What do you fight for?

These things we believe in...

African Union launches initiative to stop LRA

The African Union announced the establishment of a Regional Task Force to support efforts already underway to end the LRA threat to central Africa. This signifies a strong commitment from not just regional actors, but shows that on a continental level the LRA is a priority. The AU task force has committed to adding additional troops to the apprehension and civilian protection efforts, coordinating between governments in the region and improving DDR/RR efforts regionally. This announcement is only the first step, but it signifies a growing level of support to LRA-affected communities.

 -Sean

 

KONY 2012 is working

So far 3,530,673 people from countries all over the globe have pledged support. The world is responding. Policymakers are hearing your voice and are starting to take a stand in support of ending LRA violence. In just the last two weeks, two bipartisan resolutions supporting the effort against the LRA have been introduced into Congress.

Together, the House resolution (bit.ly/AoO9eo) by Congressmen Royce and McGovern and the Senate resolution (1.usa.gov/GTXVNc) authored by Senators Coons and Inhofe, have already gained over 67* bipartisan co-sponsors. Today, the UN and AU announced that the four LRA-affected countries would cooperate in a regional task force targeting the LRA. This is momentum that must be sustained.

“If” by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen speaks on the House floor

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, delivered the following remarks earlier today on the decades-long series of atrocities committed by Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Ros-Lehtinen expressed her support for current legislation before the U.S. House of Representatives designed to assist in bringing Kony and the top leaders of the LRA to justice. Additionally, Ros-Lehtinen commended her constituents’ efforts to raise awareness of Kony and the LRA’s horrific acts against the innocent.

Statement by Ros-Lehtinen:

I would like to begin by commending all the citizens and young students in my Congressional District and indeed throughout the country who have worked to raise awareness about Joseph Kony and his brutal crimes. Joseph Kony is a mass murderer whose campaign of violence against innocent civilians spans decades. The predatory forces doing his bidding, is known as the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, and they have perpetrated some of the worse human rights abuses of our time.
Under the direction of Kony, the LRA has murdered, raped, mutilated, and abducted tens of thousands of innocent people, many of whom are children. They target remote villages, butchering civilians and abducting women and children to serve as sex slaves and fighters. Kony’s bloody reach now extends to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, and the newly formed Republic of South Sudan.

Happy World Water Day!

If you’re used to purified, fortified, drinkable water flowing from taps in every kitchen and bathroom in the house, it can be difficult not to take the life-giving substance for granted. Even so, somewhere in the back of our minds we are aware that it’s not that easy for everyone.
In fact, according to a news release earlier this month from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), in rural parts of the least developed countries, 14% of the population drinks water from sources like rivers and ponds, greatly increasing the risk of disease. UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake says that 11% of the world’s population, or 783 million people, still lack access to safe drinking water.
And yet there is also cause for celebration!