KONY 2012 - A Step Towards Peace and International Justice

7 March 2012

Save Humanity - War Crimes Must Be Stopped.

We tend to forget about the rest of the world, while we live in the safety of our own countries. We tend to forget that war crimes are still happening in different parts of the world as we speak. While I am sitting comfortably at home typing this, while you are in class, or at work, or having lunch, heinous crimes against humanity are happening elsewhere.

I think we have all heard of the child soldiers of Africa. But how many of us know who recruits them? Why they are recruited? And how many of us have given a thought to how we can stop these innocent children's' lives being ruined?

Through a link on my brother's facebook this morning, I got to know of the KONY 2012 campaign.KONY 2012, a campaign by the Invisible Children, aims to stop the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda, Joseph Kony. Joseph Kony is one of the world’s worst war criminals, and he is listed as No. 1 on the Most Wanted International Criminals List for crimes against humanity and war crimes against the civilian population.For 26 years, Joseph Kony has been abducting children into the LRA, where he turns the girls into sex slaves, and the boys into child soldiers. He forces them to mutilate people's faces, and kill their own parents. Over 30,000 children have had to live through this.

One of the main action plans of KONY 2012 is to create as much public awareness as possible. They are going viral, and not just on the internet, but on the streets too. Posters are available for downloading on their website (CLICK HERE), and everyone is encouraged to post them around your city. An action kit is also available for purchase. A short video, created by the Invisible Children Inc is the main way they plan to create awareness: Through the power of the internet and, as I found it, facebook. You can view the video here:


20 culturemakers have been chosen to spread the awareness, including Oprah, Mark Zuckerberg, Angelina Jolie, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Ellen DeGeneres, Bill Gates, Taylor Swift and Ryan Seacrest. 12 policymakers have also been chosen to do everything in their power to help with the arrest of Joseph Kony, including former U.S. Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton.

2012 is the year Kony must be arrested. It is the year we, as human beings, must unite and do all we can to stop this mindless killing and bring peace to the Ugandans, to humanity. One quote from the video that I especially like, is "Where you live, shouldnt determine whether you live". You and I have a responsibility to the world, to help create world peace. I support the international effort to arrest Joseph Kony, disarm the LRA and bring the child soldiers home.

Don't just learn about human history. Do your part and shape it. For the better.

External links:
Read more about Joseph Kony HERE.
Read more about Invisible Children Inc HERE.
Read more about the LRA HERE.

2 comments

  1. I could only watch the first few minutes Calista as I got a feeling it was going somewhere quite horrible. The girls in the convent my mother was in were subjected to awful things by their Japanese captors. Mum had escaped Burma(on the last boat I'm told) before then thankfully but it must have haunted her for the rest of her years. A.B.

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  2. Hey A.B.,

    Dont worry, you can watch it all.. There isnt anything visually horrible in the video, but you may look away when they start talking about mutlated faces as there is about 5 seconds of photos of the victims.. I did.. Other than that, it is just a story to let people know more.. I cant take anything horrible, and hearing about it is just about as much as I can handle.. But I thought to turn a blind eye would to be allowing such things to continue, so I do my best to educate others on what I learn, without the need of graphic videos or details.. =)

    Your mother was a brave woman.. The memories must have been overbearingly painful, but she lived on.. You should be proud.. =)

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