Help Put an End to the Darfur Genocide

Human Rights, Petitions — By Emmeline Sun on December 5, 2011 1:24 pm

Target: U.S Congress

Goal: Pressure the U.N to treat ending the Darfur genocide as a top priority.

The Darfur Conflict is a civil war that has raged on for far too long. With thousands of Sudanese civilians dead, and millions more displaced, we can only wonder why the U.N has done so little to address this human rights tragedy, which has been publicly acknowledged and declared as genocide.

The conflict originally stemmed from land dispute and resource allocation between semi-nomadic livestock herders and sedentary agriculturalists. In 1991, the division turned into an Arab apartheid campaign against Sudan’s non-Arab citizens. One side of the conflict had the Sudanese military, police, and an infamous militia group known as the Janjaweed. The other side had smaller factions of rebel groups, with various non-Arab, ethnic compositions. Though the Sudanese government denied accusations of support for the Janjaweed, it is public knowledge that it supplied money and weapons to the militia. Today, the government is accused of “manipulating Arab solidarity” to commit ethnic cleansing in Sudan. In a more convoluted net of politicking, oil revenues from international companies fund the violent civil war, and its many transgressions against human rights. Sudan’s oil wealth keeps many countries from issuing embargos and trading sanctions that would otherwise cripple the government and curb the country’s violence.

Though many peace talks and photo-ops have taken place, and many ceasefire agreements have been signed, little progress has been made. Over 400,000 people have been killed by starvation, disease and violence. Women are raped and villages are burned to the ground. About 2,850,000 civilians are displaced; many have spent years in refugee camps, living off aid packets that make it past militia raids.

Major countries like Russia and China consistently violate the U.N. arms embargo by supplying weapons to the Sudanese government. Many countries continue to be heavily invested in Sudan’s oil rich fields. For a crisis that was termed the “world’s greatest humanitarian crisis” seven years ago, political action seems to be caught in a stalemate. As a key player in international politics, the U.S. must step up in treating this genocide as a major priority. Congress must make it clear to Russia and China that it is not okay to break U.N. sanctions. More importantly, the U.S. must put pressure on the U.N. and demand that it increase attention and funding toward this humanitarian crisis.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear U.S. Congress,

The Darfur Conflict is closing in on a decade of continued violence. Civilian death and displacement tolls continue to rise. With thousands dead and millions displaced, the Janjaweed continue to raid the country, burning villages, raping women and children, and committing what they deem an “ethnic cleansing.” Though the civil war was declared genocide, and “the world’s greatest humanitarian crisis”, little has changed for Darfur’s civilians. Peace talks, sanctions and ceasefire agreements have been made and broken. U.N. arms embargos have been broken by key players like China and Russia. Meanwhile, the world becomes more and more apathetic as this humanitarian crisis gets buried amidst newer headlines.

We must not let this genocide continue. As a key player in international politics, the U.S. must step up and consider this genocide a major priority. We are calling upon the U.S. Congress to put pressure on the international community to force change. The U.S. Congress must let its trade partners, Russia and China, know that they cannot break U.N. arms embargos. Congress must put pressure on the U.N. to increase attention and funding toward the Darfur Conflict. It is our duty, as human beings, to care for other humans. We must stop genocide today.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]