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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Asylum and Immigration Tribunal >> PN (Lord’s Resistance Army) Uganda CG [2006] UKAIT 00022 (06 March 2006) URL: https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIAT/2006/00022.html Cite as: [2006] UKAIT 00022, [2006] UKAIT 22 |
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PN (Lord's Resistance Army) Uganda CG [2006] UKAIT 00022
ASYLUM AND IMMIGRATION TRIBUNAL
Date of hearing: 17 January 2006
Date Determination notified: 06 March 2006
Before
Mr A A Lloyd JP
Between
PN | APPELLANT |
and | |
Secretary of State for the Home Department | RESPONDENT |
DETERMINATION AND REASONS
There is no current risk from the Ugandan authorities to a former member of the Lord's Resistance Army on return to Uganda. The Ugandan Government's amnesty to members of the LRA remains in place. A person who is at real risk of forcible conscription into the LRA in the north of Uganda may be able to relocate without undue harshness to Kampala. This case confirms and supplements the findings in AZ (Eligibility for Amnesty) Uganda [2004] UKIAT 00166.
Nature of appellant's claim
Error of law in determination of Immigration Judge
"353. When a human rights or asylum claim has been refused and any appeal relating to that claim is no longer pending, the decision maker will consider any further submissions and, if rejected, will then determine whether they amount to a fresh claim. These submissions will amount to a fresh claim if they are significantly different from the material that has previously been considered. These submissions will only be significantly different if the content:
(i) had not already been considered; and
(ii) taken together with the previously considered material, created a realistic prospect of success, notwithstanding its rejection.
This paragraph does not apply to claims made overseas."
Reconsideration proceedings on 17 January 2006
Burden and standard of proof
Tribunal's assessment of appellant's credibility
Risk on return to Uganda
History of the Lord's Resistance Army
Amnesties
"6.07 The USSD report for 2004 notes the following regarding the 2000 Amnesty Act: in December 1999 parliament passed a bill granting a general amnesty to all rebels who had been fighting to overthrow the Museveni Government and who were prepared to renounce rebellion. An Amnesty Act was passed in January 2000 with a date of commencement of 21 January 2000. The Act provided for an "amnesty for Ugandans involved in acts of a war-like nature in various parts of the country and for other connected purposes." The Act was to remain in force for six months and on expiry it could be extended by statutory instrument. The 2000 amnesty law applies to all persons involved in insurgencies since the Movement came into power in 1986. Between January and December, 3,048 former LRA combatants were granted amnesty; 7,613 former combatants have received amnesty since 2000. The amnesty law was extended through December."
"6.13 The International Crisis Group's 23 June 2005 report, "Building a comprehensive peace strategy for nothern Uganda" states:
'The Amnesty Commission, a statutory government body, is the major player in Kampala on this issue but it has only just begun the attempt to run a comprehensive national disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration (DDR) program. Since May 2005, when a limited DDR program was formally launched, the Commission has given in-kind and cash reintegration packages to 600 of the 6,000 LRA ex-combatants it has identified as eligible to receive assistance. The program was extended to Gulu on 27 May [2005] and to Kitgum on 16 June [2005]. Once it is fully operational, the Commission will have the capacity to take in 200 ex-combatants daily, some of whom will be referred to specific agencies for psychosocial and other additional support'."
Peace talks and ceasefire
"The psychological impact of three or four sharp attacks on LRA positions would be significant, and many commanders and ordinary fighters would be tempted to turn themselves in. A bounty like that used in conjunction with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia should be offered to private citizens for capture or assistance in capturing indictees alive'.
Lists of LRA members
Treason
Conclusions as to risk on return
Internal relocation
Article 8
Decision
Signed Date
P R Lane
Senior Immigration Judge
Amnesty International Report 2004: Uganda
Human Rights Watch World Report 2005: Uganda
United Nations, Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict (Uganda Excerpt), 09/02/2005
International Crisis Group, 'Peace in Northern Uganda: Decisive Weeks Ahead', 21/02/2005
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 'Uganda Humanitarian Update – Feb 2005', 28/02/05
US Department of State, 'Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2004: Uganda', 28/02/05
Integrated Regional Information Networks News (IRIN), 'Uganda: 160 rescued from rebels since January – army', 15/03/05
HJT Research, 'LRA rebels attack and mutilate women, further attacks feared', 22/03/2005
Integrated Regional Information Networks News (IRIN), 'Uganda: Children suffering gross abuses in northern conflict', 22/03/05
Integrated Regional Information Networks News (IRIN), 'Uganda: Health and education suffer as LRA steps up attacks in the north', 25/03/05
Voice of America News, 'Children traumatised by Rebel Attacks in Northern Uganda', 28/03/05
Voice of America News, 'Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army Cloaked in Myth, Secrecy', 30/03/05
Home Office Country of Origin Information Service Report: Uganda, April 2005
Home Office Operational Guidance Note: Uganda, July 2005
Home Office Country of Origin Information Service Report: Uganda, October 2005
BBC News, 'Ugandans welcome rebel overture', 30/11/05
Home Office Operational Guidance Note: Uganda, 13/12/05
BBC News, 'Ugandan civilians killed by army', 27/12/05
International Crisis Group, 'Conflict prevention and resolution', January 2006
BBC News, 'Sudan military 'still aiding LRA', 11/01/06