Angola child soldiers

UGANDA'S CHILD SOLDIERS: FACTS AND POLICIES

Manuel Gerardo Chvez-Angeles, MPA/ID Disaster and International Emergency ResponseTulane UniversityApril, 2010

Photograph: Chris Blattman

"Do No Harm" Framework for Considering the Impacts of Aid on Conflict

My mother was the war, he thought. She was a witch, a terrible demon, an eater of people, but she looked after me. It's not my fault that I loved her.

AK, Peter DickinsonWinner of the Whitbread Award for best children's novel

. . . yet, while we know that youth have suffered (and continue to do so), we have not been able to answer with confidence or precision some crucial questions, namely: who is suffering, how much, and in what ways?. . Jeannie Annan, Christopher Blattman, and Roger Horton, The State of Youth and Youth Participation in Northern Uganda

Picture: from the graphic novel Unknown Soldier

Berkeley-Tulane Initiative on
Vulnerable Populations

Is an initative between the UC Berkeley Human Rights Center and the Payson Center that conducts research in countries experiencing serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. Using empirical research methods to give voice to survivors of mass violence. Its aim is to ensure that the needs of survivors are recognized and acted on by governments, U.N. agencies, and nongovernmental organizations, and help improve the capacity of local organizations to collect and analyze data about vulnerable populations so that their human rights can be protected.

Uganda Survey on
War Affected Youth (SWAY)

To understand the long-term impacts of the war on youth, in 2005 and 2006 SWAY conducted a representative survey of 1016 households and 741 male youth in eight sub-counties in the Districts of Kitgum and Pader. The population surveyed covered males currently aged 14 to 30. Former abductees were oversampled, and 462 were interviewed in total.The survey collected data on, current well-being (economic, physical, psychological, and social) and, detailed information on abduction and other war experiences.

Abduction Figures from Multiple Sources

Source: Pham et al. 2007

Experience of Violence


Reasons for Torture and Killing in the LRA


Year of Abduction among Formerly Abducted Persons (FAP) at Caritas Gulu


Gender and Length of Abduction


Age-Gender Distribution of Returned Abductees


Length of Abduction Across Age and Gender (Average Number of Days)


Young adolescents were disproportionately targeted for three principal reasons:

they were overrepresented in the population;

they were more effective guerrillas than younger children;

they were more easily indoctrinated and disoriented than young

Source: Annan and Blattman On the Nature and Causes of LRA Abduction: What the Abducted Say, SWAY

Abduction, Escape, and Return Over Time


Map of Formerly Abducted People (FAP) by Subcounty of Origin


Distrbution of LRA abduction over eight sub-counties, 1985 to 2005

Source: SWAY

DO NO HARM framework in a
post-conflict situation:

Prompts us to identify conflict-exacerbating impacts of assistance much sooner than is typical without the analysis;

Heightens our awareness of intergroup relations in project sites and enables us to play a conscious role in helping people come together;

Reveals the interconnections among programming decisions (about where to work, with whom, how to set the criteria for assistance recipients, who to hire locally, how to relate to local authorities, etc.)

Provides a common reference point for considering the impacts of our assistance on conflict that brings a new cohesiveness to staff interactions and to our work with local counterparts;

Enables us to identify programming options when things are going badly.

Recovery and Reconciliation Strategic Planning

National Pillars

PRDP Districts

Economic ManagementProduction, Competitiveness & IncomesSecurity, Conflict Res. & Disaster MangtGood GovernanceHuman DevelopmentSO4: Peace Building and ReconciliationSO1: Consolidation of State AuthoritySO2: Rebuilding and Empowering CommunitiesSO3: Security, Revitalization of the Economy

POVERTY ERADICATION ACTION PLAN (PEAP)

Northern Uganda Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP)

Amnesty Commission

Was established to facilitate the implementation of the Government Amnesty Act of 2000. By the Act, any forces that are fighting the government and wish to give up are free to report and will be forgiven when they denounce their activities.

Functions are: Promote the Amnesty Act 2000; foster collaboration and linkages between implementers of the Amnesty Law; formulate policy and establish programme priorities, mobilize and monitor utilization of resources; collate and disseminate information on amnesty implementation; spearhead national planning supervision, monitoring and evaluation of the amnesty process

Eligibility criteria for an Amnesty Certificate:

Ugandan citizenship;

Age of 12 years or older at time of return;

Have fought against the Government of Uganda.

Conventionally, a length test (of three months or more) has been applied to LRA abductees, al-though this is not a formal part of the Amnesty Act.

Primary instruments of reinsertion . . .

The primary focus of the interim care and reception process has included: (i) access to basic health services; (ii) basic counseling; (iii) family tracing and reunification; and (iv) broad-based, community sensitization measures. Small and occasional assistance for welcoming and forgiveness ceremonies, education, health, vocational training, food, or shelter. Retroactively paid out reinsertion packages. The package includes household items, agricultural tools, seeds and an unconditional cash payment. The bulk of assistance for returnees comes from government or NGO programs directed at displaced and vulnerable persons in general. Common interventions include vocational training, cash and assistance in starting small enterprises, and psychosocial care.

The most pressing needs are education and livelihoods support . . .

The largest and most prevalent impact of abduction appears to have been upon educationabducted youth miss out on schooling, largely due to their time away.

The education of women who return from the LRA with children is even more severely affected. Unlike other returnees these young mothers almost never go back to school upon return, in large part because of child care responsibilities.

Assistance for those who are the least educated and illiterate is quite modest, unfortunately. Much of the government and NGO focus has been upon the primary school system and vocational training programs. Best practices programs secondary school scholarships, accelerated adult education, child care (including feeding) for the children of students are extremely rare and serve only a small fraction of the under-educated population, including former abductees.

As a consequence of lost education and work experience, male abductees are also less than half as likely to be engaged in a skilled trade or a business as their non-abducted male peers, and hence earn about a third lower wages.

Health services and psychosocial support have been grossly inadequate . . .

At least 3 percent of female and 9 percent of male returnees report serious war injuries. Chest and back injuries from carrying heavy loads are most common, followed by shrapnel in the bodyfor instance, 2 percent of males reported metal or bullets still in their torso or limbs. Unfortunately, few (if any) programs for war injuries exist outside of reception centers and programs for land mine victims. A small percentage of youth are also experiencing frequent nightmares, lack of concentration, insomnia, irritation, and isolation. These symptoms are often related to their traumatic past, current daily stressors, and family relationships. For this small percentage whose symptoms impact their daily functioning, targeted mental health services (other than spiritual and traditional ceremonies) have not been available.

References

Beah Ishmael (2007) A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier ed. Sarah Crichton Books

Dickinson Peter (1990) AK

Jal Emmanuel and Lloyd Davis Megan (2009) War Child: A Child Soldier's Story McMillan

Jeannie Annan, Christopher Blattman, and Roger Horton (2006) The State of Youth and Youth Participation in Northern Uganda: Findings from the Survey for War-Affected Youth A Report for UNICEF Uganda.

OXFAM (2008) From Emergency to Recovery. Rescuing northern Ugandas transition Oxfam Briefing Paper 118

Pham, P., P. Vinck, et al. (2007) Abducted: The Lords Resistance Army and Forced Conscription in Northern Uganda, Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley; Payson Center for International Development, Tulane University.

Uganda: Survey of War Affected Youth (SWAY): http://chrisblattman.com/projects/sway/

Uganda Ministry of Internal Affairs: http://www.mia.go.ug/

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