RESOLUTION(1)

on the abduction of children in Northern Uganda

The ACP-EU Joint Assembly,

- meeting in Nassau (Bahamas) from 11 October to 14 October 1999,

- having regard to the UN Conventions on the protection of the rights of children,

A. considering that an armed rebellion has been raging in Northern Uganda since 1986, led by soldiers of the former President Milton Obote, under the present name of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA),

B. considering that the LRA has abducted over 10000 children, as young as seven years old in Northern Uganda, particularly in the districts of Gulu and Kitgum, in the past years,

C. considering that these children are taken to camps in South Sudan from where they are sent to fight both the Ugandan government army and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA),

D. considering that the children abducted by the LRA are subjected to extremes of brutality,

E. considering that the LRA is armed by the Sudanese government army, which also provides it with food and logistical support, as a counter-move for the alleged support of the Ugandan government to the SPLA,

F. considering that the children abducted by the LRA are forced to conduct a reign of terror against their own clansmen - the Acholi population - by killing innocent people or by cutting off limbs, ears and lips, the total number of deaths estimated at over 100000 and the total number of displaced people at over 300000,

G. considering that the girls are given as wives to LRA commanders and forced to produce a new Acholi generation in the camps in Sudan, the best documented case being the girls of Aboke,

H. considering that thousands of children have already died in captivity, from hunger and disease, during the fighting or beaten and knived to death as punishment for those who tried to escape,

I. considering that the government of Uganda has expressed its willingness to grant amnesty to the LRA rebels and commanders who surrender,

J. considering that the International community has condemned the actions of the LRA in the Human Rights Commission Resolutions of 1998 and 1999,

1. Strongly condemns the abduction of children in Northern Uganda by the LRA and the sequent use of these children in armed combat, which is a flagrant violation of several UN Conventions and international humanitarian law;

2. Condemns the fact that in Sudan, the use of child soldiers and the enslavement of children continues, and supports the action plan put forward by Unicef to eradicating these practices;

3. Calls on the LRA to immediately and unconditionally release all the abducted children, stop the reign of terror against its own people and resume talks on ending the conflict in a peaceful way;

4. Calls on the government of Sudan to stop supporting the Lord's Resistance Army and to cooperate in the release of all the abducted children;

5. Calls on the government of Sudan to consider the issue of the abducted children as a humanitarian issue and separate it from the larger political issues in the region;

6. Calls on the Government of Sudan to allow free and full access by humanitarian organisations such as ICRC and Unicef to the LRA camps to ascertain the identities of the abducted children and ensure their safe return to their home communities;

7. Calls on the Government of Uganda to continue efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Uganda;

8. Calls on all parties involved in the conflict in Sudan to resume talks to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in South Sudan;

9. Calls on the EU to support all efforts to rehabilitate the returning children and to support the affected communities in Northern Uganda;

10. Calls on the EU to take a more active role in contributing to end the war in both Uganda and Sudan;

11. Calls on the EU to support initiatives that prevent the use of children in war;

12. Instructs its Co-Presidents to forward this resolution to the ACP-EU Council and the Commission, to Unicef and the Governments of Uganda and Sudan.

(1) Adopted by the ACP-EU Joint Assembly on 14 October 1999 in Nassau (Bahamas)