12/15/2004

These children live in a camp for displaced people near Gulu province. A brutal civil war has raged in northern Uganda for the past 18 years between Government forces and the Lord's Resistance Army - a rebel group made up largely of children who were abducted from their homes and forced to join. In 2004, the Ugandan People's Defense Forces (UPDF) has succeeded in weakening the LRA, and an increased number of formerly abducted children and adults are being rescued by the UPDF or escaping and seeking amnesty.

Despite improvements in camp security and the ceasefire between the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan People's Defense Forces (UPDF), internally displaced persons in camps in northern Uganda are experiencing widespread human rights violations perpetrated by fighting forces and fellow displaced persons. Violations include sexual exploitation, gender-based violence, denial of basic services, and intimidation, as well as attacks and abductions by the LRA.