Introduction
Armed conflicts have been an integral part of human civilization from historical times and they continue to characterize human society even today. A common reality with all armed conflicts is that they result in the killing of people and the destruction of property. Even so, conflicts in the 21st century are unique in that the warring parties are obliged to follow some rules of engagement and to respect human rights.
In armed conflicts, the combatants are expected to take appropriate care to ensure that the risk posed to non-combatants is minimized. Lethal force is supposed to be directed at legitimate military targets and the use of force against civilians is seen as unlawful. However, not all armed groups respect these principles and some of them engage in gross violations of human rights. A good example of this is the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) which is a rebel group that operates in Northern Uganda. The LRA rebels under the command of Joseph Kony have sown devastation and death throughout Uganda’s northernmost district for over 20 years.
This rebel outfit was formed as a result of the political and ethnic divisions between the north and the south of Uganda. This paper will set out to demonstrate that the actions of Joseph Kony, the LRA leader, constitute gross human rights violations. The paper will begin by providing a brief overview of the theoretical framework of human rights in armed conflicts as well as a historical overview of the LRA rebel group. An elaborate discussion of the various crimes committed by the LRA will then be undertaken.
Theoretical Framework: Human Rights in Armed Conflicts
The issue of human rights law in armed conflicts has continued to be debated by many scholars over the past few decades. The debate has mostly been centered upon the question “do human rights laws continue to apply once we enter the realm of armed conflict?” By their very nature, armed conflicts result in death and suffering by the people involved in the war. Victories are in most cases achieved by one party being able to overwhelm its opponent through military force which may make the issue of human rights seem paradoxical.
To further complicate the issue; most internal armed conflicts are prompted by human rights abuses against certain groups. O’Flaherty notes that most conflicts are initiated by human rights abuses such as the oppression of minority groups in a country. In such scenarios, human rights abuses are already present at the onset of the conflict and the conflict only serves to escalate the violations.
In armed conflicts, there are some internationally sanctioned rules which must be followed by the conflicting parties. The Geneva Convention asserts that as a minimum, “personals taking no active part in hostilities should be treated humanely”. While a combatant can lawfully target another combatant since this is a necessary part of any military operation during the war, the Geneva Convention also explicitly forbids the intentional direction or attacks against the civilian population who are not taking part directly in the hostilities. Another human right issue in armed conflict is the prohibition of torture. Warring parties are required to abstain from using torture tactics on enemy forces since this constitutes a human right violation.
A significant characteristic of most of the armed conflicts since 1990 is that they have been intrastate conflicts. These conflicts have pitted government forces against armed rebels or various armed rebel groups against each other. The armed conflicts have in most cases lasted for over eight years, bringing about prolonged suffering to the civilian population in the areas affected. Most rebel groups are unable to match the military might of the government forces and they, therefore, have to resort to less direct means of attack.
Terror tactics against civilian populations are used as a strategy by some armed groups to weaken the support for their opponents. In such conditions, human rights are disregarded since the objective is to intimidate the population and weaken the support of the opponent forces. The state forces are also unable to offer protection to vulnerable groups against attacks by rebel forces.
Conflicts which occur within a nation’s border are unique in that certain human rights obligations exist within the State’s boundaries. The actions carried out by the conflicting parties should therefore be consistent with the human rights law established in the state since these laws do not cease to exist with the outbreak of the conflict. The armed groups engaged in the conflict are therefore required to respect the human rights obligations that exist within the borders of the country.
History of the LRA Conflict
The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is a non-state armed group that engages in acts of violence that are primarily directed against the civilian population of northern Uganda. The LRA was born from the ruins of the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) which fled north following the rising to power of the National Resistance Army (NRA) which was led by the current Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni. The UNLA was predominantly made up of northern troops who were fearful of reprisal by the NRA due to the past atrocities that the UNLA had committed at the command of the previous regimes. The fears were confirmed when the NRA began mistreating the Northern population which led to the north forming armed groups for defense against the imminent southern occupation.
The LRA leader, Joseph Kony, first emerged as a spirit medium in early 1987 and his movement took up the name “Lord’s Army” and later changed its name to “Lord’s Resistance Army”. The LRA attracted popular support in the late 1980s and the population viewed this group as a formidable fighting apparatus that could present a credible counterforce to the NRA. As a result of this support, the LRA was able to attract several followers from the UNLA and the local population who joined the movement and engage in its military operations. However, this popular support was short-lived and by the early 1990s, the group had lost most of the support it previously enjoyed. With the loss of popular support, the rebel force lost its ability to recruit from the northern population since the civilians had no incentives to align themselves with the rebels. In response to this situation, the LRA started to engage in a large-scale abduction policy to fill its ranks of fighters.
In the early 1990s, the government engaged in aggressive military operations against the LRA to distance the local population from this group. The government’s rationale was that by isolating the LRA from the local population, the group would die out naturally due to a lack of resources. However, this tactic by the government forces resulted in more attacks on the populace by the LRA. From 1991, the LRA embarked on large-scale attacks on the ordinary civilian population as well as community buildings such as schools and clinics.
The attacks on the civilians served the dual purpose of punishing the civilians for siding with the government as well as alienating the government from the people. From 1997, the LRA became an element in a proxy war between Sudan and Uganda with the Sudanese government supplying the LRA with weapons and ammunition and also allowing the rebel group to use Southern Sudan as a base of operation.
The armed conflict between the LRA and the Ugandan government has continued to rage on up to date. The initial goal of the LRA was to overthrow the Ugandan government but that goal has long since been abandoned and currently, the goals of the rebel group remain hazy with some researchers advancing that the rebel group has no political or social agenda. While the war in northern Uganda is supposed to be between the Ugandan government forces and the LRA, the victims of the war are predominantly civilians of the northern Ugandan region.
Why Kony’s War constitutes Human Rights Violations
While death and destruction are to be expected in armed conflicts like the one that the LRA has been engaged in, this rebel group has been engaged in human rights violations. Since 1988, the LRA under Kony’s leadership has been responsible for horrific human rights abuses. The gravity with which the international community views Kony’s actions can be seen from the arrest warrant issued against him by the ICC in 2005. This warrant charged the LRA leader with 33counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including the forceful conscription of children in the groups’ army.
Joseph Kony’s LRA has been the principal belligerents in the conflict that has raged on for over twenty years in northern Uganda. This conflict has resulted in the displacement of over 1.5 million people and has caused many deaths and destruction turning the northern regions of Uganda into a humanitarian disaster. The very nature and method of the armed conflict perpetrated by the LRA has led to most of the fighting taking place in civilian communities. Studies reveal that starting from 1994, the LRA started to systematically attack civilian rather than military targets. This campaign which is aimed at terrorizing the civilian population has led to the emergence of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people in the northern districts.
The Ugandan army has been forced to establish “protected villages” where the displaced people and villagers in the northern districts are forced to relocate for their protection. Life in the protected villages is hard since the civilians lack the basic amenities and food is scarce. This has caused some of the civilians to venture into unprotected areas where they can engage in farming activities. The LRA targets these civilians destroying their houses and farms.
Arguably the most appalling feature of Kony’s rebel group has been the use of children in the LRA. As of 2007, it was estimated that the LRA had engaged in the abduction of an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 children. While international law explicitly prohibits the use of children in hostilities, Kony has continued to capitalize on the recruitment, conscription, and active use of children to wage his wars. Research indicates that the LRA would most likely not have had the ability to mount a viable fighting force for as many years as it has without child abductees. The involvement of children in war has been in part the result of the change in modern warfare tactics. Military advancements have made it possible for armed groups to access small arms and light weapons which can be operated by children.
The use of children by the LRA has not been limited to active fighting and abducted children have been forced to serve as sex slaves for the group’s commanders. Rape is rampant in the LRA where girls are given out as “wives” to commanders as well as male soldiers as rewards after military operations. The ICC’s Rome Statute defines the crime of rape as “a war crime and a crime against humanity”. The sexual slavery that Kony’s militia is guilty of forcing its female captives into is also defined as a crime against humanity by the Rome Statute. The rebel forces have also engaged in forced pregnancy which is the unlawful confinement of a female to forcibly make her pregnant.
Abducted girls are subjected to forced pregnancy and reports indicate that the girls who try to prevent pregnancy are punished through beatings and sometimes even killed to act as an example to the others. Research indicates that forced pregnancies are a strategic move to manipulate the feelings of the captured girls since they are inclined to show loyalty towards their husband-fighters even if the bearing of children occurred against their free will.
The treatment of children by the LRA also constitutes a violation of human rights. Upon abduction, the children are forced to engage in long marches to the rebel base camps which are in southern Sudan. These marches are long and some of the children who are as young as 8 years die of exhaustion and hunger before they even get to the camps. The children are made to as human mules; carrying the goods that the LRA loot from villages as they make their way to the camp.
Those children who are unable to keep up with the pace are beaten or even killed to instill fear and discipline in the other abductees. In addition to this, the LRA offers little food and water for its captives and a number of them face starvation. Kony has been guilty of endangering the lives of the child combatants who are often put on the frontline as direct combatants. Since children have little experience, they are vulnerable to hostile fire in a battle situation. In addition to this, the LRA regards children as easily dispensable assets and they are therefore sent on the most dangerous missions.
Another human violation practiced by Kony’s group has been the use of torture and maiming to instill fear in the civilian population. The LRA in displays of strength has engaged in horrific maiming including the cutting off of lips, ears, and noses of innocent civilians in northern Uganda. Torture by the LRA is not only used against the civilian population but also LRA abductees. Amnesty International reports that children who are caught trying to escape are tortured using such means as; beating with clubs, burning with oil, and branding to name but a few. Rape has also been used as a tool of torture by the LRA. Kony has made use of rape to terrorize and control the communities in the Northern parts of Uganda and it is a key part of the LRA’s war strategy.
Conclusion
This paper set out to demonstrate that Joseph Kony, the LRA leader is guilty of human rights violations on a large scale. The paper began by affirming that even in armed conflicts, combatants are supposed to respect human rights and ensure that civilians are not involved in the conflict. The paper has traced the formation of the LRA to 1987 and noted that while the LRA was formed as a result of legitimate fears by the Northern people, the rebel group quickly lost favor with the civilians it claimed to represent.
LRA has since then engaged in activities that are a direct breach of international law applicable to armed conflicts. Specifically, it has been revealed that the LRA has been involved in targeted attacks against civilians. Large-scale abductions of children have been the primary means through which Kony’s group has been able to sustain its forces. The group has also made use of torture and maiming to intimidate the civilian population. From these revelations, it is clear that Joseph Kony’s actions constitute human rights violations. The Ugandan government with the assistance of the international community should take up action to bring this human rights violator to justice.
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