Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Invisible Children Comes to D.C.!

Last week, I posted on the 2009 Human Trafficking Report issued by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and mentioned the non profit organization, Invisible Children.

"IC" is an organization fighting to shed light and stop the human trafficking of child soldiers in Africa. The current war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is Africa's longest running war, going on for over 20 years; yet most Americans are completely oblivious to it. Right now, 3,000 child soldiers are being kept hostage by Joseph Kony and fighting in his Lord's Resistance Army in the DRC.

According to I.C., their goals are, "To deliver justice to Kony, minimize innocent casualties and bring the abducted children home." Thus far, I.C. has sent $17.5 million in US funds through United States Agency for International Development to help war-affected regions in the DRC.

Leaders, advocates, and supporters of I.C. have come to D.C. for a two-day (yesterday and today) national lobbying event to raise global awareness and take action to stop Joseph Kony's war. Invisible Children presented their case with full-on Senate and House meetings earlier today, including a live feed of the events. From 5 - 8 pm this evening, there will be a closing rally at the Ellipse between the National Mall and the White House. This is something worth attending, especially as the rally will close with acoustic performances by Anthony Green from Circa Survive, Nada Surf, Aaron Gillespie from Underoath, and Bryce Avery!

I have participated in I.C.'s "Displace Me" event and a few other protests and they have always been educational. If anything can be said about this organization, its that they certainly know how to get the attention of young activists!

2 comments:

Peter Eichstaedt said...

I'd like to let you know about a new book on Kony and his child soldiers titled, First Kill Your Family: Child Soldiers of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army, available at Amazon.

Kristina said...

Thank you so much for posting about this. I was at How It Ends (I flew up from Florida) and it was amazing!