ICC launches schools outreach programme in north-eastern Uganda |
|
The Hague, 14 March 2008 ICC-CPI-20080314-PR299-ENG The International Criminal Court (ICC) Field Outreach Unit launched its first schools outreach programme at Soroti Central Secondary School in the Teso sub-region of north-eastern Uganda, on 7 March 2008. The event was attended by over six hundred pupils aged between 13 and 19 years old and their teachers. As part of the outreach strategy for Uganda, the Outreach Unit is working to ensure the participation of all sections of the community affected by the conflict, in the judicial processes of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The aim of the schools outreach programme is therefore to provide school children with access to beneficial information and materials about the Court that they in turn will be able to disseminate amongst their peers and other adults such as their parents. This information will be further communicated to other children through an existing network of human rights clubs and drama groups that focus on children, all of which are engaged in disseminating information through the media and other educational channels. The school’s headmaster spoke of the need of children to be involved in the Court’s outreach programme, particularly those who had been victims either because they had been abducted and recruited into fighting forces, and/or sexually abused and made to endure other inhumane sufferings. He also highlighted that it should be the right of a child to be provided with adequate information on subjects that affect their own lives such as that of the Court and its operations. Presentations were made on the mandate of the Court and special emphasise was given to the Court’s position on the non-prosecution of persons below the age of 18 when alleged crimes were committed and the rights and roles of victims before the ICC. Time was also taken for staff and pupils to ask Court officials any questions pertaining to the enforcement of arrest warrants, protection mechanisms for victims and witnesses before the Court, and the peace process. Concluding the programme, the director of the school thanked the Outreach Unit for launching the schools programme at the Soroti Central Secondary School. He encouraged the pupils to achieve the aims of the programme by passing on the information they had received to other school children that have not yet been visited by the Court |