Responsibility for Uganda’s Children Born in Captivity
From Failure to Prevent to the Need to Rebuild
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59569/jceeas.2023.3.3.203Keywords:
children born in captivity, children born of war, discourse analysis, Lord's resistance army, responsibility to prevent, responsibility to rebuild, ugandaAbstract
The responsibility to protect doctrine attributes the first responsibility for protecting vulnerable persons to the government in which they live. It is only in circumstances where a country is unwilling and unable to offer such protection that external intervention is permitted. The response to persons formerly associated with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) (those abducted and those born in captivity) indicates action by both the government of Uganda and external actors (especially international NGOs). Following the reinsertion and start of a new life of the affected persons among communities in Uganda, concern has emerged in some literature, regarding their well-being- specifically their reintegration and integration challenges. Hence, concerns for such long-term integration and reintegration cause questions of responsibility to re-emerge. Using field data from research conducted by Akullo (2019), this chapter provides a discourse analysis of the common discourses that emerged from the research participants in the study. The analysis of these discourses reaffirms the view on the responsibility to protect and also highlights the importance of culture in re-enforcing the primary role of the state in guaranteeing protection. There is also hope that the political discourse can be reinforced by outcomes of litigation processes linked to the trials of top LRA commanders at The Hague and in Uganda. The paper is therefore important for understanding how to govern this group of war-affected children.
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