Students Push for Disarmament in Uganda

Only a year after 2,000 human rights activists, mostly students, descended on Capitol Hill to advocate the protection of Ugandan citizens from the hands of The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel army, Congress passed the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act.

The youth-run organization Invisible Children inspired mass-student involvement in lobbying for the bill as they submitted over 250,000 signatures to the State Department that urged the arrest of rebel leader, Joseph Kony in January.

The grassroots efforts were a success as the LRA Act passed with the most support of any Africa-oriented legislation in United States history with 200 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives and 64 in the Senate.

Invisible Children even received a shout out from the House floor by Rep. Susan Davis of San Diego, California.

“These young members of the Invisible Children organization know that no child should live in fear of being abducted, mutilated or killed,” Davis said. “With that they have helped make the children of Uganda visible to us and now with this legislation we have the chance to truly join in this cause.”

The LRA Act, if signed into law, will require President Obama  to present a plan of action within a year for a collaborative peace process to protect Ugandan citizens from the LRA. The rebel army has spread terror in Northern Uganda through murder, sexual servitude and abducting children as soldiers.

The LRA originally began as a spiritual cult fighting the Ugandan government with the leadership of Joseph Kony. Over a decade later,  two million Ugandans have been left displaced and 60 thousand have been abducted according to the Survey for War Affected Youth.

But the LRA is no longer just in Uganda. The rebels spread to Sudan and Congo where they murdered villages. Christmas of 2009, the LRA slaughtered 600 Congolese villagers in the “Christmas Massacre” and just two months ago had a resurgence where they killed 300 more.

However, the acts of the LRA and the children of Uganda are no longer “Invisible,”  as the organization started by three young filmmakers from California in 2003, has gained world-wide support, mostly among students. In the past seven years Invisible children has even been involved in direct peace talks with the rebels and outside of politics, use art to inspire young people to act. Through their online store and documentary screenings, volunteers sell t-shirts, patches, buttons and even bracelets made by formerly unemployed people in Uganda’s impoverished areas to raise money for the children. Their most recent program, The Legacy Scholarship Program, allows anyone to sponsor a student’s scholarship, since education in Uganda is not free. 35 dollars a month can send one child to secondary school and provide them a mentor.

The beauty of Invisible Children though is that any person can easily get involved. Screen the documentary at school, hold a bake sale, even join the team of roadies that travel around the country to raise awareness. To learn more about the LRA Disarmament and Northern Ugandan Recovery Act and Invisible Children visit www.invisiblechildren.com.

Update: On May 24, President Obama signed the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act into law giving him 180 days to create a tactic to help fight the rebel army and contribute to Uganda’s recovery.

– Laura Herrera

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