To stop the Lords Resistance Army, a group in Central Africa and their leader, joseph kony. Live coverage here on cspan. Them alive this morning, a reefing on capitol hill, the tom commission, rights countering the Lords Resistance Army in Central Africa. We expect to hear from the group invisible children and the crisis commission. The cochairs are governor Massachusetts Governor of massachusetts, and joe pitts of pennsylvania. Sarah hi, im the washington director at Human Rights Watch. I am very pleased to be here today to moderate this Briefing Panel on the Lords Resistance Army. A quick thank you to the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and to all of you for showing up what is relatively early during your recess. Lets introduce our panelists, all of whom ive known for quite some time. Way. Ll go down this directly to my right is paul ronan. He is the cofounder and oversees the Organizations Research and policy development. Multimediared a platform that demonstrates atrocities in real time. He oversees the collaboration with Civil Society leaders in all four countries. Worked with invisible children since 2006. She started as a roadie. Give her an opportunity to bring attention and education to the american public. We are going to have to get into that a little bit and find out what that means. Please to have you here. Great lakes region and lra. Definitely a busy man. He is executive director and cofounder of the Grassroots Reconciliation Group. He used to work at the Global Witness as well. I want to be very brief today and take a little bit of my moderators prerogative at the beginning. Looking at a rebel group that has been around for more than 25 years. We are in a very different point than we were the last five years. The question we gets is why does this still matter, wise the u. S. Governments role still important . If i could take you back, the tide seemed to turn into thousand eight and 2009. We have seen the lra with ongoing brutality and a ongoing invasive form with a lot of chatter in u. S. Government but not as much engagement. 2008, 2009 some of you may have remembered or read about the Christmas Day massacres, which were some of the most atrocities the organization, the rebel group committed. They basically waited until the holidays when people were together so they could get them andat once you the scale scope of the brutality of the killings was incredibly massive. Thiswas note about operation is it occurred 10 days after uganda be get an operational Operation Lightning thunder, which was an attempt to eradicate the lra. But we saw time and time again would respond by slaughter and massacre. Human rights watch did some pretty remarkable research. My colleagues did some pretty remarkable documentation on exactly what happened. This one topped the charts in terms of the nastiness. Sitting on the senate and working on the fourth draft of legislation. Some perverse way it was that massacre that enabled us to finish, finalize, and build momentum for the main 2009 lra build lra bill. More than 200 here in the house. I dont think anything has passed in africa with us many cosponsors. It was a very exciting bipartisan effort. There was a lot of momentum within the executive branch and aggressive level and aggressor level. Many americans were engaged in passing the bill and moving to realize it be implemented. Just very quickly to run down the timeline, we passed the legislation in 2010. 2011 the president did what that legislation required, which is submitting strategy. Not just a military effort but a comprehensive effort that looked at diplomatic intelligence and to address the lra at the leadership level. The bill we drafted was very partisan and comprehensive in dealing with the problem. It is very small and flexible and nimble. There is one state Department Liaison on the ground. Wanted to find one piece of legislation that i look that last night. I have a very strong memory of going backandforth over the language in that bill. Really there has been a focus on catching kony. When we drafted the legislation we set that only apprehend or remove kony and top leaders from the battlefield, the we talked about disarming and demobilizing the mobile fighters in the same sentence. Catching kony, removing him from the battlefield is what we all want to see. Theres a lot more that needs to be done with u. S. Engagement Going Forward. What we looking at is the comprehensive solution. How do you get the pentagon and even congress, as well as international, to continue working on this Going Forward . The number of fighters within the lra has changed dramatically. Nonetheless they continue to be a threat not only to those civilians a attacked but also basic fundamental develop it and governments fundamental developments and governments. None of which are particularly stable at the moment. I think i will end that note why should weion, keep it up . Lattice u. S. Engagement still matter . If my panelists onto a good job of letting you know that we will figure it out by the end. That i have good faith. Paul, if you want to start. Im going to try to keep to five to 10 minutes. Can then engage in some questions and answers. Paul those a very modest introduction. What you did not say is if it wasnt for your work in 2009 and 2010 the lra bill would not have passed and we would not be here. Lantos like to thank tom Human Rights Commission as well for giving us a chance to talk today. I have been going to the affected area since 2005. I just returned from my most recent trip a few weeks ago. What im going to do here is outline a few key trends and lra activity and the lra response. The first slide here just shows the number of combatants within the lra. When president obama came into , approximately 800 troops. When the bill was signed into tony kony had half that number. Thanks in large part to the military operations and the defection campaigns supported by u. S. Troops in that field, there are only about 190 through 200. Roops left i want to focus in on the defections being supported by u. S. Military out in the field. Uganda and in in congo are doing a fantastic job of getting messaging out to promote lra groups. Use leaflets and loudspeakers that are mounted on helicopters as well. I would like to point out the role of the field representatives of the state Departments Bureau conflict. We have a member here today for inir really key role bridging the link between the u. S. Military and Civil Society groups. These campaigns have succeeded in encouraging dozens of fighters to come out of the rush. The most high profile one was in when washis year indicted by the in 2005. Dropped to other lra groups to encourage to defect as well. I think there are a couple of reasons why the focus is really important. The more defectors that we get, the better intelligence we have. Most of the combatants within the lra were up ducted when they were young. We have a moral obligation to try to bring them home. The core of the group are fighters from uganda. Operate anymore. Test that is an irreplaceable loss that is in a replaceable loss. We wont underestimate kony. He is a master survivor. Some former bodyguards that are fiercely loyal to him. He will do whatever he can to maintain his iron grip on the structure. He executed some lra officers for disobeying his orders. In 2013 and 2014 we didnt see a from hismbatant immediate group. There were a few signs that the iron grip is eroding a bit. s was helped by one of kony bodyguards. It was a sign that of fear him as much as they want it. You will see seven defectors are konys blood seven defectors are konys bodyguards. Instead of just going a nearby town, they can they walked through the entire month to the town where they knew that u. S. Troops were based. That was a clear sign that what we are doing out there was having a positive impact. Troops in the field trying to conduct these campaigns are not adequate. She seeks to double the saturation and geographic scope. We are doing a lot. If we are doing more we can really break this open. That is a little too much good news for now. 2000 and one the till was signed there was a decrease in tax killings and abduction as well. Created ayears that of a reversible progress of your reversible irreversiblef progress. Unfortunately will we have seen in the past year is an increase lra attacks. S shows a map. E attention tow your the gray area in the upper left. That is a disputed area army. Lled by the sudanese the Sudanese Government is not cooperating with the u. S. Or its African Union partners right now in current lra efforts. Giving seniorere lra officers safe haven there. They have been doing this since 2009. It continues to begin issue. Definitively denying we will continue to have briefings like this on the ec, and throughout asking ourselves every year why this is still an issue. The next slide i want to show real quick is a photo of a meeting between members of the and a rebel movement. This is another example of the lra exploiting ungoverned space. What the lra is doing in these areas is basically glinting gold and diamonds. And then they trade them for food. Way tome an important continue to survive. At times they most evolved into a criminal gang. Community ando a they wont attack them, even if they are just given food. Is a photograph that weree defectors shown. In the previous photo, the defectors look like fierce rebel fighters. Here you see a much different perspective. It was a few weeks later after they were able to return home to uganda. Im not sure if that is a cultural thing. I want to call your attention to , when i met with them all i wanted to talk about was about how such they were to go back to school. The guy in the red jerseys very keen on becoming a famous musician. All of them told me again and again, very few people left and actually want to continue to fight. Withbody is disillusioned the ideology that the leadership within the lra has been trying to propagate. This point because i think an end to this problem is achievable within this congressional term. This is not an issue we need to be dealing with with dealing with for another five or 10 years. I dont want to underestimate the challenges we face. At the end of the day we are dealing with 200 combatants, most of whom want to come home. Is not just about reuniting them with their families. But if we can mobilize the lra then we will be able to allow hundreds of thousands of displaced people to return home. The u. S. Will not just sit back to back and allow them to operate within that community. I think we can have a full conversation on the defectors. Lisa i want to thank the Human Rights Commission for hosting us. Im going to try not be to speech he. As a representative of invisible children, i wanted emphasize supporting the recovery of affective communities and seeing this crisis come to an end continues to be a very important issue to thousands of americans. I think celebrating the members of congress who championed the lra registration, we cannot catalyzing and sustaining u. S. Efforts to see and and this crisis. Curious how many people in this or involved in activism at the lra. Im just curious, this is a young crowd. Over the course of that time i have seen young people rally in the streets, sleep on the concrete, right to their members of congress, come to the sea to meet on the hill, mobilize their schools, or because they care so deeply about this issue. The kony 2012 phenomenon made him a household name and took what had been a very neglected youngian crisis people continue to engage their members of congress. When cnn and buzz feet moved on it was younglines, people that kept on engaging policymakers on this issue. Just as a few examples people are familiar with the kony 2012 campaign that galvanized a lot of people at one time. People came to d. C. , marched around the white house, and lobbied for the passage of legislation. That legislation passed just a andmonths later throw 2013 2014 high school and College Activists were writing letters and phone calls to get appropriators in congress to secure funding to support the recovery of lra affected communities. Over the course of 2014 combined, these young people is now 20 million that in the pipeline to support the recovery of community affected by the lra. Years there same were grassroots campaigns to get members of congress to sign on to a letter. And to continue withs efforts to cn end to the lra crisis. House signed the on to that letter, only to be with 76 the next year members of congress. Thanks to the leadership of people Like Congress of people who helped organize this briefing. Right now we have activists lobbying their members of 394. Ess to cosponsor it not only urges president obama to sustain the current support to regional forces, but also addresses key gaps in the mission that are hindering success. And it calls on the administration to invest in planning and implementing a. Oncert recovery strategy needless to say the constituency who cares about this issue and and peoplevernment who have been doing activism on this. I will argue in light of how far we have come, we heard some incredible progress that paul had mentioned. In light of how far we have come and how close we are seeing this inflict ended, also keeping mind the dangerous consequences if we were to reign in our efforts preemptively and gives joseph kony the room to be room to rebuild his forces. A really remarkable victory for the Global Community could be in the near future. Paul and sasha both are going to cover key gaps and dismantle the lra. As an organization operational in affected areas i wanted to most of my time on the civilian impact of the conflict. Not only the remaining needs but notopportunity so we are only dishing out all the needs that we can talk about the opportunities available to us. Many of you will skip through we believe right there. This photo is a group of women it is a handful of the group among 33 women and children that were released from the lra during a time where there is a wave of women and children that were essentially shed by the lra. I was preparing for this briefing that i realized the day these women and children were released was august 10, 2014. It was really eyeopening. The sad reality given the track isord in the region is it very likely these women and children and the dozens of others that were released with them likely have returned back to the villages where they are from with very little or no support to help deal with the trauma, the sexual violence, the physical abuse, and the stigmatize asian that comes with their experience having been lra children mothers of that are fathered by lra commanders and things of that nature. For communitybased holistic reintegration support. Im sure many of you have heard the stories about the kind of experiences people have, witnessing or even being forced to execute horrific violence. Girls and women who are ,orced into sexual slavery various forms of physical and mental abuse. Theres no question that even if they have only been in captivity for a short window of time have they experienced severe trauma. Societyhow to reenter and even just the vocational and practical skills earning a livelihood for themselves and their families. There are standard operating theedures on paper part of United Nations strategy to address the lra. Even on paper there are gaps. Certain demographics of returnees are left unserved. Paper, thed implementation of these standard manyting procedures had gaps, and those gaps are ratinging as donors are and funding lra affected communities. Historically it has been untold males that have received very little if any support. Is their group that healing need it actually creates a dangerous opportunity in places like south sudan and other armed groups to exploit very traumatized angry young men. The opportunity to constructively enter back into society. In addition to adult males, we are increasingly seeing that funding has tried up for women and children coming out to the lra. Programs to support them across the region have shuttered. They have received very minimal if any support. Slide, i stolext this from him. Lra attacks have increased over the past year. That has resulted in an increase of displacement by 40 . Not only has this trend been something i think the International Community has necessarily been aware of, but because of donor funding in previous years that have decreased, because donors assume this is just a slow dissolving of the lra, funding was drastically reduced. International ngos {is like northeastern combo. Northeastern congo. There are now maybe three. It may be too invisible children. A time when displacement has increased, humanitarian need has increased, there is a fraction of the humanitarians humanitarian assistance available. Understanding, studying, doing assessment of humanitarian needs , and then ensuring there is support is another need i would highlight. The last need i would highlight is the need for a postkony recovery strategy for the region. I think it is very likely that it willas kony is off be hard to keep people engaged in this region. The security presence that has been in this area is likely going to very quickly we have to expect it will be leaving went up lra is off the field. In order to mitigate the very in the flow of armed groups and the exploitation of disenfranchised communities, we need to invest in the recovery of these areas, both from a reintegration standpoint, micro economic opportunities, as well as bigger infrastructure development. It has to become a priority now while the International Community is invested in this area. Im going to skip through to encouraging opportunities. This is a gentleman i meant just a few weeks ago. He was the chief of a community that was displaced out of where they were located. He has taken on the role of teaching tailoring skills at a Community Integration center that is helping those come out