uganda, at http://www.government.go.ug/static/history.htm.33! din !1419

UPA offered their only security until the end of the conflict in 1992.” The lack of security that 34should have been provided by society and parents led to children choosing the path of becoming soldiers at very young ages. Another factor that influenced significantly the matter speaking was related to the conflict between Sudanese groups, Acholi trib, the NRA and the government of Uganda. The Acholi trib was often subject of discrimination by organised groups like Baganda during colonial times. The Holy Spirit Movement from the 1980’s aroused through Acholi and was led by the priestess Alice Lakwena. Her group faced the Museveni’s NRA and the result was the formation of a new group also rebel led by Kony: the LRA. The LRA was sustained by the Rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army and was accused of “using as its own warriors, children as young as eight years old who were kidnaped, tortured, raped, virtually enslaved and sometimes killed in the name of the “Holy Spirit””. 35The problem of child soldiers in Uganda could be resolved by the help of Human Security theory that brings another perspective, that a people centred view of security is necessary for irrevocable salvation. CHAPTER IV Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda The Lord’s Resistance Army did not emerged out of nowhere. There were a series of historical antecedents which led to the creation of this group. In most cases, like in this one, the movement begun with ethnic, political, social, economical issues. Like in others conflicts from Africa the key factor in order to better understand the LRA formation is the ethnic problem. IV .1. The Holy Spirit Movement and Alice Auma In early November of 1986, Alice Lakwena, an Acholi healer and prophet, was given command of Uganda People’s Defence Army, a rebel alliance. The UPDA made its first incursions into Uganda in August 1986. These rebel attacks focused on traditional military targets, not on civilians. Indeed, Jo de Berry, Child Soldiers and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, (Annals of the American 34Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 575, Children’s Rights), May, 2001, pp. 92-105, Sage Publications, Inc. In association with the American Academy of Political and Social Science, p.98. Elliot P . Skinner, Child Soldiers in Africa: A Disaster For Future Families (International Journal on World 35Peace, Vol. 16, No. 2 (JUNE 1999), pp. 7-22 Published by Proffessors: World Peace Academy) p. 15.! din !1519

the UPDA began by enjoying substantial support among the Acholi. This rebel alliance came to be called the Holy Spirit Mobile. This force proved to be a serious military threat to the National Resistance Army, and although its military potency was short-lived, it ultimately evolved into the Lord's Resistance Army, which causes so much bloodshed today. 36Alice Lakwena's Holy Spirit Movement began as a peaceful group, and understanding its origins requires a brief description of religious beliefs among the Acholi. Traditional Acholi religion included a belief in jogi ,which is translated as “power”: the jogi were the supernatural powers which could affect humanity. When the Acholi appeared to be threatened by Museveni's National Resistance Army, Alice evolved from a simple healer into a military leader, and she succeeded in getting UPDA commanders to provide her with weapons and soldiers. IV .2. The formation of Lord’s Resistance Army After the Holy Spirit Mobile Force was defeated at Jinja, Lakwena fled to Kenya. Her soldiers were exhausted and demoralized, many of them surrendered, and those who had been abducted took the chance to escape. 37Museveni and his soldiers continued to fight against the last soldiers of the Holy Spirit Movement and the UPDA rebel alliance, they offered an amnesty to any rebels who surrendered. By early 1989, the UPDA had ceased to exist. 38A remnant of the Holy Spirit Movement, led by Joseph Kony, remained active. Kony, who is a relative of Alice, claims to share her spiritual thinking too. Even if the rituals and beliefs of Kony's followers were different from those of Alice's followers, Kony and Alice appear to have worked in close cooperation before Alice's defeat and flight. He would dress like Alice during certain rituals, and he and Alice apparently performed many rituals together. 39Kony's group underwent a number of name changes, but in the end they began to call themselves the Lord’s Resistance Army. Many years after the Alice’s defeat, they continued to harass government installations and those civilians seen as government collaborators. But, at some point in time, their tactics shifted, and they began large-scale attacks on civilian targets, including schools and clinics. Abductions, especially of children, were also stepped up. Heike Behrend, AIs Alice Lakwena a Witch? in Hanson and Twaddle, Changing Uganda (London: James Currie, 361991), p. 173. Behrend, AIs Alice Lakwena a Witch?@ pp. 168-69. 37 Ofcansky, Uganda, pp. 63-64. 38 Tim Allen, AUnderstanding Alice: Uganda's Holy Spirit Movement in Context,@ Africa, V olume 61, 1991, pp. 39370-99. ! din !1619

The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has operated for more than two decades in Africa, perpetrating a campaign of terror that has destabilized communities across four countries. They are known for their brutal attacks against civilians, including killing, torture, and mutilation, as well as the widespread abduction of children to increase their ranks. IV .2. Killings and atrocities made by LRA The Lord’s Resistance Army terrorized inhabitants for more than 15 years and was responsible for the abduction of more than 20,000 children and displacement of more than 1.9 million people. 40After military pressure forced the LRA to leave Uganda, the group migrated into the border region between South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Estimates of the total number of people displaced by the LRA across all four countries run as high as 2.5 million; the UNSC reports that LRA combatants have abducted between 60,000 and 41100,000 children. The number of civilians killed by the LRA remains difficult to estimate, but ranges from the tens of thousands to more than 100,000 people. 42Reliable data estimating the total impact of the LRA since the beginning of the conflict across all four countries are lacking; however, some figures are available. From 1987 to 2006, it is estimated that LRA combatants abducted 66,000 youths (age 14–30) in northern Uganda. 43Other studies have estimated that between 24,000 to 38,000 children and 28,000 to 37,000 adults were abducted prior to 2006. According to the LRA Crisis Tracker, over 6,500 people have been 44abducted since 2008. Various reports cite vague figures of the total number of deaths caused by the LRA, ranging from tens of thousands to more than 100,000 people. 45Since 2008, the LRA combatants have killed more than 3,000 people. 46
Human Rights Watch [HRW], 201240 United Nations Security Council [UNSC], 2013; Internal Displacement Monitoring Center [IDMC], 201341 UNSC, 201342 Annan, Blattman, & Horton, 200643 (Pham, Vinck, & Stover, 2007; Cline, 201344 UNSC, 201345 LRA Crisis Tracker, 201546! din !1719

CHAPTER V Child soldiers advocates The role of advocates is to promote the protection of children’s rights through fact finding missions and making report. Tefferi and Ibrahim reported for Save the Children, Sweden in South Sudan 47while Human Rights Watch produced many reports on the phenomenon of child soldiers in Uganda as demonstrated by their works referenced in chapter three of this paper. V .1. The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) This is an organ of the Unite Nations. The Commission on Human Rights and the Sub Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities work under the umbrella with the protection of human rights and carry out studies including issues such as child labour. As these bodies operate under the United Nations, it is arguable that they operate under a highly political scenario and may not therefore take consideration of specific human rights issues. It is further arguable that they may consider issues like child soldiers wholesomely that is look at the issues as they take place in the whole world yet there are certain instances like the presence of child soldiers in Uganda that need urgent attention. Politicians may influence decisions that could be carried out against their states for using children as soldiers or they may water down cases of gross atrocities to children. Cohn and Goodwin-Gill note that “the United Nations Security Council or the General Assembly operate at a high political level where specific human rights issues come relatively infrequently and generally only after action taken in another part of the system.” The ECOSOC 48therefore may sound influential but on its own, it cannot effect change. V .2. United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund was founded in 1946 as an organ of the United Nations. UNICEF has been advised “to consider developing guidelines for monitoring implementation and encouraging local non-governmental organizations to become involved in monitoring and informing the committee.” The committee being that of the CRC. It is arguable 49that the phenomenon of child soldiers continues because there is poor follow up or implementation of set protocols. It is arguable that UNICEF could improve the situation of child soldiers if it influenced government and non-governmental organizations to avoid the use of child soldiers. Hirut Tefferi and Fatuma Ibrahim, Demobilizing Child Soldiers, The Sudan Experience, (Working paper No. 2, 47December 2000, Save the Children, Sweden) Illene Cohn and Guy S. Goodwin, The role of children in Armed conflict (Oxford University Press, 2003) p 94 48 Ibid p15349! din !1819

V .3. Non-governmental organizations Non-governmental organizations played an important role in the drafting and acceptance of the protocols on child soldiers and as Harvey clearly observes, “they now have a vital role to play in 50encouraging ratification, advising on implementation, encouraging and monitoring compliance and exposing erring states.” It is worth mentioned that, as we can see, the optional protocols are 51optional and many states are yet to ratify them. V .4. Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers This is an international movement of organizations and individuals committed to ending the use of children as soldiers. Like Amnesty international, the Coalition to stop the use of child soldiers has been at the forefront in seeking for the full implementation of the Optional Protocol to the CRC. The coalition seeks to achieve its aims by regional mobilization, the work of national coalitions, supporting the creation of core group of governments and influencing public opinion through the international media. This organization has been active in Uganda.
R. Harvey, Human Rights Child Soldiers: The Beginning or the end? (Childright, V ol 164, 2000) 50 Ibid p 1851! din !1919