I. Summary
In the remote Karamoja region of northeastern Uganda, pastoralist herding communities struggle for survival amidst frequent drought, intercommunal cattle raids, and banditry. Gun ownership is pervasive, and armed criminality and cattle raiding by civilians in Karamoja exposes the population there, as well as those in neighboring districts, to high levels of violence, and restricts even the movement of humanitarian workers. It poses significant challenges to the government’s responsibility to provide for its citizens’ security and human rights. Since May 2006 the national army, tasked with law enforcement responsibilities in the region in the absence of an adequate police presence, renewed a program of forced disarmament to curb the proliferation of small arms. In so-called cordon and search disarmament operations, soldiers surround villages in the middle of the night and at daybreak force families outside while their houses are searched for weapons. This report, based primarily on field research in Kampala and in the Kaabong and Moroto districts of the Karamoja region in January and February 2007 and additionally drawing on reporting by the United Nations (UN) and other sources, documents alleged human rights violations by soldiers of Uganda’s army, the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF), in cordon and search disarmament and other law enforcement operations in the region. These violations have included unlawful killings, torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary detention, and theft and destruction of property. While the Ugandan government has a legitimate interest in improving law and order in Karamoja, including stemming the proliferation of illegal weapons, it must do so in a manner consistent with human rights. Human Rights Watch welcomes steps taken by the Ugandan government in the past year to curb such human rights violations during disarmament and other law enforcement operations, in response to international and domestic pressure. The Ugandan government, however, has not adequately held to account those responsible for past abuses, and allegations of human rights violations continue to surface periodically in connection with disarmament and other law enforcement operations in Karamoja. The government has mounted several disarmament campaigns—some voluntary, some forced—in Karamoja since 2001 to collect what it now estimates to be as many as 30,000 unlawfully-held weapons in the region. At the same time, however, government programs to improve security, including programs of disarmament, face a fundamental dilemma: guns are used to defend from raiders as well as to rob and steal. The dynamics behind weapon possession in Karamoja include, for some, the desperate need to secure and defend their cattle and access to limited resources essential for their cattle, a matter of life and death. Removing weapons while not providing sufficient guarantees of safety and security renders, in their view, many communities vulnerable to attack. Weak government institutions in the region exacerbate these vulnerabilities and leave law enforcement responsibilities in the hands of the UPDF. The present disarmament campaign is just one of these responsibilities, which also include recovering raided cattle, apprehending and prosecuting criminal suspects, and protecting livestock in UPDF-guarded enclosures. In Kaabong district in December 2006 and January 2007, UPDF soldiers shot and killed 10 individuals, including three children, as they attempted to flee during cordon and search operations. Only one of the individuals killed was reported to have fired on the soldiers, while one other was running away with his gun. Four other individuals, including two children and one youth, were also shot and injured. In four armed confrontations with Karamojong communities between October 2006 and February 2007, at least two of which were preceded by cordon and search operations, dozens of civilians were killed, while the lives of an unknown number of UPDF soldiers were also claimed. Soldiers routinely beat men, at times to uncover the location of weapons. In Moroto district victims of three cordon and search operations described an almost identical pattern of mass beatings by soldiers of the entire male population: men were first rounded up outside of their homesteads, and then subjected to collective beatings with sticks, whips, guns, and tree branches accompanied by soldiers’ demands that they “get the gun.” Following cordon and search operations, soldiers detained men in military facilities. Although one UPDF spokesperson described such detentions—purportedly for the purpose of inducing the surrender of weapons—as lasting no longer than 48 hours—Human Rights Watch interviewed some men who were detained without access to family members for at least two weeks. Former detainees reported to Human Rights Watch that military authorities subjected them to severe beatings and violent interrogations, along with deprivation of food, water, and adequate shelter. Communities were also the victims of property destruction and theft. During one cordon and search operation, soldiers drove an armored personnel carrier through a homestead, crushing six homes, and narrowly missing a crowd of people. By conducting cordon and search operations to seize weapons, rather than to prosecute firearms offenses, the government may be seeking to avoid legal requirements authorizing searches, arrest, and detentions in the context of law enforcement operations and that protect the rights of persons under national and international law. Consequently, post-cordon and search detentions lack judicial control, and, at times, are not specific to individuals suspected of criminal activity, thereby violating the rights to be free from arbitrary arrest and detention. Moreover, searches conducted during these operations are authorized by military order alone, and not court-issued warrants mandated under national law, violating individual privacy rights. In response to allegations of human rights violations during disarmament operations, the government of Uganda has taken several steps. These include launching four investigations; developing a set of internal UPDF guidelines governing the conduct of military personnel during cordon and search operations, the violation of which subjects a soldier to discipline under the UPDF Act; providing UPDF soldiers conducting cordon and search operations with human rights training; and engaging with community members and local leaders about the goals of disarmament. These steps appear to have had an encouraging effect. The most recent information received by Human Rights Watch indicates that cordon and search operations, while still ongoing, have been markedly less violent than in earlier months of the disarmament campaign and accompanied by far fewer allegations of human rights violations. But allegations of human rights violations, most notably continued detention following cordon and search operations and isolated reports of beatings, have not ceased altogether. Moreover, none of the reports produced by government investigations have been made public. The Ugandan army wrote to Human Rights Watch in September 2007 that a number of soldiers have been brought to justice for human rights violations, but provided no details of the underlying offenses and punishments imposed. In the three explicitly disarmament-related cases of which Human Rights Watch is aware, soldiers were disciplined for petty theft. Accordingly, although it has taken steps in the right direction, Human Rights Watch calls on the Ugandan government to make further progress in stopping human rights violations by its forces. It should end impunity for violations by its soldiers by investigating and prosecuting or disciplining abuses where appropriate, and safeguard against future violations by revising its disarmament policies to comply with its human rights obligations under national and international law. Publicity garnered by the disarmament campaign has concentrated national and international attention on the challenges of survival and security in Karamoja; some of these challenges are imposed from within and some from without. The Ugandan government’s efforts to respond to allegations of human rights violations in the past year have included increased engagement with the people of Karamoja, who have long been alienated from the rest of the country. To ensure the sustainability of efforts to bring security to the region, the Ugandan government, with the support of the international community and with the communities of Karamoja leading the way, should seize this opportunity to develop durable solutions that reduce conflict and reliance on guns for protection of lives and livelihoods in Karamoja. Key RecommendationsTo the Government of Uganda
To Donor Countries and International Development Partners
To the United Nations Country Team
Detailed recommendations are given in Chapter VII. |