Africa, Headlines, Human Rights

RIGHTS: Groups Praise Global Court’s Ugandan Probe

Eli Clifton

WASHINGTON, Aug 4 2004 (IPS) - Human rights group are welcoming the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes in northern Uganda.

The ICC’s Jul. 29 announcement set in motion a formal probe into the 18-year-old conflict in northern Uganda that has been marked by extreme brutality against the civilian population, especially children, and has spread into southern Sudan.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni formally requested the new court’s assistance in December 2003 to investigate atrocities committed in ongoing clashes between members of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and government forces.

The ICC’s ability to investigate and prosecute crimes, however, will be limited to crimes committed after Jul. 1, 2002, when the court was established to investigate war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

“Most of all we’re pleased that once again the ICC is living up to its potential – despite the concerns in the U.S. of its critics – to do everything right,” said Maggie Gardner, manager of the international law and justice programme at Citizens for Global Solution, formerly the World Federalist Society.

“They (the ICC) are going after the worst people in the worst countries that have asked for its help,” she added in an interview with IPS.

The conflict in Uganda has resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians, mass displacement of the population, arbitrary killings, maiming, abductions and forced recruitment.

In particular, the LRA and its leader, Joseph Kony, have been accused of abducting children to act as combatants and sex slaves, at times moving them across the border into Sudan.

“Just getting him into custody will be one of the greatest hurdles (to the ICC investigation),” according to Gardner.

The fact that the Government of Sudan apparently acquiesced in permitting a late July raid by Ugandan forces against Kony’s camp in southern Sudan is being seen as an improvement in Sudan’s cooperation with Uganda against the LRA, which Khartoum has previously sheltered.

“We welcome the referral to the International Criminal Court and we urge the ICC to ensure a fair, impartial, even-handed investigation of all parties involved in atrocities,” said Jennifer Trahan, international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch (HRW), in an interview.

“A particular challenge for this investigation will be ensuring there are sufficient measures to protect the safety of child witnesses,” she added.

A large number of those testifying at the court are expected to be children, and there are fears they could face violent retribution from those they accuse.

A recent report by Citizens for Global Solutions, ‘In Uncharted Waters: Seeking Justice Before the Atrocities Have Stopped’, suggests ICC involvement in Uganda could help draw attention to the conflict, force government and military reforms, and deter some of the on-going atrocities through the threat of prosecution.

The report says that in order to be effective the ICC must continue to:

– Investigate all sides fairly and transparently: “With tensions high between the central government and the northern population, the ICC must ensure that its actions are not misconstrued as favouring one party to the conflict”;

– Work with local civil society in northern Uganda, “which continues to seek a peaceful resolution to this conflict, an effort that the ICC can complement”;

– “Communicate the work of the ICC to the Ugandan people: The work of the ICC is intended to benefit the Ugandan people, but this requires transparency and public education to keep Ugandan civilians abreast of the workings of justice.”

The report also requests that the United States, which has refused to co-operate with the ICC, assist in the investigation by sharing non-classified information, satellite imagery and other information that could assist the court in its prosecutions.

U.S. President George W Bush withdrew Washington from the Rome Statute, the law that created the ICC, arguing that the new body will be susceptible to political prosecutions, which could include actions against U.S. military and other personnel. His administration has also signed treaties with dozens of nations who have agreed to exempt U.S. citizens from the ICC’s jurisdiction – and cut military aid to others who refused such deals.

In July the United States tried to renew a U.N. Security Council resolution that exempted its soldiers from the court’s jurisdiction, but withdrew the motion when it appeared opposition to it would be stronger than in the previous two years.

ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo of Argentina has confirmed that in the Ugandan case the court will be looking into allegations against both the leaders of the rebel LRA and Ugandan military leaders involved in the conflict.

The LRA is accused of kidnapping thousands of children and forcing them to kill others, work as slave labour, or serve as sexual slaves to commanders.

LRA rebels say they are fighting for the establishment of a government based on the biblical Ten Commandments.

Accusations against members of the Ugandan military include acts of torture, rape and the use of children under the age of 15 as soldiers.

The treatment of children returning from their LRA abductors has been the subject of much controversy: allegations have been levelled that the Ugandan security forces have re-trained some of them to fight against the LRA.

Children under the age of 18 when they commit a crime cannot be tried before the ICC but the court could prosecute military leaders for: employing children under age 15 in any capacity for an armed force; rape, sexual slavery, and any other form of sexual violence against children; enslavement and trafficking; and murder, mutilation, torture and other cruel treatment.

The Ugandan investigation is the second launched by the ICC. In June, Moreno Ocampo announced the court would probe ongoing atrocities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, another ICC member state that had referred its own conflict to the court.

ICC personnel arrived in the DRC earlier this week to begin coordinating the investigation.

The Kampala-based ‘Monitor’ newspaper reported Jul. 31 that the Ugandan government is working around the clock to amend the nation’s amnesty law to exclude suspects in the ICC’s investigation, including Kony and his deputy Vincent Otti, from amnesty.

Uganda’s Amnesty Act 2000 provides amnesty to insurgents and collaborators who officially denounce rebellion.