Tuesday, February 20, 2001

"Suffer Little Children"

A UNICEF Film

This film contains the stories of children who have escaped from the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel movement in northern Uganda. The LRA has abducted thousands of Ugandan boys and girls, some as young as eight years old, and forced them to become LRA rebel soldiers. Captive children are made to participate in the killing of other children who try to escape. They are forced to raid and loot villages, and to fight in the front lines against both the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and the Ugandan army (UPDF). Girls are given as "wives" to ranking rebel soldiers and live as sexual slaves. Many of these abducted children are dead, others have escaped, but many remain in captivity.

Dr. Joyce Neu, Director of the Institute for Peace & Justice, has met the leader of the LRA and some of the escaped children. She lead a Q&A following the film.

Links:

Impact of Armed Conflict on Children

"Scars of Death" a Human Rights Watch report on the children abducted by the LRA

UNICEF