126: Uganda Part 1 - Abducted

Life of the Law

Today man named Dominic Ongwen is on trial before the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands. The 42 year old Ugandan is charged with committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Northern Uganda.

Ongwen is the only commander with the rebel group, The Lord’s Resistance Army, who is on trial before the ICC, but he wasn’t alone in the commission of crimes against the people of Northern Uganda. From 1986 through 2017, over the course of more than 30 years, LRA rebels abducted tens of thousands of people, 20,000 of them children as young as five years old.

This week at Life of the Law we begin our 4-part series on Uganda, telling the stories of the children who were abducted, their years in captivity, their eventual escape and the challenges they faced on their return home.

Our reporter on the series is Gladys Oroma. Gladys lives in Gulu, Uganda, where the abductions began back in 1986.

UGANDA: PART 1 – ABDUCTED was reported by Gladys Oroma, and produced in partnership with Teddy Atim, Reseracher in Kampala, Uganda; Annie Bunting, Scholar at York University in Toronto; and Life of the Law’s Senior Producer, Tony Gannon.

We had additional support from Daphne Keevil Harrold, Ian Coss and Rachel Cassandra. Tony Gannon and Nancy Mullane co-edited the story. Our Senior Producer is Tony Gannon. Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain.

Music Credits:

Ugandan Music courtesy of Gladys Oroma

Awili Maa Lwongi

Abedo i Camp – Labot Mon

Plus Music From AUDIO NETWORK

Please go to our website www.lifeofthelaw.org for links to supporting background audio and suggested reading and viewing.

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