Brett, Margaret, Paige, George
Mr. Neville
CWH Blue
11/14/13
Position Paper
The Lords Resistance Army (LRA) is a rebel force led by international criminal Joseph Kony, with the main goal to oppose the government of Uganda. The LRA primarily operates in Uganda and south Sudan; however, they have also branched out into central Africa in the attempt of recruiting new members. They have affected thousands by raiding villages, kidnapping children, and raping women. The international community has acknowledged this problem in the past, but no major progress has been made. Laws have been passed and actions have been taken without any significant results. Our goal is to seek help from the UN to better train the Ugandan military so they can prevent kidnappings, protect the people of their countries, and bring Joseph Kony to justice.
The Lords Resistance army was formed by Joseph Kony in 1986 and is still prominent today. They currently operate in three main countries: Congo, Sudan, and Uganda. Their main goal, to fight against the Ugandan People’s Defense Force (UPDF), has been a violent and savage war, displacing nearly 500,000 civilians in 2011 alone. The LRA is also responsible for abducting nearly 60,000 children and forcing them into the army to fight on the front lines. In many instances, the children are sent out into the middle of the battles to draw the fire of the enemy troops. In Northern Uganda, where the LRA is most prominent, over one million people have been forced to leave their homes due to the conflict. The first step the LRA takes after abducting children, is to separate them from the adults, and then use fear to desensitize them to violence and pain. “they abduct children, are immediately separated from adult abductees through mind control methods and instill fear and brutality, the LRA initiates children to go through what they call military.” The LRA not only abducts boys, but girls as well. 24% of the child soldiers are female, while the other 76% are male. In most instances, the young girls are raped, beaten, and become infected with sexually transmitted diseases, the most common being the deadly HIV virus. Unless we take action, the LRA will continue to thrive throughout Africa.
Actions have been made to end this issue, but nothing has been effective thus far. The African Union has authorized an initiative to enhance regional cooperation toward the elimination of the LRA, but this is to no avail due to the fact that all of the local militias do not possess the proper training to eliminate this threat. This issue in Africa has recently been brought to the US’s attention, and President Obama is determined to, “Bring this madman (Kony) to justice,”. President Obama has even authorized the deployment of 100 US soldiers to aid the UPDF in their attempts to combat the LRA, as well as passing the LRA disarmament Act, aiming to end the LRA once and for all. While the military help that was given did enhance the power of the UPDF, it was not enough to end the conflict in its entirety. The laws passed against the LRA have had no effect on their control in Uganda and the other affected countries. It is clear that the only progress has been made through physical action, which is exactly what we propose.
Too Young for Guns wants to raise awareness to persuade the United Nations to send military troops into Uganda and other countries affected by the LRA. The UN peacekeepers will not be sent to fight against the LRA directly, but to train the local militias to better combat this merciless adversary. 1,500 UN peacekeepers would be more than sufficient to train the UPDF. The UPDF is the militia predominantly held with the responsibility of facing the LRA, and the fact of the matter is they do not possess the proper military training that would allow them to eliminate the rebel LRA army. Their incapability to defend their people has cost them thousands of lives, and the LRA has killed over 100,00 innocent civilians.
We understand the UN is a very busy organization, and it will be difficult for us to influence them to hold a Security Council meeting. We plan to use the money to raise awareness by releasing commercials, constructing billboards, and paying for ads on public transportation to spread the knowledge throughout major first world countries. All of this will gain our organization support and convince the UN that a Security Council meeting is necessary. Once the United Nations begins to discuss this issue it will lay entirely up to the decision of the Security Council. When they deem military intervention necessary, they will be able to send their peacekeepers to Uganda.
There have been past attempts to end this conflict, but none have been successful. The abduction rates have gone down but not at a fast enough rates and with our plan, the abductions will be eliminated once and for all. We stress the fact that the UN Peacekeepers do not directly intervene in the war, but instead just train the UPDF to be a more effective and cohesive unit. We don’t want for Uganda to feel that outside help is coming to their rescue, but rather that they can handle their own conflicts. This will be best for the country in the long term, and enable them to protect their people for generations to come.
Mr. Neville
CWH Blue
11/14/13
Position Paper
The Lords Resistance Army (LRA) is a rebel force led by international criminal Joseph Kony, with the main goal to oppose the government of Uganda. The LRA primarily operates in Uganda and south Sudan; however, they have also branched out into central Africa in the attempt of recruiting new members. They have affected thousands by raiding villages, kidnapping children, and raping women. The international community has acknowledged this problem in the past, but no major progress has been made. Laws have been passed and actions have been taken without any significant results. Our goal is to seek help from the UN to better train the Ugandan military so they can prevent kidnappings, protect the people of their countries, and bring Joseph Kony to justice.
The Lords Resistance army was formed by Joseph Kony in 1986 and is still prominent today. They currently operate in three main countries: Congo, Sudan, and Uganda. Their main goal, to fight against the Ugandan People’s Defense Force (UPDF), has been a violent and savage war, displacing nearly 500,000 civilians in 2011 alone. The LRA is also responsible for abducting nearly 60,000 children and forcing them into the army to fight on the front lines. In many instances, the children are sent out into the middle of the battles to draw the fire of the enemy troops. In Northern Uganda, where the LRA is most prominent, over one million people have been forced to leave their homes due to the conflict. The first step the LRA takes after abducting children, is to separate them from the adults, and then use fear to desensitize them to violence and pain. “they abduct children, are immediately separated from adult abductees through mind control methods and instill fear and brutality, the LRA initiates children to go through what they call military.” The LRA not only abducts boys, but girls as well. 24% of the child soldiers are female, while the other 76% are male. In most instances, the young girls are raped, beaten, and become infected with sexually transmitted diseases, the most common being the deadly HIV virus. Unless we take action, the LRA will continue to thrive throughout Africa.
Actions have been made to end this issue, but nothing has been effective thus far. The African Union has authorized an initiative to enhance regional cooperation toward the elimination of the LRA, but this is to no avail due to the fact that all of the local militias do not possess the proper training to eliminate this threat. This issue in Africa has recently been brought to the US’s attention, and President Obama is determined to, “Bring this madman (Kony) to justice,”. President Obama has even authorized the deployment of 100 US soldiers to aid the UPDF in their attempts to combat the LRA, as well as passing the LRA disarmament Act, aiming to end the LRA once and for all. While the military help that was given did enhance the power of the UPDF, it was not enough to end the conflict in its entirety. The laws passed against the LRA have had no effect on their control in Uganda and the other affected countries. It is clear that the only progress has been made through physical action, which is exactly what we propose.
Too Young for Guns wants to raise awareness to persuade the United Nations to send military troops into Uganda and other countries affected by the LRA. The UN peacekeepers will not be sent to fight against the LRA directly, but to train the local militias to better combat this merciless adversary. 1,500 UN peacekeepers would be more than sufficient to train the UPDF. The UPDF is the militia predominantly held with the responsibility of facing the LRA, and the fact of the matter is they do not possess the proper military training that would allow them to eliminate the rebel LRA army. Their incapability to defend their people has cost them thousands of lives, and the LRA has killed over 100,00 innocent civilians.
We understand the UN is a very busy organization, and it will be difficult for us to influence them to hold a Security Council meeting. We plan to use the money to raise awareness by releasing commercials, constructing billboards, and paying for ads on public transportation to spread the knowledge throughout major first world countries. All of this will gain our organization support and convince the UN that a Security Council meeting is necessary. Once the United Nations begins to discuss this issue it will lay entirely up to the decision of the Security Council. When they deem military intervention necessary, they will be able to send their peacekeepers to Uganda.
There have been past attempts to end this conflict, but none have been successful. The abduction rates have gone down but not at a fast enough rates and with our plan, the abductions will be eliminated once and for all. We stress the fact that the UN Peacekeepers do not directly intervene in the war, but instead just train the UPDF to be a more effective and cohesive unit. We don’t want for Uganda to feel that outside help is coming to their rescue, but rather that they can handle their own conflicts. This will be best for the country in the long term, and enable them to protect their people for generations to come.