Press Release
By the Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice, in collaboration with
Isis-WICCE and Ugandan Women Activists

November 23, 2004

A five member International Team comprising of Sara Sharratt (Costa Rica),
Gabriella Mischkowski (Germany), Betty Murungi (Kenya), Brigid Inder
(Executive Director, New Zealand) and Vahida Nainar (Chairperson, India),
all members of The Hague based international women's human rights
organization, Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice (WIGJ) along with three
members of the Kampala based women's organization, Isis-WICCE including Ruth
Ochieng (Executive Director), Jessica Nkuuhe and Elizabeth Ngororano, and
accompanied by Veronica Bichetero, Commissioner at the Uganda Human Rights
Commission visited the conflict ridden region of Northern Uganda. The
all-women team visited the districts of Gulu, Kitgum, Lira and Soroti for
the past seven days.

Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice (WIGJ) is an international women's
NGO that monitors the International Criminal Court (ICC) from a gender
perspective. The present mission came about following the Ugandan
government's referral of the situation in Northern Uganda to the ICC. In
order to effectively perform its role as the gender watch of the ICC, WIGJ's
objectives of the mission were broadly to meet with, speak to and consult
with women victims and survivors of the conflict, meet with local NGOs and
CBOs, meet with the local cultural, religious and district leadership, and
ascertain their analysis of the conflict, their assessment of the impact and
consequences of the conflict on the lives of people in the region generally
and women and girls in particular, and to get an overview of their
perspective on the referral of the situation in Northern Uganda to the ICC.
The team successfully met its objectives thanks to the efforts of local
organizers and the women members of Parliament - Honourable Jane Akwero
Odwong from Kitgum, Honourable Margaret Ateng Otim from Lira and Honourable
Alice Alaso from Soroti, who accompanied the team in each of the district.

The visit afforded the team an insight into the complex nature of the
conflict in the affected regions. It is clear that while the Lord's
Resistance Army (LRA) commits most of the violations and crimes, the team
also heard testimonies of similar violations and crimes by the Ugandan army
(the UPDF) as well as violations by the Karamajong raiders, particularly in
the north eastern districts of the country. There have been a wide range of
crimes committed during the course of the past 18 years that continue to be
committed, particularly against women, girls and children. These crimes
include abductions, killings, mutilations, rape, torture, sexual slavery,
enslavement and other forms of sexual violence. The conflict has forced over
one million people in the region to live in camps for Internally Displaced
People (IDP).

Generally speaking, people we spoke to had very little awareness about the
Ugandan government's referral of the Northern Uganda situation to the ICC.
On being informed, almost all of them prioritized the need for peace to
return to the region first before the ICC process takes place. Some viewed
the ICC's investigations as potentially hampering the on-going peace talks
and contradicting the prevalent amnesty laws. However, it is important to
note that none of them ruled out the possibility of administering a process
of justice, including through the ICC once peace was established. This view
was emphatic among women and other direct victims and survivors of the
conflict. There was greater support for the ICC investigations among women
and people in the Lango and Teso regions of Northern Uganda.

The religious, cultural and some NGO leaders spoke about the need to look
into other forms of redress and conflict resolutions that would be
appropriate for the Acholi regions. They expressed concern about the
retributive nature of justice in the formal justice mechanisms and favoured
the reformative nature of the traditional systems of justice. The
traditional Acholi system of justice is premised upon the offender owning up
to the crimes committed, forgiveness by the victims, compensation provided
to the victims by the offenders' clan and the ultimate experience of remorse
and shame by the offender. At the same time, it was clear that the
traditional system of justice has not been in practice for decades and very
few in the region were aware of this system or how it worked. Moreover, none
could explain how this system would provide justice to women victims of
sexual violence. This system of justice would also not work in the
non-Acholi regions of Lango and Teso.

In addition to speaking to people, the team visited several IDP camps, a
rehabilitation centre and sites where the 'Night Commuters' go to feel safe.
The conditions in the camps and the provision of support services were
grossly inadequate. Most camps experience water shortage, inadequate
sanitation facilities, inadequate health facilities and no facilities for
any kind of counseling to recover from trauma. There seems to be no state
policy in place to rehabilitate the people living in IDP camps. People
living in the camps continue to live in fear of attacks from the LRA or
Karamajongs or random attacks by the UPDF. Women and children venturing out
of the camps in search of food, water, firewood or other means of livelihood
continue to be targets of the LRA attacks.

The sight of children swarming as 'Night Commuters' to safe spaces and
shelters in hospitals and other spaces managed by international NGOs was
heart wrenching. The team witnessed that often these children walk on their
own to these places with no escorts. Violence against girl children
continues unabatedly, including within the shelters. The team heard of
instances where men grab young girl night commuters as they walk to the safe
sites and rape them. The sites are not often well-guarded leaving children
vulnerable to further attacks. The team also watched children reading for
their exams in these sites under terrible conditions and inadequate light.

The situation of returning child mothers is particularly appalling. These
are children who endured the worst crimes of abduction, sexual slavery,
torture, rape and enslavement. These children often come back with children
of their own and are in no position to care for them. Some of them return as
HIV positive, disabled or inflicted with other kinds of health ailments. The
suffering they endured during their captivity leave all of them scarred and
in need of long term counseling in order for them to exist normally in their
communities. There are no adequate rehabilitation centers that could provide
them with services of trauma counseling, health facilities and means to
continue education and/or with income generating skills. Poverty often
forces some girls to leave their children with their elderly parents and
venture out to sell themselves to survive. Similar testimonies were heard
about women too. The lack of acceptance of these child mothers by their
society and communities and the humiliation they face when called 'Kony's
wives' or 'rebel killers' are a form of continued violence. Clearly Uganda
has lost two generations in this conflict.

Most of the women, victims and survivors we spoke to identified the Ugandan
state and local authorities' failure to protect and provide them with
security as the cause for their sufferings. They viewed that the Ugandan
state should provide them with compensation and make necessary provision to
economically, physically and psychologically rehabilitate them.

It seems that neither the Ugandan state nor the International Criminal Court
cared to consult with or raise awareness about the ICC among the people of
Northern Uganda. As a result, misconceptions and misinformation abound about
the period from which the ICC would begin investigations, the potential
conflict between amnesty laws and the ICC, the limited sense of justice for
the community if only a few top leaders are tried by the ICC, the offender
being unfairly better off in custody at the ICC than in Uganda or the bush,
the possibility of the ICC prosecuting children and the possibility of
reparations for victims. None of the people we spoke to had seen or met any
ICC officials in the field, leading some to term the ICC's investigation as
an 'undercover' operation.

Following our visit to the districts and our findings as above, we make the
following recommendations:

To the Government of Uganda
. Provide adequate security to the people of Northern Uganda and protect
them from attacks from the LRA and the Karamajongs and protect children from
being abducted
. Identify and punish the offenders within the army that have committed
grave crimes and violations of civilians in Northern Uganda
. Improve and increase the provision of support services like water,
sanitation, rehabilitation centers, health centers and schools around the
IDP camps and in the sites securing the night commuters
. Introduce a comprehensive policy to physically, economically and
psychologically rehabilitate the people of Northern Uganda and provide
adequate resources to implement the policy
. Pay special attention to the needs of child abductees and returning child
mothers.
. Provide compensation for those affected in the conflict including those
killed and injured and those who were subjected to gross sexual violence
. Sensitize the people of Uganda, particularly those in the north, about the
ICC referral and their investigations
. Bring the pending Ugandan ICC Bill in full compliance with the Rome
Statute of the ICC with particular attention to its retroactive
applicability since 1986 and inclusion of all its gender mandates
nationally.

To the ICC
. Transparency in the conduct with people and groups of Northern Uganda
. Reach out to the people and women of Northern Uganda with information,
including in their native languages about the ICC, its functions and its
operation in Northern Uganda.
. Ensure that the operations in the field are conducted in a manner that is
sensitive and respectful of the mass poverty in the region, of the local
culture and particularly of the needs of women, victims and survivors of the
conflict.
. Ensure that the violations committed against women during the conflict are
included within the investigations and prosecutions of the ICC.
. Remain mindful of the views and perspective of the people of Northern
Uganda about the referral, and review the timing of the investigation in an
assessment of whether any investigation at the current time would serve the
overall interests of justice.

Vahida Nainar
Chair, Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice

Brigid Inder
Executive Director, Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice

Betty Murungi
Board Member, Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice

Sara Sharratt
Member of Advisory Council, Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice

Gabriella Mischkowski
Member of Advisory Council, Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice

Honourable Jane Akwero Odwong,
MP Kitgum District

Honourable Margaret Otim Ateng
MP, Lira District

Honourable Alice Alaso
MP, Soroti District

Veronica Bichetero
Commissioner, Uganda Human Rights Commisssion

Ruth Ochieng
Director, Isis-WICCE/ Member, Women Initiatives for Gender Justice

Jessica Nkuuhe
Associate Director, Isis-WICCE

Elizabeth Ngororano
Board Member, Isis-WICCE