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The majority of the population in Labuje Camp has been displaced from villages within a 10km radius of the camp. Because of this close proximity to their abandoned homes and fields, IDPs often attempt to cultivate land or scavenge small amounts of food outside the camp. Many people who risk the trip are abducted, beaten, or even killed by the anti-government rebels. The rebels often send one survivor back with the warning that anyone caught outside the camps in the future will be killed. Although the camp is guarded by soldiers, many camp residents, especially children, continue to commute to the center of Kitgum town at night to sleep in churches, hospitals, and public areas.
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Over 90 percent of the camp residents are subsistence farmers, an activity which has been disrupted by the LRA insurgency and a prolonged dry spell in 2002-2003. The IDPs are almost wholly dependent on food aid for survival, most of which comes from the World Food Program (WFP). The WFP distributes about 146 metric tons of monthly rations to the camp, which provides 78 percent of the population's daily calorie requirement.
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To meet their remaining food needs, IDPs in Labuje resort primarily to casual labor in nearby Kitgum town, although shortages of money and food can lead people to prostitution or scavenging for food in abandoned fields.
Water and sanitation in the camp are poor. Water access is estimated at 4.5 liters of water per person per day, far below the minimum international standard of 15 liters per day. Waste facilities are also meager with an average of one crude toilet for every 108 people.
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