compelling. as i listened to both of you i was reflected last thursday in the rotunda of the capitol where we had the holocaust remembrance and honored a swede. i'm part swedish. he saved tens of thousands of hundr hungarian jews in auschwitz. and i thought about how in history it's littered with to right wrongs and both of you are in that courageous category and i want to thank you for your willingness to make this issue visual because as the chairman knows, out of sight is out of mind and africa is a long way away from the american media. it's a long way away from our country and some of the tragedies that have gone on in that country, they're terrible. you're helping to bring those visibility -- visibility to those issues and help us ultimately shine the light of day on joseph kony and bring hip to justice. you both are heroes as far as i'm concerned and i appreciate your willingness to do that. i have a tough question to ask

you, but i want to ask one before i go back. my experience, you're talking about -- i know the sudan is in deep trouble in the south now in the north and there's a possibility of further deterioration there, but i also know in darfur, some organizations use rape against women as a military tactic. is that what joseph kony does? >> yes. that is what joseph kony does, and as i speak right now, joseph kony, according to some of the people who have defected, including his wife who defected recently, he has more than 50 wives around him, and the wives is what he uses as a protection, as a shield so these are young girls that have been raped and these are young girls who have been raped, and many have returned with children. so joseph kony is still continuously, him as a leader having 50 wives and what about the other commanders who have even many more wives? so joseph kony is still raping

and abducting children. >> the reason i asked question is that one of the good things the usaid is doing through its ngos in you ghana and in darfur is to empower women and help recognize the abuse that's taken place in africa like what joseph kony is doing. in fact when we were there, we had the speaker of the house or the parliament of uganda, it's a woman, and women are becoming empowered in that country and rising to power out of respect and equality for them, which is an important thing in a nation that has been the victim of people like joseph kony, and jacob, i have to leave to make a speech on the floor, but you're my hero. thank you for being willing to tell the story, being willing to come here and i don't blame you if you want to sit next to a pretty lady like jolly, i'd be there too. thank you, mr. chairman.

>> thank you, mr. isaacson. >> i'm grateful for our opportunity to work together on this. if i could, just by way of conclusion, since we need to bring this hearing to a conclusion, but jacob, if you've got any input for us on whether you think joseph kony and the lra commanders should be brought to justice in uganda or in the hague if you've gotten advice on what measures are most helpful as we try to help those who have escaped or defected to rebuild their lives, and last i would be interested to hear how it has turned out for you, your study of law, your interest in becoming a human rights lawyer, and i think many upon first hearing of your personal story in the video then also are hopeful to hear about the progress that you've made in your own life, not just in recovering but in becoming educated and strengthened and skilled to be able to use your experience to fight for justice. >> thank you very much again. i think i will start at what can be done, like, encourage these people to come back home, and

being someone who was abducted when i was young, for sure i was -- they tried to brainwash me, but because i was staying and had to become -- by the time they abducted me there were some people returning from the bush, like from the captivity of the area. so they were trained to, like, tell me that jacob you know we bring you here and when you go back home, the government actually will kill you. there's nothing like, welcoming from your people back home and what it does most that these kids that they are keeping, he dries to deny them access to the media, the radio stations, things that can let them know the truth that is outside there. like here in -- what is happening actually when you come back home. so this gives some of them are fighting not because they want to stay with the lra, but because they feel like now that

he has forcefully brought us here, the government looks at us as being rebels, and when i try to go back home, they well just kill me straightaway. so i had to fight for my dear life, and die in battle. so thereby, he has been able to keep a lot of kids around him, and if there is any way that these kids can be reached and, like, people telling them that, i escaped sometime back, i was with you and now i am still living a positive life. i have changed my life. i'm involved in doing this. if these people get to know that when you come back home, nothing actually happens to you it will encourage them to come back home. and then the second thing that i want to bring forward is that he has been able to keep some of the kid because this war has been going on for so long. so there are kids born and raised in the bush, and they have both parents in the bush, there by making it very hard for

them to feel like they can even come back home. they feel like, they are 18 and their mothers are there with them and their father is there. so all they know is fighting. so all these kids if there is a way that they can be reached and to tell them, the second type of life, which is coming back home, sitting down at a roundtable, solving things in a good way, that would be a perfect way of, like, encouraging them to come back home. and, like, my education side. i'm so proud of meeting with children, because they made me who i am. when i came back it was so hard for my parent to put me back in school because school was expensive, and they took the responsibility of my parents and made sure that me alongside hundreds and thousand of kids goes to school and pursue our dream. but it's like it's -- i'm still advocating for their rights because it's been operating less than ten years and this war has

been going on for the last 26 years. so it's affected thousands of kids, and now it is going to affect more, and that is why i feel like we should not leave it to children, we should not leave it to resolve all thee organization. we should come as team, as the world and make sure we rebuild and heal the war victims. so that is what i feel like. me, who has been helped out, i should do something to pay for that. and i will only stop paying forward when the war ends. so i would love to stop paying forward, because then the war would end and i would have to do my things. i will not have to depend on any other person. so i'm willing to be a human rights lawyer, because i feel like we should have the same value of human rights. like, people are always the same. no matter what color you are. we all have the same red blood

and we are all born with the same right. so same right that people have in the u.s., in china, in sudan, in uganda or in congo has to be promoted by those who are in authorities. and no matter where you come from, if there's a problem somewhere you are affected in one way or the other. so i find that, like, i feel like if i am a human right lawyer, i can reach out to so many people, not only in my community, not only in uganda but in the whole world. >> if i could, last question. jacob and jolly, what difference do you think it would make to those who have been directly affected, to those in the countries of the region and then to the world, what difference what it make for joseph kony and his top lieutenants who have been indicted by the icc, what difference for it make for them to be captured, removed from the battlefield and tried? how would it affect change?

>> i think i will start and then you will conclude. >> yes. >> i think it will make a very big difference, because right now, like, i can feel like personally i feel like uganda is a little safe, and i kind of want to forget about the past that i went through, but it's very hard. it's not only me. i'm speaking on behalf of the victims of uganda. we are trying to forget what we went through, but it becomes so hard when you wake up in the morning and you hear that people are still being abducted in congo. it takes my mind back to the situation where i was abducted, and if someone's brother is being killed in congo, it takes my mind back where i saw my brother being slaughtered, and this is not only to me a price to all those victims. so when these guys and this rebel group is brought to justice, i think finally and slowly people will forget, because they will not hear it again, in any way.

so it will bring a very big difference, and there are those who are still living in very big fear, and those are the people who are still getting up to now. it will encourage them when the war end and the fear that they used to live in will actually go away and they will begin a second version of life of knowing that, oh, i can still be someone. and, like, personally, i had no hope in my life. to the extent that i almost just dead, instead of living in the world. so now that i have received a second type of life that i can actually help. i can actually do something. like, right now i know that all these kids who are with the rebels and all these kids who are living in fear if given a chance, they can still do something better. they can still achieve their dream, but it's hard, because themselves, they don't know that. they don't know that they can still have different, like if

they are given chance, they can have a different life which is very positive, which is fit for human being. they don't know about it, and that is what i didn't know until when i was introduced to school and now i know. so the only challenge is, how are we going to let them know? it's by stopping this war and bringing them, look here, you can still do this. you go school and you will not have to fight to get money. you will have to work hard to get what you want and not taking a gun and forcing someone to give you. if you work hard, you en joy it and no one asks for an act. -- an account. the money they pay me right now in my place where i'm working, i can actually spend it the way i want. like, say, jacob, we are paying you. we gave you this money. where's the receipt? my money that i work for it, i

can wake up and say, oh, this is a beer. drink. and no one ask for it. so that is what i want. i want people to, like, be independent. i don't want children to think that they will have to pick up a gun to get money. they will have to pick up a gun to get food. i want them to work towards it. thank you very much. >> thank you, jacob. it is great to be reminded that part of what our president obama was speaking about yesterday was the importance first of ending the conflict. second of bringing the leadership to account, but then third, of remembering. even today it is important for us to remember the show of the holocaust, one of the worst atrocities in known human history, but in this particular case in central africa, with the lord's resistant army, there are still attacks going on, still communities not safe, still children who were abducted, as you said, jacob, who have grown up in the bush and no know other life. our first order of business, end

the conflict by bringing him to justice. jolly, you have the last word today. how do you think it will be make a difference with the world? you yourself told me you knew joseph kony as a child, grew up in the same village. i'm sure it was hard to imagine that he would turn into this monster he's become, and so on some level ending his violence actions would help close a chapter an then hopefully bring some justice and then some peace and then serve as an example to the rest of the world of the possibility of restoring justice. how do you see it? what difference would it make if he were actually captured and brought to justice? >> thank you so much. i think bringing kony to justice will show the world that impunity is not a way forward. to let human souls suffer. and i think bringing him to justice will, i think, in the long run stop people around the

world who are so brutal and people who think that playing around with the lives of a fellow human being is the way forward, to gain authority and you know threaten -- threatening the other people. but also i think, letting the world know that justice when people come together can be brought to anyone. so i think this will also solve to many african leaders who have, you know, like turned their backs to what's the -- the local population, and they will know that the world will be watching them. so i feel like bringing kony to justice is one way forward of stopping any atrocity in the future that will happen in the world, and to me i feel this is key, because i think as much as joseph kony is still out there at large, i feel that it is very

important to bring him to let him answer for the crimes he has committed, but also i think it's a responsibility as well to other leaders to realize that it is very, very important when people are in leadership to also protect the lives of the people they lead, and i think the coming together of everyone around the world and focusing on this one man and bringing him out will also in the future cause fear to other people who might think they should stand up and rise and terrorize people. so i think that is the most key important, you know, like element. and, also, i think bringing kony to justice is a way of promoting democracy in africa, because i think that is one area where we have all these wars springing up, because of lack of transparency in the government system as well. bring people to start fighting amongst themselves. so i think bringing kony to

justice is one way forward that will save so many lives, and besides, why is he not fighting his own country? why does he have to take suffering to a country that have no idea? why it's fighting? >> with that, thank you both very much. thank you both for sharing your stories with us today. for your personal journey of recovery, from being abducted by the lra to turning your personal experiences to positive contributions, not just to uganda but to the whole world. we are grateful to invisible children to resolve to enough for their very hard work in partnership with you in advocacy. i'm going to hold the record open until friday, april 27th, for anyone who wants to submit and without objection i'll also enter into the record a written statement from the enough project that they wanted made a part of the record of the

hearing today. thank you so much for your witness, your testimony and your vision. >> thank you. >> with that, this hearing is adjourned. to learn more about the senate foreign relations subcommittee, check out the c-span 2012 congressional direct oar. you'll learn about the subcommittee and chairman chris koonce from delaware as well as everything else from the 112th congress. this complete guide has committee assignments in the house and senate, subcommittee breakdowns, district maps and more. pick up a copy for $12.95 plus

shipping and handling. you can order online at cspan.org/shop. president obama is signing an executive order today that targets fraudulent marketing practices aimed at military families, specifically for federal education aid. the president and first lady will address troops at the ft. stewart army post in georgia. this is live on c-span 2 at 12:30. where's the national public radio table? you guys are still here? that's good. i couldn't remember where we landed on that. >> this weekend on c-span, the 98th annual white house correspondents dinner. president obama and late-night talk show host, jimmy kimmel, headline the event before an audience of celebrities,

journalists and the white house press corps. coverage starts with the red carpet arrivals live at 6:30. watch the entire dinner, only on c-span. you can also sync up experience at c-span's dinner hub. find the celebrity guest list, highlights of past dinners, plus blog and social media posts at cspan.org/whcd, the white house correspondents dinner live saturday at 6:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. mexican president felipe calderon spoke about mexico's competitiveness and trade at the u.s. chamber of commerce. focusing on trade and investments, he said, in this very difficult time in the world economy, the world needs more trade, not less trade. president calderon also credited mexico's participation in trade agreements, like the north american free trade agreement, with helping the mexican economy grow. it's about an hour.

i'm tom donahue, president and ceo of the chamber. won't you please be seated. now, i haven't heard of a welcome like that for a head of state here in a long time and it was very appropriate. it's wonderful to also see all of you here for such a timely conversation on the united states and mexico and our critically important economic partnership. there are a number of people here today who need to be recognized and let me mention them very briefly. mexico's minister of foreign affairs, and mexico's minister of the economy, bruno ferrari. and mexico's minister of finance, and the director general of mexico, carlos guzman and of course our two esteemed ambassadors. i'm going to introduce them separately. i'm going off the script.

the first of course is topekay way -- tony wayne representing the united states in mexico city. we're very pleased to have him. he's working hard and it's working very well. i'd like to put just a little bit of emphasis on my friend, arturo sirconwho represents mexico here in the united states. mr. president just a little while ago at our breakfast, we celebrated many things that have worked out over time to expand both of our economies. the ambassador has been a hard worker, a good friend and occasionally a pain because he would push us to get done what has to be done in a way that we finally would do it just to quiet him down. but arturo, we very much appreciate our partnership, it's been great for everybody. now, it's great to have all of you here -- [ applause ]

so i'm glad you're all here today and so many distinguished guests from both of our countries. i want to thank you all for taking the time and effort to join us. now it is my pleasure to welcome back to the chamber a great friend of the united states, a great friend of business and a great friend of challenging the problems we all face in this world, and he's here because of the strategic importance of the u.s./mexican relationship. because six million u.s. jobs depend on trade with mexico, because the united states is year in, year out the largest source of foreign investment in mexico, because our countries share a land border of nearly 2,000 miles and because more than $1 billion a day in goods crosses that border, and because our people share the same

resources, breathe the same air, drink the same water and share a common culture, and because our nations work together both will be more competitive, create more jobs for our workers and be more economically and physically secure in today's global environment. in his nearly six years in office, he has demonstrated the strength of his convictions, confronted head on the country's security challenges and worked with the united states as a critical ally, while urging the united states to do more to address some of the underlying causes of his nation's challenges. particularly the drug trade. he has demanded and received the serious attention of world leaders. in june, he will host the g-20 heads of state and he has brought unprecedented energy and

leadership to that effort at a critical time. in a time of exciting growth for the entire region of latin america, he has worked to ensure that mexico is able to make the most of every opportunity. he has augmented one of the world's most impressive free trade networks, giving mexico exporters access to 44 markets worldwide. if our trade representatives are here, take note. we need some more ourselves. and he has enhanced the commercial relationship with the united states. through efforts to eliminate arbitrary regulations and differences in investment strategy and he has streamlined and secured in many ways our shared border. and by advancing a vision of

shared competitiveness in the transpacific partnership. in all of these efforts, he has enjoyed the friendship and the collaboration of the u.s. business community, and nowhere more so than right here at the u.s. chamber of commerce. so ladies and gentlemen, please give your warmest welcome to our very honored guest, the president of the united mexican states, felipe calderon. please join us at the podium. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. thank you, mr. donahue, for your

comments and words. and especially for your support to mexico and the freedom and trade that we share. thank you for all you have done in favor of our country. and congratulations for this centennial at the u.s. chamber. i think that the role of the chamber for the united states and also for mexico has been crucial improving the conditions of the people. thanks for your comments about our ambassador. indeed, we have a very good one, ambassador, who's smart with a lot of commitment. yes, he's a pain and that is the reason we have him here in washington, d.c. let me start talking some about

the mexican economy situation. i need to say under the circumstances of the global troubles we are looking, the mexican economy i can say is in good shape. we grew last year like 4% in our gdp and we were able to create almost 600,000 new jobs in the formal sector in net terms, which implies a the importance of the mexican economy. public finances are in order. we have a deficit of 0.4%. even if you include the total investment of companies, which is out of the budget, the total deficit of mexico is below 2.5% of gdp. last week our foreign reached

$151 billion which is more than the total of the government of mexico. and that implies that we are able to negotiate and are in very good shape. for instance, we issued a couple of years ago a special bond -- a bond for 100 years. a very affordable rate. and actually is the most successful operation in the world. and today we have a very affordable public debt. our public debt is like 32% of gdp. the average debt of the other countries will be like 96%, mexico is in good shape as well in this. our inflation is low.

it would be like 3.5%. according to the barometers of latin american countries it is doing well and despite the fact the tremendous increase in food prices and commodity prices in the world. we are keeping our commitment to free trade, so that is more or less what i am going to talk about today in this session. in particular, let me emphasize the trade and competitiveness of mexico, which is very important for me, and most of that is coming from the very important and crucial decisions of nafta in mexico. that decision in '93 was crucial for the country. i want to express my gratitude for the public servants that used to be there. one of them is here, and i think that they did very well. we can s