UGANDA DE-LISTED FOR RECRUITMENT OF CHILD SOLDIERS

UNCLAS KAMPALA 000489 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KTIP PHUM PGOV KWMN UG SUBJECT: UGANDA DE-LISTED FOR RECRUITMENT OF CHILD SOLDIERS ¶1. Summary: The United Nations has removed Uganda from its list of countries that actively recruit children into armed forces. The Ugandan Government initially brushed off the UN listing as politically-motivated, but recently allowed a formal verification team to inspect all of its military facilities and recruitment exercises. The team, which had been working closely with the government on child rights and protection issues since 2006, found no child soldiers within the military and noted its sustained performance on child protection issues. End Summary. ¶2. On April 29, UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy announced that Uganda had been removed from the "list of shame" which named countries accused of recruiting child soldiers. Coomaraswamy said Uganda's de-listing was the result of its successful execution of an action plan for the demobilization of children and their reintegration into society. In previous UN reports, Uganda had been accused of using children in local defense units, primarily in northern Uganda, and in the Ugandan Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF). The Government largely ignored the listing because at the time, it viewed the allegations as politically-motivated because they came from former UN Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, who is a Ugandan exile and an avowed political foe of President Museveni. ¶3. Last November, Uganda's former UN Deputy Permanent Representative Adonia Ayebare persuaded Museveni that the listing was hurting Uganda's image unnecessarily. He argued that Uganda had nothing to hide and that the UPDF should immediately sign off on an action plan that had been agreed to at the working level. He also argued that as a member of the UN Security Council, Uganda needed to follow through on its international obligations. Museveni agreed, and in January, the verification team began its work. ¶4. The Ugandan Government's delays in signing the action plan frustrated the national task force, which viewed the government's reluctance to cooperate as irrational, according to UNICEF's Protection Officer, Cornelius Williams. The task force, consisting of UNICEF, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Save the Children Uganda, the Uganda Human Rights Commission, and the Uganda Children's Rights Network, had been monitoring and reporting quarterly on Uganda's compliance with UN Resolution 1612 on Children and Armed Conflict since 2006 and had only found one case of a 17-year old that forged documents to join the UPDF. He was dismissed. ¶5. Over the past five years, UNICEF and Save the Children have forged a close working relationship with the UPDF. The UPDF receives regular training from UNICEF, Save the Children, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Ugandan Child Rights Network, among others. The UPDF has developed a code of conduct for soldiers dealing with children and a memorandum of understanding between UNICEF and Save the Children and the UPDF's Child Protection Units (CPU). There is regular interaction between the UPDF's human rights desk, the CPUs, and the international organizations. UNICEF has been particularly complimentary of the UPDF's openness and willingness to cooperate on issues involving children. ¶6. Comment: The UPDF and the task force are pleased with the recognition of its efforts, even if it believed it had been unfairly singled out in the first place. The international organizations agree that Uganda's de-listing was appropriate and they hope that the UPDF's progress on children's issues can be emulated in neighboring countries. HOOVER