What Happened to Children Who Returned from the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda?

Abstract

In northern Uganda, more than 50,000 people were recruited by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) between the late 1980s and 2004, mostly by force. Around half of those taken were children (under 18 years old). A large number were never seen by their families again, but more than 20,000 returned through aid-financed reception centres. Endeavours were made to reunite them with their relatives, who were mostly living in insecure displacement camps. Relatively few were subsequently visited, even after the fighting ended in 2006. Thousands of vulnerable children were largely left to their own devices. This article draws on research carried out in 2004–06 and from 2012 to 2018, and compares findings with other publications on reintegration in the region. It argues that implementing best-practice guidelines for relocating displaced children with their immediate relatives had negative consequences. The majority of children who passed through a reception centre are now settled as young adults on ancestral land, where they are commonly abused because of their LRA past. With few exceptions, it is only those who spent a long period with the LRA and who are not living on ancestral land who have managed to avoid such experiences.

Legacies of humanitarian neglect: long term experiences of children who returned from the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda

“…For the purposes of this research, cen refers to a malevolent spiritual force, which emanates from those that have witnessed or perpetrated violence, or been in physical contact with a dead body. Cen is manifested in nightmares, interrupted sleep, and disturbed recollections, which may lead to feeling overwhelmed [ 59 ]. A given interviewee was coded as “1” if s/he reported having experienced cen .…”

Dominic Ongwen en la Corte Penal Internacional: un análisis feminista sobre crímenes internacionales y subjetividades complejas en la guerra

“…De otra parte, en cuanto a los niños soldados, es importante mencionar que el LRA fue ciertamente pionero en "industrializar" la conscripción de niños para hacer la guerra. Esfuerzos por calcular la magnitud del fenómeno señalan que para 2006, cuando cesó la colaboración sudanesa con el LRA y se firmó el Acuerdo de Juba, más de 24.000 niños habían sido víctimas de reclutamiento forzado (Allen et al, 2020). Naciones Unidas por su parte considera que los niños y niñas abducidos y reclutados forzosamente serían entre 60.000 y 100.000 (Loyle et al, 2021).…”

Hindrances to Third-Party Interventions in Conflict Resolution: United Nations and Patterns of Constraints in Resolving the Lord’s Resistance Army Conflict Between 2008-2012

“…From 2008 to 2011, difficulties were seen in the above situation. LRA is able to survive until now, because the space they have is still very broad (Finnström, 2006;Tim Allen et al, 2008). When the Ugandan government declared war on the LRA, Uganda's biggest obstacle was when the LRA accelerated its pace and spread to so many regions.…”

“…Congo's closure of the negotiations has left many regions free to enter by the LRA due to the lack of safeguards, leaving Congo with the most number of attacks in 2011, 222, almost 5 times more than those in the Central African Republic and South Sudan. Many areas that are not strictly guarded are also unable to be reached by MONUSCO patrols, making Congo a feasible LRA nest during the 2008-2012period (UNSC, 2012. Congo is also the most passive country in terms of domestic policy towards the LRA, when compared to the 3 other victim countries.…”