NEW YORK – Imagine a war in which children are forced to kill members of their own families or communities, and even each other, and where they are abducted as they walk to school or sleep at night, then forced to fight for a rebel army that has no agenda – and no limit to the atrocities it is willing to commit.

This is what is happening regularly in northern Uganda. The Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel group with nominal political goals, has pitted itself against the Ugandan government for the past 18 years in a campaign that is remarkable for its brutality toward children.

Despite claims that it is fighting for the people of the north, the LRA abducts children from villages and camps in northern Uganda to fill its military ranks, forcing them to commit atrocities against each other and their communities. The LRA has taken more than 30,000 children during the course of the war – more than half of them in the past two years alone.

LRA attacks against the civilian population, which have displaced more than 1.6 million Ugandans in the north, have increased dramatically during the past year. Since February, the LRA has killed more than 500 civilians in raids on camps and villages. LRA violence began increasing dramatically in March 2002 with the launch of the Ugandan government’s military offensive, Operation Iron Fist, which is supported by the U.S. government.

The displaced Ugandans live in insecurity and terror, the brunt of which is felt by children and young people. Seventy percent of these refugees are under 25 years old. Approximately 50,000 Ugandans flee their homes each night, seeking nightly refuge in the relative safety of towns and cities.

Girls and women are sexually abused and harassed along the way, as well as in the towns where they sleep, and the Ugandan government does little to protect them.

Without adequate security, adolescent girls and women are forced to choose between their fear of LRA attack at home and their fear of being raped during their nightly flights into towns. Many of these “night commuters,” as they are called, walk as many as six miles every night and again each morning.

The Ugandan soldiers fighting the rebels have at times also committed abuses against the people in the north, including rape. The lack of protection by the Ugandan government has prompted community members to establish their own local defense units, which young people are pressured to join. Ironically, these armed civilian units have also abused community members.

As a longtime friend of Uganda, the United States is in a good position to encourage the Ugandan government to take immediate steps to protect civilians caught in the crossfire in this protracted conflict. We have funded the Ugandan military and our most recent financial aid was earmarked for the protection of civilians. It is incumbent upon our government to now monitor how these funds are being spent, to ensure that they are being used to protect civilians and not to further military strategies. The United States should also support a stronger U.N. role in the region to provide protection and basic assistance to the tens of thousands of Ugandans displaced by the war.

For its part, Congress should immediately pass the Widows and Orphans Act of 2003, introduced by with bipartisan support by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. This legislation would establish a special immigrant visa for women and children overseas who are at risk because of their age or gender.

Visa recipients would then be quickly processed and integrated into U.S. society with the help of experienced refugee resettlement agencies. This bill would provide a crucial safety net for those whose lives are in danger in northern Uganda and other war-torn regions of the world.

It is a small step, but it would go a long way to help the children and young people of Uganda.

Robert R. Montgomery is regional resettlement director for the International Rescue Committee in San Diego; Megan McKenna is media liaison for the New York-based Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children.

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