[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2264 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
S.2264
One Hundred Eighth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the twentieth day of January, two thousand and four
An Act
To require a report on the conflict in Uganda, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Northern Uganda Crisis Response
Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The United States and the Republic of Uganda enjoy a strong
bilateral relationship and continue to work closely together in
fighting the human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune
deficiency syndrome (``HIV/AIDS'') pandemic and combating
international terrorism.
(2) For more than 17 years, the Government of Uganda has been
engaged in a conflict with the Lord's Resistance Army that has
inflicted hardship and suffering on the people of northern and
eastern Uganda.
(3) The members of the Lord's Resistance Army have used brutal
tactics during this conflict, including abducting and forcing
individuals into sexual servitude, and forcing a large number of
children, estimated to be between 16,000 and 26,000 children, in
Uganda to serve in such Army's military forces.
(4) The Secretary of State has designated the Lord's Resistance
Army as a terrorist organization and placed the Lord's Resistance
Army on the Terrorist Exclusion list pursuant to section 212(a)(3)
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)).
(5) According to Human Rights Watch, since the mid-1990s the
only known sponsor of the Lord's Resistance Army has been the
Government of Sudan, though such Government denies providing
assistance to the Lord's Resistance Army.
(6) More than 1,000,000 people have been displaced from their
homes in Uganda as a result of the conflict.
(7) The conflict has resulted in a lack of security for the
people of Uganda, and as a result of such lack, each night more
than 18,000 children leave their homes and flee to the relative
safety of town centers, creating a massive ``night commuter''
phenomenon that leaves already vulnerable children subject to
exploitation and abuse.
(8) Individuals who have been displaced by the conflict in
Uganda often suffer from acute malnutrition and the mortality rate
for children in northern Uganda who have been displaced is very
high.
(9) In the latter part of 2003, humanitarian and human rights
organizations operating in northern Uganda reported an increase in
violence directed at their efforts and at civilians, including a
sharp increase in child abductions.
(10) The Government of Uganda's military efforts to resolve
this conflict, including the arming and training of local militia
forces, have not ensured the security of civilian populations in
the region to date.
(11) The continued instability and lack of security in Uganda
has severely hindered the ability of any organization or
governmental entity to deliver regular humanitarian assistance and
services to individuals who have been displaced or otherwise
negatively affected by the conflict.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that the Government of the United
States should--
(1) work vigorously to support ongoing efforts to explore the
prospects for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in northern and
eastern Uganda;
(2) work with the Government of Uganda and the international
community to make available sufficient resources to meet the
immediate relief and development needs of the towns and cities in
Uganda that are supporting large numbers of people who have been
displaced by the conflict;
(3) urge the Government of Uganda and the international
community to assume greater responsibility for the protection of
civilians and economic development in regions in Uganda affected by
the conflict, and to place a high priority on providing security,
economic development, and humanitarian assistance to the people of
Uganda;
(4) work with the international community, the Government of
Uganda, and civil society in northern and eastern Uganda to develop
a plan whereby those now displaced may return to their homes or to
other locations where they may become economically productive;
(5) urge the leaders and members of the Lord's Resistance Army
to stop the abduction of children, and urge all armed forces in
Uganda to stop the use of child soldiers, and seek the release of
all individuals who have been abducted;
(6) make available increased resources for assistance to
individuals who were abducted during the conflict, child soldiers,
and other children affected by the conflict;
(7) work with the Government of Uganda, other countries, and
international organizations to ensure that sufficient resources and
technical support are devoted to the demobilization and
reintegration of rebel combatants and abductees forced by their
captors to serve in non-combatant support roles;
(8) cooperate with the international community to support civil
society organizations and leaders in Uganda, including Acholi
religious leaders, who are working toward a just and lasting
resolution to the conflict;
(9) urge the Government of Uganda to improve the
professionalism of Ugandan military personnel currently stationed
in northern and eastern Uganda, with an emphasis on respect for
human rights, accountability for abuses, and effective civilian
protection;
(10) work with the international community to assist
institutions of civil society in Uganda to increase the capacity of
such institutions to monitor the human rights situation in northern
Uganda and to raise awareness of abuses of human rights that occur
in that area;
(11) urge the Government of Uganda to permit international
human rights monitors to establish a presence in northern and
eastern Uganda;
(12) monitor the creation of civilian militia forces in
northern and eastern Uganda and publicize any concerns regarding
the recruitment of children into such forces or the potential that
the establishment of such forces will invite increased targeting of
civilians in the conflict or exacerbate ethnic tension and
violence; and
(13) make clear that the relationship between the Government of
Sudan and the Government of the United States cannot improve unless
no credible evidence indicates that authorities of the Government
of Sudan are complicit in efforts to provide weapons or other
support to the Lord's Resistance Army.
SEC. 4. REPORT.
(a) Requirements.--Not later than 6 months after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit a report to
the appropriate congressional committees on the conflict in Uganda.
(b) Content.--The report required by subsection (a) shall include a
description of the following:
(1) The individuals or entities that are providing financial
and material support for the Lord's Resistance Army, including a
description of any such support provided by the Government of Sudan
or by senior officials of such Government.
(2) The activities of the Lord's Resistance Army that create
obstacles that prohibit the provision of humanitarian assistance or
the protection of the civilian population in Uganda.
(3) The practices employed by the Ugandan People's Defense
Forces in northern and eastern Uganda to ensure that children and
civilians are protected, that civilian complaints are addressed,
and that any member of the armed forces that abuses a civilian is
held accountable for such abuse.
(4) The actions carried out by the Government of the United
States, the Government of Uganda, or the international community to
protect civilians, especially women and children, who have been
displaced by the conflict in Uganda, including women and children
that leave their homes and flee to cities and towns at night in
search of security from sexual exploitation and gender-based
violence.
(c) Form of Report.--The report under subsection (a) shall be
submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.
(d) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this section,
the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee
on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on International
Relations of the House of Representatives.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.