Fall Out Boy and Invisible Children

Have you seen the video from Fall Out Boy for their single Me and You? The video tells the story of two teens in love whose lives are horrifically interrupted when the boy is kidnapped and forced to be a child soldier. Fall Out Boy teamed up with Invisible Children, the organization created by three young filmmakers as a result of their film Invisible Children: Rough Cut, which exposes the tragic realities of northern Uganda’s child soldiers.

Having worked at UNICEF on child rights issues for several years, this is an issue close to my heart. Kudos to Fall Out Boy for bringing attention to the painful issue of child soldiers through their powerful video. Check it out:

Here are some shocking statistics about child soldiers from Human Rights Watch:

• as many as 300,000 children under the age of 18 and as young as 8 serve in government forces or armed rebel groups around the world
• child soldiers are being used in conflicts all over the world including in Africa, South America, and the Middle East
• children are most likely to become child soldiers if they are poor, separated from their families, have limited access to education, are orphans or refugees
• many child soldiers are abducted and forced into service
• child soldiers aren’t only boys…in El Salvador, Ethiopia, and Uganda, almost a third of the child soldiers are reported to be girls

Click here to find out how you can get involved with the Invisible Children campaign and make a difference.

To read the first-hand account of a child soldier from Sierra Leone, check out the excellent book by Ishmael Beah.