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Statement by Deputy Executive Director Rima Salah on her visit to northern Uganda

The following is a statement by Ms Rima Salah, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund, today concluding her visits to Kitgum (2-3 February) and Gulu Districts (4 February, with H.E. Philippe Douste-Blazy, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of France):

Entebbe, 4 February 2006 –

“The aim of my visit to northern Uganda – today in Gulu with H.E. Minister Douste-Blazy, and a separate visit to Kitgum earlier this week  – was to acquaint myself with the issues on the ground as they pertain to the humanitarian situation of children and women, and particularly the situation of children affected by the armed conflict.

“The insights shared by those I met are invaluable.  The images in my mind of the children – living each day with the effects of this brutal and murderous conflict – these images are indelible.

“I met formerly abducted children who recounted the extreme violence and abuse they faced during captivity, and heard about the especially cruel dilemma of the ‘child mothers.’  I met child “night commuters” who explained – in such a nonchalant way – why walking several kilometres a day to sleep in the urban centre is a natural part of their lives.

“What I saw in the faces and heard in the voices of these children was the impact of the total collapse of a secure environment on the most innocent and most vulnerable members of society.  It is the children bearing the brunt of poverty; it is the children being largely deprived of basic services that would otherwise enable them to survive, develop and thrive; and it is the children being brutalised and instrumentalised into combat, hard labour and sexual slavery.

“In my discussions with the senior leadership at both national and district levels, I was encouraged to hear renewed commitments to address the challenges being faced by the approximately 1.7 million internally displaced persons (IDP) of northern Uganda, including some 935,000 children.  I took the opportunity at each of these important discussions to urge the Government to take the lead in ensuring the respect and protection of the rights of the civilian population, especially the children and women who comprise 80 per cent of the IDPs.  Children and women should be protected against all forms of abuse, including sexual violence and exploitation, abduction and recruitment into fighting forces.  In this regard, I also reaffirmed UNICEF’s commitment to assist as we expand and enhance our humanitarian work being done to allow all Uganda children to attain their basic rights.

“But let me be very clear.  The responsibility to ensure an end to the suffering does not stop with the Government.

“There must be a universal condemnation of the LRA’s abhorrent attacks and abductions as flagrant violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws, as well as the children’s very right to life.

“There must also be a collective responsibility by duty-bearers – whether it is a camp leader, health worker, teacher, counsellor, police officer, religious leader, community leader, humanitarian worker, or a child’s parent – to be at the frontline of the effort to build a protective environment for all children in northern Uganda, and a recommitment of our moral and legal responsibilities to the children.

“I will be returning to New York with the message that we as the international community must not be numbed into keeping northern Uganda a ‘silent’ or ‘forgotten’ emergency, as it has been previously described.  We cannot and must not lose sight of the simple fact that the toll being taken on children is this conflict’s most tragic and distressing impact.

“Now is the time for new ideas, new action, new funding and a reinvigorated resolve to stem the suffering of the children of northern Uganda.  If there is one thing I heard in common amongst the children and adults whom I met this week, it is that everyone wants to go home.  In the absence of a lasting peace and security, however, this basic wish to be protected by the social fabric of the family will remain unfulfilled.

No one agency can single-handedly ensure the protection of children and the fulfilment of their rights.  In this regard, I would like to acknowledge and thank all the partners of UNICEF in Uganda for their continued support and collaboration, the importance of which cannot be emphasised enough.  Let us continue to remember that we are duty-bound to the children of this country and its future generations by our humanitarian spirit and, indeed, by our humanity.”

****

For more information, please contact:

Chulho Hyun, Communication Officer, UNICEF Uganda,
+256 (0)77 222 347, [email-masked]

www.unicef.org/infobycountry/uganda.html

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