#BringBackOurGirls and #KONY2012- why a hashtag is only the start
It’s been three weeks since over 200 schoolgirls were abducted from their beds by the terrorist group Boko Haram (who today claimed responsibility for the abductions in a harrowing video where the group smiles and laughs as they tell the world that they plan to “sell” the girls). The story broke, then went silent. As […]
UPDATE: Kidnapping children, from Nigeria to Uganda
News continues to come from Nigeria in regards to the story of 234 schoolgirls (a number that was originally thought to be closer to 100) abducted and taken as ‘wives’ for Boko Haram militants. There have been reports of the abductors firing celebratory gunshots following scenes of mass marriages, with the young women being […]
Democracy in the digital age
Does the U.S. government serve its ordinary citizens, or does it pander to the interests of the rich and powerful? A recent study (analysed in this Quartz article) has claimed that the decisions made by U.S. government are not based on the concerns of average people, but on the desires of the elite. It’s a […]
UPDATE: Captured LRA Lt. Charles Okello once served as Joseph Kony’s security
On Monday, April 21, a UPDF (Ugandan People Defense Force) contingent of the AU-RTF (African Union Regional Task Force) captured LRA Lieutenant Charles Okello. Lt. Okello is a long standing mid-level LRA fighter who has been with the LRA since at least the 1990’s when the LRA war was still devastating northern Uganda. In the mid-1990’s […]
BREAKING NEWS: UPDF captures LRA commander and rescues 10 in CAR
The UPDF (the Ugandan military) just issued a press release reporting that after making contact with LRA forces in the Central African Republic (CAR) yesterday, they were able to capture LRA commander, Lt. Charles Okello. This UPDF contingent of the AU-RTF (African Union Regional Task Force) was also able to rescue 10 LRA captives, including […]
Reblog // When trying to spur change, ‘the greatest sin is boring’
The following is reblogged from Laurie Goering with the Thomson Reuters Foundation. // With efforts to curb climate change bogged down by virtually every mistake in the book – messages delivered in impenetrable jargon, no clear way for individuals to take action, a focus on doomsday scenarios – campaigners might take some lessons from Ben Keesey. He’s […]
3 ways MINUSCA can tackle the LRA threat in CAR // The Resolve
The following article is reblogged from Paul Ronan and our partners at The Resolve. Since its founding in 2007, The Resolve LRA Crisis Initiative has worked to end violent atrocities perpetrated by the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, and support the sustainable recovery of communities in Africa affected by LRA abuses. — Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a […]
Rwanda: learning to remember
Genocide: the deliberate murder of a racial or cultural group. On April 6, 1994, the plane carrying Rwanda and Burundi’s presidents was shot down. This double assassination of two ‘Hutus’ (the majority ethnic group in Rwanda) was the spark that ignited 100 days of massacre that left 800,000 Rwandans dead. They were mostly, though not exclusively, from […]
Samantha Power increases UN support in Central African Republic
Invisible Children is one in a coalition of NGOs that have been urging for stronger United States’ engagement in addressing the crisis in the Central African Republic (CAR). This week, we need your help in encouraging our policymakers to take action. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power is traveling to Rwanda to commemorate the […]
NY Times Magazine: Portraits of Reconciliation
Twenty years ago today, one of the worst human rights crises began to unfold. This week, in remembrance of the 20th Anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide, New York Times Magazine presented the powerful photoessay entitled “Portraits of Reconciliation”. // Last month, the photographer Pieter Hugo went to southern Rwanda, two decades after nearly a million people were […]