BERKELEY, Calif.
A report released by the University of California, Berkeley, and Tulane University has found that as many as 38,000 children and 37,000 adults have been abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) since 1986. The rebel group has been accused of kidnapping tens of thousands of women and children to serve as soldiers, servants or sex slaves in northern Uganda.
The Berkeley-Tulane report, “Abduction: The Lord’s Resistance Army and Forced Conscription in Northern Uganda,” says that nearly one in four of the abductees is female and, on average, women remain enslaved by the LRA three and a half years longer than men. Young women are often used by LRA commanders as “wives,” and up to 10 percent become pregnant while in captivity, contributing to the length of their stay.
The report documents rising violence in the 20-year-long conflict between the LRA and Ugandan government forces, which have been negotiating a ceasefire. The International Criminal Court has issued indictments against LRA leader Joseph Kony, a self-proclaimed spirit medium, and four other commanders and the report could be made available to the court’s Office of the Prosecutor if the rebel leaders are brought to trial, the researchers said.
“Our research shows that Kony and his henchmen abducted as many as 38,000 children and 37,000 adults into his rebel army over the past 11 years,” said Eric Stover, coauthor of the report and faculty director of UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center. “These conscripted civilians were forced to commit horrible crimes, including the mutilation and killing of fellow villagers and even family members.”
Stover and Tulane coauthors Phuong Pham and Patrick Vinck presented their findings today in Gulu, Uganda. The event, hosted by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), marks the International Day of the African Child.
