Photo: J. Theakston Nowhere to Hide Humanitarian Protection Threats in Northern Uganda December 2004 C S O P N U Nowhere to Hide: Humanitarian Protection Threats in Northern Uganda 1 Nowhere to Hide Humanitarian Protection Threats in Northern Uganda C S O P N U Civil Society Organisations for Peace in Northern Uganda c/o CARE International in Uganda Plot 17 Mackinnon Rd PO Box 7280, Kampala Tel: 041 258568/9 [email protected] CSOPNU Nowhere to Hide: Humanitarian Protection Threats in Northern Uganda 2 Executive Summary Northern Uganda is in the grip of what may be the world’s most serious protection crisis. The war in the region is a dirty war – a war in which civilians have become the principle strategic targets and victims of violence; in which civilians have become the field upon which the conflict is fought, and through which victory is being sought. A serious protection vacuum exists in the region. Gross abuses of international humanitarian and human rights law are perpetrated against civilians on a grand scale, with culpability on both sides. Most obviously, and most seriously, the LRA threatens civilians with a brutal cocktail of psychological violence, physical violence and coercion that has consumed everyday life. Every moment of daily life is touched by the fear of attack; every action taken has become governed by the ever-present threats of murder and abduction. Thousands have been killed, thousands more have been abducted, in attacks on civilians which constitute a serious breach of the major articles of international humanitarian and human rights law. These threats have also caused thousands of civilians to seek refuge in IDP camps and in night-dweller centres across the region, and have contributed to the collapse of the livelihoods system in northern Uganda, creating serious levels of deprivation, and engendering a massive humanitarian crisis that forces civilians to live in life-threatening conditions that breach their rights to live in dignity. In its response to the LRA threat the GoU has sought to protect its citizens by 1) annihilating the insurgency via military offensives, 2) destroying the “intelligence centres of the insurgency”1 and controlling the civilian population through a strategy of forced displacement, and 3) by making civilians responsible for their own defence through a strategy of civil militarization. However, while seeking to improve the security and protection of civilians, these strategies have in fact contributed to the production of the humanitarian protection crisis: • The military offensive has not proven itself successful in adequately protecting civilians from abuses by the LRA. • Forced displacement has contributed to producing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, and has exposed civilians directly to violence and coercion at the hands of government forces. • By arming civilians the GoU has exposed the gaps in its capacity and will to mobilise regular forces, pushing civilian victims of violence to defend themselves, forcing father to face son, armed across the lines of abduction. This process has flooded the region with small arms, creating local armies with no formal accountability, that themselves prey on the vulnerable, and are exploited by the powerful. Thus, the GoU has so far failed in its obligation to mobilise a fully effective strategy for humanitarian protection in northern Uganda. The international community has also failed to adequately fulfil its obligation to protect the people of northern Uganda, by failing to effectively close the protection gap faced by civilians - either via the provision of appropriate levels of effective humanitarian assistance, or via political avenues. A Defining Protection: A Rights Based Approach Humanitarian protection is concerned with preventing or mitigating the most damaging effects (direct or indirect) of armed conflict on the civilian population, and it relates to the principal threats that are experienced by civilians living in the field of conflict. The principle threats experienced are: 1 Quote from Maj. Kakooza Mutale, The Monitor, 30 October – 1 November 1996. CSOPNU Nowhere to Hide: Humanitarian Protection Threats in Northern Uganda 3 • Violence or the threat of violence, e.g. murder, torture, rape, wounding, abuse, abduction, etc. • Coercion forced displacement, forced or prevented return, forced prostitution, forced recruitment, forced labour, etc. • Deprivation denial of access to means of subsistence (including relief assistance), destruction of property etc. Each of these may be committed against the civilian population either as a result of deliberate acts (murder, forced displacement etc.) or as a result of indirect negligence, and may result from the actions of a variety of perpetrators, including both the incumbent force (the government) and the insurgent (in this case, the rebels). The critical factor is that when these threats are visited upon the civilian population, they serve to deny civilians their rights as enshrined in international law. The responsibilities of those engaged in armed conflict vis-a–vis civilian protection (principally the state and the insurgent force) are enshrined in three bodies of law: • International Human Rights Law (IHRL) • International Humanitarian Law (IHL) • Refugee Law (RL). In particular IHL regulates the conduct of hostilities and seeks to minimise the suffering that armed conflict produces. Its core is found in the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Additional Protocols of 1977. IHL recognises that conflict inevitably occurs, but also attempts to limit the rights of parties to choose methods of warfare and aims to balance military necessity with principles of humanity. Those who are not taking part in the conflict - be they civilians, prisoners or wounded combatants - should not suffer disproportionate harm. The key principles are generally applicable in both international and internal armed conflicts, and are enshrined in the Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. They are: • Distinction Between combatants and civilians • Proportionality Loss of civilian life and damage to civilian property cannot outweigh the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated • Precaution Constant care shall be taken to spare the civilian population and civilian objects The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (GPID) are also instrumental in outlining the specific responsibilities that UN member states and armed groups should uphold during situations of internal displacement. They reinforce the significance of IHL and IHRL for civilians living under conditions of displacement, and outline the specific responsibilities of the state for protecting civilians suffering from internal displacement, and for ensuring that they live in a state of dignity. In particular they outline the rules governing forced displacement of civilians either by the state or by other armed groups. These are the key standards of international law which, together with the Rome Statute of 2001, govern the protection of civilians exposed to conflict in northern Uganda. B Responsibilities for Protection Under international and national law the state, as the sovereign power, has the ultimate responsibility to protect its citizens, and to create a protective environment within which they may live without fear of violence, in dignity, with their basic needs met, and with the ability to exercise all of their rights with impunity. This requires effective strategies to create a secure environment that protects people from violence via the security forces, as well as the construction of effective and just institutions of government and justice. If security is provided without the facilitation of these other factors, a protective environment is not provided, and the state is failing in its duties as the ‘agent’ of the people. CSOPNU Nowhere to Hide: Humanitarian Protection Threats in Northern Uganda 4 Thus the state must act as a shield interposed between civilians and the agents of violence and coercion that threaten their rights. This role is achieved either through the armed forces or the police force, as well as through the development of a protective environment via the creation of an effective government and judiciary, through which conflict can be mediated before it becomes violent. In those cases where the institutions mediating conflict and preventing violence break down, or are unable to function effectively, the state also has an obligation to act as a safety net to support civilians’ coping mechanisms. This is particularly the case in situations where the state has forcibly displaced civilians for the purposes of security or military advantage. In such circumstances the state becomes entirely responsible for the displaced population, and is under strict obligation to make adequate provision of their needs. Where it fails to do this, it stands in breach of Article 17 of Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions. These principles are clearly reflected in the Constitution of Uganda, thereby emphasizing that it is the GoU has the fundamental and final responsibility for guaranteeing protection of civilians in northern Uganda. Armed forces and armed groups also have obligations under IHL to protect civilians from harm under the provisions of the Geneva Conventions and under Common Article 3 in particular. Thus, the leaderships of the armed forces (both the state and any insurgent forces) have a specific responsibility for regulating the behaviour of their subordinates in the field, for