[afro-nets] Situation in Northern Uganda

[Claudio Schuftan <claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn>]

Situation in Northern Uganda
----------------------------

End Torture in Northern Uganda

Two decades of armed conflict between the Lord's Resistance Army
(LRA) and the Ugandan government in Northern Uganda have dis-
placed nearly two million civilians from their homes. Ordered
into so-called protected camps, Internally Displaced Persons
(IDPs) face heightened insecurity, appalling living conditions
and lack the basic means of subsistence. Human Rights Focus
(HURIFO) and WITNESS have co-produced "Between Two Fires: Tor-
ture and Displacement in Northern Uganda" to address the issue
of torture committed against the IDP communities of Northern
Uganda. Through the personal stories of torture survivors, the
video advocates for official acknowledgement of these abuses,
redress for torture victims, and strengthened national mecha-
nisms against the use of torture.

http://www.witness.org/option,com_rightsalert/Itemid,178/task,view/alert_id,47/

Abuses against the IDP communities are rampant: the LRA has com-
mitted war crimes and gross violations of human rights including
the abduction of over twenty thousand children, widespread maim-
ing, rape and murder. These attacks have led to secondary dis-
placement in which up to forty thousand children commute nightly
from the camps to sleep in the relative safety of town centers.

While the LRA has committed these atrocities, the Ugandan Peo-
ple's Defense Forces (UPDF), the national army, has also commit-
ted human rights violations against civilians that include arbi-
trary detention, extrajudicial killing, torture and rape. The
UPDF whose mandate is to protect civilians, has not only failed
to prevent attacks and abductions by the LRA, but has also per-
petrated grave abuses against civilians in a climate of impu-
nity.

Please join us in this campaign to end torture against IDPs in
Northern Uganda by taking action at http://www.witness.org

Sincerely,

Hakima Abbas
Program Coordinator for Africa and Middle East
Brooklyn, NY 11217, USA
Tel. +1-718-783-2000 Ext.307
Fax: +1-718-783-1593
mailto:hakima@witness.org