At the age of 16, Charles was abducted from his rural village by northern Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), and forced into a life of unspeakable fear and violence.

"I was caned 150 strokes," explained Charles, who escaped from the LRA late last year. "[Later,] there was a shout, 'Where is the new recruit?' And I was brought in. 'We are giving you an order now and if you refuse to obey the order, we will kill you.' "

A group of captured civilians were then lined up in front of Charles with their hands bound behind their backs. The quiet, wide-eyed teenager was ordered to beat them to death with a two foot piece of freshly cut timber.

"I was fearful for my life. So I beat them all to death; all seven of them. I was then ordered to lick the blood and brain matter from [the] victims. And I did all that."

He tells his story without a blink, without a quiver, without tears. A childhood lost.

Charles's story is not unique. Over 30,000 children have been dragged into Uganda's 19-year civil conflict -- a conflict that stands as perhaps the most ignored humanitarian disaster for children in the world. In the dark of night, the LRA regularly terrorizes the country's northern communities, abducting children and forcing them to join their cause as soldiers and sex slaves.

Joseph Kony, the LRA's leader, claims to be fighting for a government based loosely on the Ten Commandments. But his group's methods -- abduction, rape, mutilation and murder -- make nonsense of his Biblical conceit.

Three years ago, in response to the LRA's continued attacks on civilians, Uganda's army launched a military offensive called "Operation Iron Fist." But that operation has only intensified violence in the region. The civil unrest and continued human rights abuses demonstrate that Uganda is apparently unable or unwilling to protect its own population.

In a report published in March, 2005, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan stated that "responsibility lies, first and foremost, with each individual State, whose primary duty is to protect its population. But if national authorities are unable or unwilling to protect their citizens, then the responsibility shifts to the international community to use diplomatic, humanitarian and other methods to help protect the human rights and well-being of civilian populations."

The need for such international involvement in Uganda becomes obvious when one is introduced to the country's "night commuters."

Every night, as many as 40,000 children, some as young as five years old, walk for hours from their rural villages into major urban centres so that they can sleep in relative safety. In the morning, they retrace their steps in hope of returning in time to attend school and do their daily chores.

With their blankets and straw mats in tow, endless rows of youngsters walk for hours into Gulu, Kitgum and Pader, seeking refuge from what should be the safety of their own homes. Those who can't find a place in a cramped shelter, like 12-year-old Jimmy, often end up in bus parks or alleys, or resort to hiding out all night in the bush, waiting for the morning light.

"My parents are dead --they were killed by the rebels in 1998," explained Jimmy to a visitor. "I need to do that in order to avoid the rebels from abducting me. From here to home is one and a half hours."

Jimmy survives on one meal a day and walks home every morning to care for his ailing grandmother, where he does all of the household chores. He then heads to school and back home before doing it all again. This is his daily routine.

This past month, Kieran Hayward and I have conducted our own "night commute" in Toronto, which we called the GuluWalk. Every night in July, we walked 12.5 km into downtown Toronto to sleep in front of city hall. We then made the trek home at sunrise, all the while continuing to work full-time and attempting to maintain our usual daily routine.

We can't possibly replicate the terror, fear and uncertainty of the real "night commuters," who walk for their lives every single day. We're walking simply so that we can tell their story, and draw attention to their plight.

The question remains, however: Is anyone else listening?