One third of abductions involve children, UN Commissioner says

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, on Thursday said that about one third of the more than 26,000 cases of abduction recorded to date in Uganda involved children under the age of 18. A statement from the UN quoted her as saying that if there was no change in the situation, hundreds of children would be abducted by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). “Many of them will ultimately perish in the bush, either as a result of the harsh living conditions or at the hands of other captives,” she said. She was reporting on her office’s mission to Uganda, Sudan and Kenya over the past month to investigate the abduction of children in northern Uganda. She noted that the vast majority of LRA fighters and camp followers were either children or had been children at the time of their abduction into the movement. The mission had heard that the children abducted by the LRA were forced to carry out attacks in their home villages and were killed when trying to escape. Most women and girls who had been abducted were taken to serve as “wives” for LRA commanders. She said significant steps had been taken by Uganda towards the prevention of further abductions and the reintegration of child abductees who had escaped from LRA. Throughout the major population centres in the affected areas, she added, local organisations had formed to mobilise support and assistance to affected families and returning children. She was addressing the Commission currently meeting in its 57th session in Geneva.