Ugandan to attend ICC expert consultations on children

The executive director of Children of Peace Uganda, a Charity organization based in Lira has been selected by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to represent the country at high level expert consultations on the draft policy on children at The Hague.

Jane Ekayu Aswaluna was invited by the office of the ICC chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda in a letter dated 8th June, 2016.

She will on Monday deliver a presentation as part of her input to the document.

It follows two other expert round table consultations, one held at University of Georgia's law school in the United States and at Leiden University's law school in the Netherlands.

Presenters at the consultations will include Bensouda, Gloria Atiba-Davies the head of Gender and Children unit among others. Issues to be discussed will include protection and support of child witnesses and sentencing.

"This draft policy demonstrates our commitment to closing the impunity gap for crimes against or affecting children and the experience of children in armed conflict, ″ Bensouda said in a statement last month.

Ekayu who is a counsellor and a development worker said children in northern Uganda were in such a delicate period in their life time and needs to be a policy that can help them recover from the torture and trauma they went through. 

"We lack a policy that can help children who suffered from effects of war to recover. This initiative by the ICC is an important step forward, ″ she said in an interview on Wednesday.

The UN area coordinator for Northern Uganda, Cyriaque Sobtafo welcomed the invitation saying Uganda is facing daunting challenges on how to handle children born in captivity.