Global Night Commute was a worldwide event organized by the makers of the film Invisible Children through the organization Invisible Children, Inc. It took place on April 29, 2006. Youths from around the world walked to city centers and spent the night in parks to show support for Ugandan children who walk every night into city centers attempting to avoid capture by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
These children, between the ages of 3 and 17, from Acholiland in Northern Uganda, are referred to as "night commuters". They walk up to 20 km (12 mi) from internally displaced person camps to larger towns, notably Gulu, in search of safety from the LRA.
The Global Night Commute was similar to other initiatives raising awareness about the plight of the children in Acholiland like the Gulu Walk that took place in over 40 cities internationally in October 2005; however, the Global Night Commute took place on a much larger scale. Over 58,000 people signed up to participate in the event, but over 80,000 attended in total; it took place in 130 cities in seven countries. [1]
The goal of the event was to raise awareness and ultimately end Africa's longest running conflict by facilitating a change in the policies of the United States government. The slogan for the event is "On April 29th, we gathered. To make a difference. To end a war."
The Lord's Resistance Army insurgency is an ongoing guerrilla campaign waged by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) insurgent group since 1987. Currently, there is low-level LRA activity in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic. The movement is led by Joseph Kony, who proclaims himself the "spokesperson" of God and a spirit medium. The LRA's current aim is to overthrow Yoweri Museveni's Ugandan government and establish a theocratic state based on a version of the Ten Commandments and Acholi tradition.
Joseph Rao Kony, commonly known by his initials JRK, is a Ugandan terrorist who is the canon of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) since 1987. The group is designated as a terrorist group by the United Nations Peacekeepers, the European Union and various other governments.
Betty Oyella Bigombe, also known as Betty Atuku Bigombe, served as the Senior Director for Fragility, Conflict, and Violence at the World Bank from 2014 to 2017. She was appointed to that position in June 2014. From May 2011 until June 2014, she was the State Minister for Water Resources in the Uganda Cabinet. She was appointed to that position on 27 May 2011. During the same timeframe, she concurrently served as the elected Member of Parliament (MP), representing Amuru District Women's Constituency. She resigned both those positions on 1 June 2014.
Gulu is a city in the Northern Region of Uganda. It is the commercial and administrative centre of Gulu District.
Resolve Uganda began as the Uganda Conflict Action Network and was an online monitoring and analysis project seeking to raise awareness of the suffering caused by the Lord's Resistance Army insurgency of northern Uganda. The campaign began in 2005. In early 2007, Uganda-CAN became Resolve Uganda, a full-scale organization aimed at securing the US leadership needed to end the war through grassroots efforts and lobbying initiatives.
The start of the period 1994 to 2002 of the Lord's Resistance Army insurgency in northern Uganda saw the conflict intensifying due to Sudanese support to the rebels. There was a peak of bloodshed in the mid-1990s and then a gradual subsiding of the conflict. Violence was renewed beginning with the offensive by the Uganda People's Defence Force in 2002.
The period from 2000 to 2006 of the Lord's Resistance Army insurgency in northern Uganda begins with the assault of the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) upon LRA strongholds in South Sudan. This in turn led to a series of retaliatory attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army of an intensity not seen to since the mid-1990s. International awareness of the conflict gradually grew and in September 2005, the International Criminal Court issues warrants for the arrest of senior LRA commanders, including Joseph Kony.
The Aboke abductions were the kidnapping of 139 secondary school female students from St. Mary's College boarding school by rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) on 10 October 1996, in Aboke, Kole District, Uganda. The deputy head mistress of the college, Sister Rachele Fassera of Italy, pursued the rebels and successfully negotiated the release of 109 of the girls. The Aboke abductions and Fassera's dramatic actions drew international attention, unprecedented at that time, to the insurgency in northern Uganda.
uNight: For the Children of Uganda is a non-profit organization founded in 2005 to support and advocate for the two million internally displaced victims of the conflict in Northern Uganda. Operating networks in both the US and UK, uNight works with grassroots, faith-based, student and private organizations to promote an immediate, peaceful end to the region's decades-long civil war.
Displace Me was a nationwide event hosted by the nonprofit Invisible Children Inc. on April 28, 2007. In 15 cities across the United States, 68,000 individuals came together to raise awareness about the situation of the displacement camps in northern Uganda.
Schools for Schools is a fundraising program created by the nonprofit organization Invisible Children Inc. The program encourages students and schools in the Western world to compete creatively to raise money that is used to rebuild schools in northern Uganda. Education standards and facilities in the northern part of the country have suffered due to the Lord's Resistance Army insurgency.
Invisible Children is a 2006 American documentary film that depicts the human rights abuses by the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda.
The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is a Christian extremist organization which operates in northern Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its stated goals include establishment of multi-party democracy, ruling Uganda according to the Ten Commandments.
Invisible Children, Inc., founded in 2004, is an organization 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 its cause. The organization promotes its cause by dispensing films on the internet and presenting in high schools and colleges around the United States.
Kony 2012 is a 2012 American short documentary film produced by Invisible Children, Inc. The film's purpose was to make Ugandan cult leader, war criminal, and ICC fugitive Joseph Kony globally known so as to have him arrested by the end of 2012. The film was released on March 5, 2012, and spread virally, and the campaign was initially supported by various celebrities.
Jason Russell is an American film and theater director, choreographer, and activist who co-founded Invisible Children, Inc. He is the director of Kony 2012, a short documentary film that went viral in the beginning of March 2012. In the first two weeks following its release, the documentary gained more than 83 million views on YouTube and became the subject of media scrutiny and criticism. Its subject is the Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, his alleged war crimes, and the movement to bring him to the International Criminal Court.
Grace Akallo is a Ugandan woman who was abducted in 1996 to be used as a child soldier in the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel military group led by Joseph Kony. At the time of her abduction, Akallo was 15 years old and attending St. Mary's College, a Catholic boarding school in Aboke, Uganda. She remained in the LRA for seven months before escaping. After escaping the army, Akallo returned to St. Mary's College to finish her high school education. She began her college education at the Uganda Christian University, but finished her undergraduate degree at Gordon College after receiving a scholarship. Akallo then went on to receive her master's degree from Clark University/ Upon her escape from the LRA, Akallo began working as an advocate for peace and for the rights of African women and children. She has been using both her experiences as a child soldier and the information she has gained in her higher education to advocate against violence and the use of child soldiers, as well as to help counsel other escaped child soldiers like herself.
The Acholi people are a Nilotic ethnic group of Luo peoples, found in Magwi County in South Sudan and Northern Uganda, including the districts of Agago, Amuru, Gulu, Kitgum, Nwoya, Lamwo, Pader and Omoro District. The Acholi were estimated to number 2.3 million people and over 45,000 more were living in South Sudan in 2000.
From 1986 to 1994, a variety of rebel groups waged a civil war against the Ugandan government of President Yoweri Museveni. Most of the fighting took place in the country's north and east, although the western and central regions were also affected. The most important insurgent factions were the Uganda People's Democratic Army (UPDA), the Uganda People's Army (UPA), Alice Auma's Holy Spirit Movement (HSM), and Joseph Kony's army. Several smaller rebel factions and splinter groups of the larger movements waged their own campaigns; the rebels often clashed with each other. All belligerents, including the government, targeted civilians and committed human rights violations. In course of fighting that involved tens of thousands of troops, the Ugandan government was able to gradually defeat or contain most rebel factions. The operations in the north and east caused great destruction and resulted in high civilian casualties.
Betty Lalam is a Ugandan teacher and ex-abductee of the Lord's Resistance Army, She is a director for Gulu War Affected Training Center.
Event photographs
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