CIAO DATE: 08/04

State Department Required to Report on the Use of Child Soldiers

Victoria Garcia

Center for Defense Information

April 2004

On March 31, 2003, the U.S. State Department released the 27th annual Country Reports on Human Rights. The reports detail information on 196 countries compiled by Foreign Service Officers abroad, domestic and international human rights groups, academics, activists, jurists and journalists that work to recount human rights conditions around the globe. These annual reports point “to the areas of progress and draw attention to new and continuing challenges” in the human rights realm, and are to be “used as a resource for shaping policy, conducting diplomacy and making assistance, training and other resource allocations.”

While each report has traditionally assessed internationally recognized human rights as per the Universal Declaration of Human Rights including respect for — the integrity of the person, civil liberties, political rights, workers rights and discrimination — this year’s reports include a new section. In accordance with the Foreign Relations Authorization Act of FY 03, State Department human reports now include a section on child soldiers. The reports contain a description of the “nature and extent of the compulsory recruitment and conscription of individuals under the age of 18” by all armed groups in the country, and what steps have been taken by the government of the country to eliminate such practices. The reports must also list which countries have ratified the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which:

• Requires states to "take all feasible measures" to ensure that members of their armed forces under the age of 18 years do not participate in hostilities;

• Prohibits the conscription of anyone under the age of 18 into the armed forces;

• Requires states to raise the age of voluntary recruitment from 15 and to deposit a binding declaration of the minimum age for recruitment into its armed forces; and

• Prohibits the recruitment or use in hostilities of children under the age of 18 by rebel or other non–governmental armed groups, and requires states to criminalize such practices.

An estimated 300,000 children are currently fighting in conflicts around the world. Children as young as seven years old serve as cooks, spies, messengers, clerks, porters and often end up on the front lines of combat. The use of children as soldiers is clearly a violation of a child’s human rights and a particularly malicious form of child labor. In that vein, the United States has begun reporting on the many countries’ security and rebel forces that recruit under–18s into their ranks. The reports highlight 22 countries currently using child soldiers; among the worst violators are Sri Lanka, Uganda, Philippines, Burma and Colombia.

Below are excerpts from the 2002 State Department Human Rights Reports relating to the use of children in armed conflict.

Afghanistan

There were credible reports that both the Taliban and the Northern Alliance used child soldiers. Northern Alliance officials publicly stated that their soldiers must be at least 18 years of age, but press sources reported that preteen soldiers were used in Northern Alliance forces.

Angola

The government has not brought any significant numbers of children into the armed forces since the 1996–97 demobilization campaign; however, some children reportedly continued to be recruited as a result of the absence of civil registration and the inability to prove dates of birth. There continued to be reports of forced recruitment of children in the provinces until the April ceasefire. There were credible reports that UNITA [União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola] often forcibly recruited children as young as 10 years of age into its armed forces.

Burma

The official age of enlistment in the ostensibly all–volunteer army is 18 years. However, the authorities reportedly rounded up orphans and street children in Rangoon and other cities and forced them into military service. An October HRW report entitled, “My Gun Was As Tall As Me,” alleged widespread forced conscription of children into the SPDC [State Peace and Democracy Council] army, and, to a lesser extent, into armed groups fighting against the regime.

The ICFTU [International Confederation of Free Trade Unions] reported that women, children (including orphans and street children), and elderly persons were required to perform forced labor; that porters often were sent into dangerous military situations, rarely received medical treatment, and almost never were compensated; that forced laborers frequently were beaten; and that some women performing forced labor were raped or otherwise abused sexually by soldiers. The ICFTU reported several cases of the military pressuring civilians to conceal the incidence and extent of forced labor from the ILO [International Labor Organizations] investigation team during the year. Government authorities often allowed households or persons to substitute money or food for labor for infrastructure projects, but widespread rural poverty forced most households to contribute labor. Parents routinely called upon children to help fulfill their households’ forced labor obligations.

According to SHRF [Shan Human Rights Foundation], in June 2001, SPDC troops forcibly conscripted 250 civilian porters, including 108 women and children, many of whom were between the ages of 8 and 16 years. Some children were forced to carry six cans of milk and some were forced to carry 10 mortar rounds each. Many of the children were kicked and beaten when they could not move fast enough.

The law does not specifically prohibit bonded labor by children; while bonded labor was not practiced, forced labor by children occurred. The authorities reportedly rounded up orphans and street children in Rangoon and other cities and forced them into military service. Children also were forced to serve as porters in combat areas, during which beatings and other mistreatment reportedly occurred.

The military regime reportedly used children as porters, in infrastructure development, and in providing other services to military forces. Children often built or repaired roads and irrigation facilities. Households reportedly satisfied forced labor quotas by sending their least productive workers (usually children). In recent years, there have been reports that military units in various ethnic minority areas either forced children to perform support services, such as fetching water, cleaning, cutting bamboo, or cultivating food crops, or allowed households or villages to use children to satisfy SPDC orders to perform such services.

Burundi

The minimum age for military service was 18, but observers believed that there were some children below that age in the military. Children continued to serve in the armed forces, and the UN Special Representative reported in December that both the government and rebel groups continued to recruit child soldiers. There also were credible reports that the Guardians of the Peace recruited children to provide a quasi–police presence in public places such as markets; some of these children reportedly were sent to the front lines.

In 2001, the National Assembly voted in favor of the ratification of the Additional Protocol Against Child Soldiers. The president has the authority, with the approval of the National Assembly, to issue a decree ratifying the protocol and to transmit an instrument of ratification; however, there was no information on whether the decree had been issued or whether the government deposited its instrument of ratification of the protocol.

Chad

Although the practice was prohibited by law, UNICEF [United Nations Children’s Fund] estimated that there were approximately 600 child soldiers in the country. In addition, UNICEF estimated that there were approximately 10,000 street children. There were credible reports that the military conscripted teenage Zaghawa to fight in the Tibesti region of the country during the year.

Colombia

Children suffered disproportionately from the internal conflict, often forfeiting opportunities to study as they were displaced by conflict and suffered psychological traumas. According to UNICEF, over 1 million children have been displaced from their homes over the past decade. The Human Rights Ombudsman’s office estimated that only 15 percent of displaced children attended school. Displaced children were particularly vulnerable to mistreatment, sexual exploitation, and recruitment by criminals.

Since 1999, persons under the age of 18 are not allowed to serve in the public security forces. However, both paramilitaries and guerrillas employed child soldiers. The Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF) estimated that 12,000 to 15,000 children were members of illegal armed groups. Sixty percent of these children were members of the FARC [Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia]. The Roman Catholic Church stated that the FARC used its freedom of action in its former despeje, or safe haven, to lure or force hundreds of children into its ranks. Thousands of families from FARC–prevalent zones throughout the country chose to be displaced rather than risk the forcible recruitment of their children. For example, many former–displaced residents of Bojaya, Choco department [similar to a province] chose to leave their teenage children in Quibdo, the departmental capital, to avoid their forced recruitment by the FARC. The FARC was believed responsible for the Jan. 11, 2002 killing in Caldas department of a Roman Catholic priest who had complained to authorities in the departmental capital of Manizales about FARC recruitment at a local high school. On Aug. 2, 2002, the Fiscalia filed charges against senior FARC leaders for the recruitment of minors. As a good will gesture in anticipation of possible peace negotiations with the government, in December paramilitaries from the Central Bolivar Bloc, formerly members of the AUC [United Self–Defense Forces of Colombia], handed over 19 child soldiers to representatives of the ICBF and the Colombian Red Cross.

Children were among the preferred kidnapping targets of guerrillas. The Free Country Foundation reported 384 kidnappings of children during the year.

Although many minors were forcibly recruited, a UNICEF study found that 83 percent of child soldiers volunteered. Limited educational and economic opportunities and a desire for acceptance and camaraderie increased the appeal of service in armed groups. Nevertheless, many children found membership in guerrilla and paramilitary organizations difficult, and the MOD [Minister of Defense] reported an increase in the number of minors deserting illegal armed groups. As of July, at least 230 children had surrendered to state security forces during the year. FARC child deserters reported that local guerrilla commanders threatened to kill their families should they desert or attempt to do so. A reinsertion program for former child soldiers administered by the ICBF provided assistance to 332 children during the year.

The FARC also targeted particular individuals for bombings. . . .The FARC also used other, more creative methods of bomb delivery, such as attaching explosives to mules and dogs, rigging lost wallets, and booby–trapping dead bodies. For example, on April 22, 2002, members of the FARC’s 61st Front forced two children to lead a horse loaded with explosives toward a military checkpoint near the town of Acevedo, Huila department. The charge exploded prematurely, killing one of the children. On May 3, 2002, FARC guerrillas killed a 14–year–old boy, attached explosives to his body, and forced a civilian to drive it to an army barracks in Vista Hermosa, Meta department, where it was deactivated by military anti–explosives experts.

Côte D’Ivoire

The rebel forces that controlled the northern half of the country used child soldiers who they recruited and armed after Sept. 19, 2002. UN organizations reported from Bouake and other northern sites that most of the young recruits or volunteers were 17 or 18 years of age; however, there were some who were 15 or younger.

Democratic People’s Republic Of Korea

Like others in society, children were the objects of intense political indoctrination; even mathematics textbooks propound party dogma. In addition, foreign visitors and academic sources reported that children from an early age were subjected to several hours a week of mandatory military training and indoctrination at their schools.

Democratic Republic Of The Congo

Unlike in the previous year, the government stopped recruiting child soldiers and continued to cooperate with UNICEF in demobilizing child soldiers. However, rebel forces, particularly the RCD/G [Congolese Rally for Democracy–Goma], continued to recruit child soldiers, sometimes forcibly. There were some reports that RCD/G forces arrested boys and young men for being Mai Mai sympathizers and then forced them to train and serve with RCD/G or RDF military. Credible reports indicated that rebel forces forcibly conscripted boys as young as age 10, and that RCD/G forces established recruitment quotas for its field commanders and senior party leadership. The RCD/G claimed it was attempting to demobilize its child soldiers, and RCD/G president Onusumba signed an agreement with UNICEF to this effect, but there were numerous credible reports that the RCD/G continued to recruit and conscript child soldiers and to send them to military training camps. In addition, there were numerous reports that the Hema militia UPC [Union of Congolese Patriots] recruited a large number of children to fight in the ethnically–based conflict in the Ituri region. No reliable data was available on the number of children recruited willingly versus forcibly.

Ethiopia

The Ministry of Defense did not permit persons under the age of 18 to join the armed forces, and the government made efforts to enforce this policy. There were no reports that children under the age of 18 were recruited into the military during the year; however, in the past, military officers admitted that underage applicants sometimes were enlisted. Scarce birth certificates, poor educational opportunities, patriotism, and pervasive poverty encouraged underage applicants to try to circumvent restrictions on underage soldiers. If a unit commander suspected but could not prove that a soldier was underage, he could transfer the soldier from a front–line combat unit to a rear–area command. There were no reports of children joining local militias during the year.

Guinea Bisseau

The law provides for compulsory military service for persons between 18 and 25 years old; however, boys under the age of 16 could volunteer for military service with the consent of their parents or tutors. Children were used as soldiers during the civil war; however, all remaining child soldiers were demobilized during the year.

Iraq

During the year, the regime held 3–week training courses in weapons use, hand–to–hand fighting, rappelling from helicopters, and infantry tactics for children between 10 and 15 years of age. Camps for these “Saddam Cubs” operated throughout the country. Senior military officers who supervised the course noted that the children held up under the “physical and psychological strain” of training that lasted for as long as 14 hours each day. Sources in the opposition reported that the army found it difficult to recruit enough children to fill all of the vacancies in the program.

Families reportedly were threatened with the loss of their food ration cards if they refused to enroll their children in the course. The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq reported in October 1999 that authorities were denying food ration cards to families that failed to send their young sons to Saddam Cubs compulsory weapons–training camps. Similarly, authorities reportedly withheld school examination results to students unless they registered in the Fedayeen Saddam organization.

Liberia

Young persons were victimized during the civil war of the mid–1990s. An estimated 50,000 children were killed; many more were injured, orphaned, or abandoned. Approximately 100 under–funded orphanages operated in and around Monrovia; however, many orphans lived outside these institutions. The National Military Families Association of Liberia (NAMFA) tried to provide for orphaned military children; it registered hundreds of street children. These institutions did not receive any government funding, but relied on private donations. Nearly all youths witnessed terrible atrocities, and some committed atrocities themselves. Approximately 21 percent (4,306) of the combatants who were disarmed under the provisions of the Abuja Peace Accords were child soldiers under the age of 17. Many youths remained traumatized, and some still were addicted to drugs. The number of street children in Monrovia and the number of abandoned infants increased significantly following disarmament. Although pressured by the government to cease their programs, international NGOs and UNICEF continued retraining and rehabilitation programs for a limited number of former child fighters. These children were vulnerable to being recruited in sub–regional conflicts, since most had no other means of support.

The various armed militias continued to recruit forcibly underage soldiers. During the LURD [Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy] offensive in May 2002, government troops forcefully conscripted several dozen young men from the streets of Monrovia, took them to military camps where they were armed, and sent them to the battle zone. Secondary school boys were targeted for such operations in the Red Light and Duala neighborhoods of the capital. Families in rural areas claimed that their missing sons also returned after several months and reported that they had been seized and forced to fight LURD rebels. There were credible reports that the LURD engaged in similar forced recruitment tactics.

Maldives

In May 2002, the government ratified two Optional Protocols, on the Children in Armed Conflict and Sale of Children, of the UN Convention on Children.

Namibia

Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the Angolan armed forces were recruiting persons under 18 years of age in the northern part of the country to fight in southern Angola against UNITA.

Nepal

There have been numerous reports that Maoists recruit teenagers to serve as porters, runners, cooks, and armed cadre.

Philippines

Children were targeted for recruitment as combatants and noncombatants by the terrorist NPA [New People’s Army] and ASG [Abu Sayyaf Group], and by the MILF [Moro Islamic Liberation Front]. The NPA claimed that it assigned persons 15 to 18 years of age to self–defense and noncombat duties; however, there were reports that the NPA continued to use minors in combat. A high–ranking AFP official estimated that children make up 30 percent of the NPA’s fighting force. In the last several years, the AFP on numerous occasions captured or killed NPA fighters who turned out to be minors. In August, 2002, an AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] commander presented a list of almost 300 NPA members who had surrendered to his command since May 2001, at least 17 of whom were still minors when they joined the NPA.

The MILF also recruited children. In many instances, children were pressured by their relatives to join as part of family or clan obligations. Cultural perceptions sometimes play a role; teenagers as young as 13 or 14 are considered to be adults. In one town in North Cotabato, a teacher reportedly disclosed that boys as young as 12 disappeared from their classes when the MILF was engaged in encounters with government troops. The MILF responded that it used children for training but not for combat. The AFP disagreed, stating that many MILF members killed or captured were children, some as young as 12.

The ASG also recruited teenagers to fight and participate in criminal activities. There were reports that a significant number of ASG members staffing the groups’ camps were teenagers. The AFP said that some Islamic schools in Mindanao served as fronts to indoctrinate children, and that the ASG used children as couriers and spies. In February 2002, the DSWD [Department of Social Welfare and Development] reported that seven former “child warriors” ages 11 to 15 admitted to having fought with the ASG against the AFP on Basilan island.

In November 2001, the government adopted a Comprehensive Program Framework for Children in Armed Conflict, encompassing prevention, advocacy, rescue, and reintegration. The government noted that children accounted for many of the casualties and captured elements during military–insurgent clashes, that many of the children recruited by the NPA and by the MILF came from indigenous communities, that some of the children were forcibly recruited or abducted, and that girl recruits were at risk for sexual exploitation.

Pakistan

In September 2001, the government signed the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on Involvement of Children in armed conflict and the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography. However, the government frequently failed to enforce these laws.

Paraguay

There continued to be reports of the conscription of underage youth. During the year, the authorities took steps to reduce the illegal conscription of minors, the mistreatment of recruits, and the unexplained deaths of recruits. The government’s Inter–Institutional Committee, including judges, attorneys, legislators, and NGO representatives, continued its visits around the country during the year to inspect conscripts’ records and identify any minor soldiers. The committee had the power to investigate and report on abuses and conditions.

The government established review procedures for military recruits to prevent future enlistment of minors, although it was unclear whether they had been implemented. The government ordered all military officers responsible for recruiting to ensure that all conscripts meet the legally minimum mandated requirement age of 18 for military service. The armed forces no longer allowed 17–year–olds to enlist with parental permission. However, there were reported violations, including allegations that military recruiters forced underage youths to join units and provided them with false birth certificates and other documentation to show them to be of age. In September and October, 2002, Human Rights Ombudsman Manuel Paez Monges found 20 17–year–old conscripts in the Intendencia and Navy facilities and formally petitioned the armed forces chief to stop recruiting underage soldiers.

Since 1989, 111 underage conscripts have died while in military service. In November 2002, underage military conscript Luis Fernando Bobadilla Acuna died of a gunshot wound while on duty. Military authorities determined preliminarily that the death was accidental, but family members contended that he was murdered. An investigation continued at year’s end.

There were several allegations of mistreatment of military recruits by noncommissioned and commissioned officers. In June 2001, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers reported that the average age of recruits was 16.4 years and that seven underage soldiers had died. Human rights organizations and victims’ families filed complaints with the IACHR [Inter–American Commission on Human Rights] on behalf of five men who died one had been beaten and another tortured or disappeared while in military service between 1989 and 1998. In January 2002, the Senate Human Rights Commission charged Sigfrido Chavez Orrego with altering birth certificates of minors who then were enlisted. Chavez Orrego allegedly forged documents for recruits in the Second Calvary Division and in the Lower Chaco. The charges came after visits in 2001 to military institutions by the Government’s Interinstitutional Committee.

In August 2002, the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Human Rights Watch (HRW) asked the government to investigate deaths among military recruits in the armed forces. HRW indicated that it had received information that 111 recruits had died while in service since 1989, the majority of whom were under 18 years of age, and noted that most of the investigations of these deaths had not been resolved.

Republic Of Congo

There were unconfirmed, anecdotal reports that children were recruited as soldiers for service in the Pool region after the April violence in Brazzaville.

Russia

According to a December 2002 report by the UN Special Representative for children and armed conflict, Chechen rebels used children to plant landmines and explosives.

Rwanda

More than 98 percent of the children who were separated from or lost their parents during the 1994 genocide and subsequent repatriations have been reunited with family members or placed in foster homes. Approximately 30,000 children live abroad, and the government claims most were taken without the consent of their parents during the genocide. Many of the children abroad have been adopted. The government did not reiterate its request during the year that the 41 children adopted in Italy be repatriated.

Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that some street children joined the RDF [Rwandan Defense Force] to perform nonmilitary duties.

Until the RDF withdrawal from the DRC in October 2002, there continued to be reports that Rwandan and RCD [Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie] rebel troops abducted young women from the villages they raided.

Sierra Leone

The National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration listed 6,845 demobilized child combatants. Girls represented 8 percent of demobilized child soldiers, and 30 percent of reunified noncombatant separated children. Because UN and human rights monitors estimated that girls represented 50 percent of those abducted during the war and there were reports that the rebels released disproportionate numbers of boys, these groups fear that many girls continued to be held as sex slaves. UNICEF reported in August 2002 that almost 7,000 children, including nearly 5,000 ex–combatants and nearly 2,000 noncombatant separated children, had been reunified with their families. More than 3,500 children of both groups were engaged in formal and informal education programs. Others were in special transitional centers, which were designed to help provide for their unique mental and emotional needs prior to reunification with their families. There continued to be reports that some families and communities rejected the returnees because of their perceived involvement in rebel atrocities. Child protection agencies reported that hundreds of boys and girls did not participate in the formal demobilization process. Locating the families of released child combatants often was difficult, and some did not want to assume responsibility for their children, some of whom were mentally and emotionally incapable of rejoining their families.

Solomon Islands

In 2000, Amnesty International reported that Guadalcanalese militants included a number of child soldiers. UN human rights officials confirmed the use of child soldiers by both Guadalcanalese and Malaitan militants. Several hundred children (generally boys) under the age of 18 were active combatants or assisted in militants’ camps. With the decrease in fighting, dozens of these underage militants remained in quasi–criminal gangs affiliated with their former militant commanders.

Somalia

During August and September 2002, the UN Independent Expert on Human Rights visited Bosasso, Puntland, and Hargeisa, Somaliland. He reported that children were recruited as soldiers in Puntland and that many juveniles were incarcerated with adults by their parents for disciplinary problems.

Sri Lanka

The LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] uses child soldiers and recruits children, sometimes forcibly, for use in battlefield support functions and in combat. LTTE recruits, some as young as 13, have surrendered to the military, and credible reports indicate the LTTE has stepped up recruiting efforts. In May 1998, the LTTE gave assurances to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Children in Armed Combat that it would not recruit children under the age of 17. The LTTE has not honored this pledge, and even after the ceasefire agreement there were multiple credible reports of the LTTE forcibly recruiting children.

The LTTE uses child soldiers. In October 2002, four children ranging in age from 15 to 17 years surrendered to a local church near Trincomalee after escaping from the LTTE. According to Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, the international monitors received approximately 600 complaints about child abductions since early March 2002, and credible sources say those children are recruited to be child soldiers. Credible sources reported increased LTTE recruitment, including recruitment of children during the year.

The LTTE continued to use high school–age children for work as cooks, messengers, and clerks. In some cases, the children reportedly help build fortifications. In the past, children as young as age 10 were said to be recruited and placed for 2 to 4 years in special schools that provided them with a mixture of LTTE ideology and formal education. The LTTE uses children as young as 13 years of age in battle, and children sometimes are recruited forcibly into the LTTE . A program of compulsory physical training, including mock military drills, for most of the population of the areas that it controls, including for schoolchildren and the aged reportedly still functions. According to LTTE spokesmen, this work is meant to keep the population fit; however, it is believed widely that the training was established to gain tighter control over the population and to provide a base for recruiting fighters.

Despite repeated claims to the contrary by the LTTE, there were credible reports that the LTTE continued to recruit forcibly children throughout the year. Individuals or small groups of children intermittently turned themselves over to security forces or religious leaders saying they had escaped LTTE training camps throughout the year. During August and September, the LTTE handed over 85 children to UNICEF, stating that the children had volunteered to serve, but that the LTTE does not accept children.

Sudan

A large number of children suffered abuse, including abduction, enslavement, and forced conscription.

The government forcibly conscripted young men and boys into the military forces to fight in the civil war. In November 2002, the University of Khartoum was closed after pro–government administration officials banned student protests that called for student union elections. The administration refused new elections on the grounds that the students were not prepared for such elections, and that a large segment of the student body was fighting with the military forces in the south.

There were reports of at least 50 cases this year of children taken from the markets of Khartoum and conscripted into the PDF [People’s Defense Forces]. Government authorities frequently carried out conscription by raiding buses and other public places to seize young men. No one was jailed during the year for evading compulsory military service.

Rebel factions have conscripted citizens forcibly, including high school age children. During the year, the SPLM/A [Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army] actively engaged in efforts to demobilize child soldiers; however, there were reports that child soldiers were involved in military incidents during December 2002, which raised concerns that the SPLM/A again was using forced recruitment of children.

Tanzania

Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that Burundian rebels abducted children from refugee camps in the country.

Uganda

The legal recruitment age for military service was 18 years; however, in practice some recruiters allowed 17 year–olds to enlist. LDU’s [Local Defense Unit] could recruit children under the age of 18 with parental consent.

There were reports that the military detained and used child soldiers to help find LRA [Lord’s Resistance Army] landmines, camps, and arms caches. The LRA abducted many children and used them as guards, laborers, soldiers, or as sex slaves. Most LRA fighters were abducted children coerced into becoming rebels.

UNICEF reported that as many as 30,839 children and adults have been abducted since 1986 by rebel groups. Approximately one–third of the abductees were children, and 20 percent of the adults taken were female. UNICEF also stated that of these, 28,903 abductees were from the north, while 2,036 were from the southwest. Approximately 13,611 persons remained missing and presumed dead at year’s end, more than 5,000 of which were children.

UNICEF estimates that 4,500 children were abducted (including long–term and short–term abductions) in the north during the year; some of the children were released and returned home. There were an estimated 7,800 abductions overall from the north during the year. On Sept. 14, 2002, LRA rebels abducted two elderly Italian priests and several citizens. The priests were released the next day, and some of the citizens were released by the end of September. The fate of the others was unknown.

During the year, the LRA significantly increased its abductions of civilians for training as guerrillas and as sex slaves, cooks, and porters; most victims were children and young adults. The LRA abducted an estimated 1,086 persons, including children and young girls. In addition to being beaten, raped, and forced to march until exhausted, abducted children were forced to participate in the killing of other children who attempted to escape.

Under the 2000 Amnesty Act, government assistance was provided to former rebels to assist their return to the country. On May 9, 2002 UNRF–II [Uganda National Rescue Front] Chairman, Major General Ali Bamuze, returned from Sudan to discuss amnesty and released more than 135 child soldiers to UNICEF for rehabilitation. On Dec. 24, 2002, Bamuze signed a peace agreement with the government.