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Invisible Children, Inc. is an organization founded in 2004 to increase awareness of the activities of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Central Africa, and its leader, Joseph Kony. Specifically, the group seeks to put an end to the practices of the LRA which include abductions and abuse of children, and forcing them to serve as soldiers. To this end, Invisible Children urges the United States government to take military action in the central region of Africa. Invisible Children also operates as a charitable organization, soliciting donations and selling merchandise to raise money for their cause. The organization promotes its cause by dispensing films on the internet and presenting in high schools and colleges around the United States. When the organization was founded, the LRA was active in Uganda. The rebel group left Uganda in 2006 and continues to operate in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan. Invisible Children advocated for the passing of the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, a piece of legislation which led to the deployment of 100 combat-equipped, US soldiers to the region for the purpose of advising the local forces in tracking, and capturing, Joseph Kony. The United Nations Security Council met in November of that year to discuss the LRA. Internationally, journalists began to seek more information about the conditions in Central Africa at that time. The group has received both praise and criticism for its methods. The organization's films have won several awards, while the group's use of funds, projection of facts, and support of the SPLA and the Ugandan Army have come into question as these two groups have been known to commit similar atrocities to those blamed on the LRA. In March 2012, Invisible Children began an internet video campaign called ''Kony 2012'', the purpose being to promote the charity's 'Stop Kony' movement to make indicted Ugandan war criminal Joseph Kony internationally known in order to arrest him in 2012. == Background == In 1985, Ugandan dictator, Apolo Milton Obote (December 28, 1925 – October 10, 2005) was overthrown by his own military commanders. Although he was from the Lango ethnic group, the soldiers who made up his army were primarily from the Acholi region, in northern Uganda. He was replaced with Tito Okello (1914–1996), the president of Uganda who was Acholi. Okello was deposed in 1986 and the leader of the National Resistance Army, Yoweri Museveni became president, after questionable elections. The Acholi were resistant to the authority of the new president who "launched a brutal search and destroy mission against former government soldiers throughout the north, which swept up many ordinary Acholi in its wake.〔 Several resistance groups emerged and most were put down, but the LRA survived. In the early 2000s media attention was drawn to the region when thousands of children affected by the LRA activities, took refuge in Gulu, Uganda. The government of Uganda forced the Acholi into "what were effectively concentration camps". These camps were overwhelmed with disease and the inhabitants were not able to continue farming.〔 The attention the conditions in Uganda received revealed that over the previous 20 years the LRA was kidnapping children and using them as ''kadogo'' (child soldiers). This was a practice that the Museveni government had also used. In 2005, an arrest warrant was put out for Joseph Kony by the International Criminal Court "for crimes against humanity and war crimes".〔 After failed peace negotiations with the Ugandan government in 2006, the LRA left Uganda retreating to southern Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic, where they continued to "wreak havoc".〔 In May 2010, President Barack Obama signed the "Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act". This law led to the deployment of U.S. Troops in the region in October, 2011. Shortly thereafter the United Nations Security Council met to discuss the LRA. Internationally, journalists set out to inform themselves about the conditions in the region.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Invisible Children, Inc.」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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