Ugandans say they want to see government officials and Lord's Resistance Army leaders face charges for crimes including murder, rape and forced recruitment of child soldiers that was committed during the country's brutal two-decade war, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a report released Tuesday. Ugandans, the report said, have a need to "discover the truth about the past, especially to shed light on the identity of the perpetrators and the nature of the acts that have been committed." AlertNet.org/Reuters (8/14)
Crime victims in northern Uganda want justice - UN
14 Aug 2007 13:46:03 GMT
Source: Reuters
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L14809090.htm
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Victims of atrocities in northern Uganda blame both the government and Lord's Resistance Army rebels for the murders, abductions and rapes committed during a 20-year war, the U.N. human rights office said on Tuesday.
Many survivors want compensation from the government for crimes committed by LRA rebels, the United Nations said in a study based on private interviews with 1,725 victims.
"This research study shows that the population broadly believes that both the LRA and the government -- and specifically their leaders -- should be held accountable for the harms they have caused during the conflict," the report by the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights found.
"Sentiments of anger and vengefulness and a desire for prosecution abound in many communities," it said.
Tens of thousands of people died in the war which uprooted nearly 2 million people before a 2006 truce. The LRA is notorious for massacring civilians, mutilating survivors and kidnapping children to serve as soldiers and sex slaves.
The U.N. report, based on research in Acholiland, Lango and Teso, is a catalogue of horrific crimes, with children the main victims of abduction. Its authors said the study was designed to "amplify victims' voices".
"The most common forms of harm identified were murder, torture, abductions, rape, mutilation, arson, displacement of populations into IDP (internally displaced persons) camps, and the theft or destruction of property," it said.
'DISCOVER THE TRUTH'
Victims "repeatedly expressed their need to discover the truth about the past, especially to shed light on the identity of the perpetrators and the nature of the acts that have been committed," it said.
But they had "highly mixed views" about amnesty processes, prosecution of perpetrators before the International Criminal Court (ICC), and local justice, according to the 80-page report.
LRA leader Joseph Kony and his top deputies, wanted for war crimes by the ICC, are believed to be camped somewhere in the jungle of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Ugandan government has agreed to use a national process of accountability for wartime atrocities -- implicitly rejecting ICC demands that the men be handed over for trial in the Hague.
The government and rebels signed an agreement on June 30 on how to deal with war crimes in a third phase of five-phase peace talks to end one of Africa's worst conflicts.
Kampala has said a special tribunal to deal with war crimes would not handle charges of abuse by the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF), as the army already has courts marshal.
A boy from Lira district said: "When we were abducted, (the rebels) made us sit on eight people who were killed. We were made to drink the blood of the corpses and some of the blood was rubbed into our chests. They cut people and cooked the bodies in drums. We were then made to eat the flesh that was cooked."
A girl, abducted at age 11 by the LRA, recalled being forced to carry heavy loads and tortured. "One time when the UPDF attacked, I was also made to kill other children if they tried to escape. Then I was forced to have sex with a big man."
The U.N. report said peace talks in Juba, southern Sudan, represented the "best-ever opportunity for a lasting peace" in northern Uganda. LRA rebels failed to raise enough money to fund travel to the latest round which had been due to start July 30.
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Links: International Criminal Court
International Criminal Court
Excerpt From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Criminal_Court
The International Criminal Court (ICC) was established in 2002 as a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression, although it cannot currently exercise jurisdiction over the crime of aggression.[1] The court came into being on July 1, 2002 — the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, entered into force[2] — and it can only prosecute crimes committed on or after that date.[3]
As of August 2007, 104 states are members of the Court; Japan will become the 105th state party on 1 October 2007.[4] A further 41 countries have signed but not ratified the Rome Statute.[5] However, a number of states, including China, India and the United States, are critical of the Court and have not joined.
The Court can generally exercise jurisdiction only in cases where the accused is a national of a state party, the alleged crime took place on the territory of a state party, or a situation is referred to the Court by the United Nations Security Council.[6] The Court is designed to complement existing national judicial systems: it can exercise its jurisdiction only when national courts are unwilling or unable to investigate or prosecute such crimes.[7][8] Primary responsibility to punish crimes is therefore left to individual states.
Labels: War Crimes, War Criminals, Uganda, Atrocities, Torture, ICC - International Criminal Court,
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