We’re less than a week into 2013 and we’ve already got some exciting news about the impact you are making to help end LRA violence. Late Tuesday night, Congress passed the Rewards for Justice expansion legislation (S. 2318) to help strengthen efforts to arrest Joseph Kony– and there is no doubt that your voices helped to make that happen.
As you may recall, on November 16, 2012 — just one day before thousands marched on Washington for MOVE:DC — more than 700 of Invisible Children’s top activists met with their members of Congress and urged them to take action to help end LRA violence and bring Joseph Kony to justice. One of the main things activists demanded was for Congress to pass the Rewards for Justice expansion bill (S.2318), legislation that would strengthen efforts to locate and arrest Kony by enabling the U.S. State Department to offer financial rewards for information that directly leads to his arrest (for more details about the bill, visit here).
Joseph Kony_Wanted poster
Now, thanks to your efforts, the bill is on its way to President Obama’s desk to be signed into law. Once passed, it could result in valuable new information about Kony’s location and movements, bringing us closer to his arrest. It also has the potential to encourage LRA fighters and lower level commanders to defect, which would severely weaken the LRA’s ability to commit violence against communities in central Africa.
This week’s news is more proof that your persistent and bold advocacy is working. We want to offer huge thanks to everyone who participated in LOBBY:DC — especially those who went the extra mile by leading meetings. Your hard work and sacrifice to come to DC was worth it. We also want to thank the members of Congress who introduced this legislation into Congress, namely Representative Ed Royce (R-CA) in the House and Senators John Kerry (D-MA), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), John Boozman (R-AR), and Chris Coons (D-DE) in the Senate. Their leadership has been central to the progress made thus far.