COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILDForty-ninth session

15 September – 3 October 2008

OPTIONAL PROTOCOL ON THE INVOLVEMENT

OF CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT

List of issues to be taken up in connection with the consideration

of the initial report of Uganda (CRC/C/OPAC/UGA/1)

The State party is requested to submit in written form additional and updated information, if possible, before 8 August 2008.

Please inform the Committee of progress made in the State party to include in the Penal Code a provision which expressly criminalizes the recruitment of children below 18 years of age. Please also inform the Committee whether the State party intends to provide for the establishment of extra-territorial jurisdiction for the recruitment of children.

Please inform the Committee whether sanctions are established in the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces Act of 2005 for recruitment of children below the age of 18 years into the army.

Please clarify whether the provisions of the Amnesty Act of 2000 ensure that amnesties are excluded for those responsible for systematic and widespread crimes of war.

Please update the Committee on progress towards the adoption of an Action Plan to prevent the recruitment and use of child soldiers within the framework of Security Council resolution 1612 (2005).

Please provide the Committee with information on the estimated number of children currently present in the Lord’s Resistance Army. Please also provide updated

GE.08-42777information on the number of children present in paramilitary Local Defence Units (LDUs) or in the Ugandan People’s Defence Force (UPDF).

Please inform the Committee whether an agreement has been concluded with the Ugandan Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting (UTFMR) in order to ensure regular age verification visits at facilities of the Ugandan People’s Defence Force (UPDF).

Please provide the Committee with further information on the measures taken to expand the birth registration system and which mechanisms are available to control and verify the recommendations for recruitment by the Village Local Councils.

With reference to the State party's report, please clarify whether the training of law enforcement officials and members of the army take into account the provisions of the Optional Protocol.

Please indicate whether special training is provided to professionals, such as prosecutors, judges, social workers and medical professionals, who come into contact with child victims of the offences under the Optional Protocol.

Please clarify the role played by the Ugandan Commission on Human Rights in monitoring and implementation of the provisions of the Optional Protocol and whether the Commission has the mandate to receive complaints from, or on behalf, of children on violations of the Optional Protocol.

Please inform the Committee of the social reintegration assistance as well as physical and psychosocial recovery measures available for victims of offences covered by the Optional Protocol and the State budget allocations for this purpose. Please indicate the effectiveness of such programmes, if gender aspects are taken into account and whether programmes are elaborated in consultation with local communities and what measures are being taken to prevent the stigmatization of demobilized children.

Please clarify whether children who have been demobilized from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), paramilitary Local Defence Units (LDUs) or the Ugandan People’s Defence Force (UPDF) have equal access to recovery and reintegration measures and programmes. Please indicate which mechanisms are available to monitor the transparency of demobilizations.

Please inform the Committee briefly with regards to the cooperation the State party has provided in order to arrest the five Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) leaders indicted by the International Criminal Court in 2005, following the referral to the Court made by the Government in 2003.

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