A major human tragedy is unfolding in Sudan, one that has
reportedly
claimed at least 30,000 lives, and could claim up to one
million
unless the world community works together, starting
immediately,
to end it.
One thing we can do is give to Oxfam's
Sudan Crisis Relief Fund, which
is providing urgently needed help to people
there. You can make a
secure, tax-deductible gift at:
https://secure.ga3.org/02/sudan04?source=mo
A gift will make an immediate difference, but we must also take action
to
stop the bloodshed.
Although Secretary of State Colin Powell has
been in Sudan this week,
he has yet to declare that the atrocities there
constitute genocide
[1]. Such recognition would make a huge
difference, catalyzing the
world community to help end the killing.
Powell should also publicly
condemn the genocide. But so far, he has
stopped short of this.
This week, on NPR, Powell said: "Why would we call
it a genocide
when the genocide definition has to meet certain legal tests,
and
based on what we have seen, there were some indicators but there was
certainly no full accounting of all indicators that lead to a legal
definition of genocide, and that's the advice of my lawyers..."
[2]
Please call Powell today at:
Secretary of State Colin
Powell
202-647-4000 or 202-647-6607 or 202-647-6575
Urge
him to:
- Immediately declare the atrocities in Sudan to be
"Genocide"; and
- Publicly condemn them.
Please also call your
Senators and Representative:
Senator Richard C. Shelby
Washington, DC: 202-224-5744
Senator Jeff Sessions
Washington, DC: 202-224-4124
Congressman Michael D.
Rogers
Washington, DC: 202-225-3261
Urge them to demand that
the United States recognize the genocide and
condemn it.
Please let
us know you're calling, at:
http://www.moveon.org/callpowell.html?id=3039-1258581-_ejbfEV7oROu9oleocYnwA
Sudan's government is orchestrating a genocide against people
living
in the country's Darfur region, who have challenged the
government's
authoritarian rule. In addition to tens of thousands of
killings,
there is widespread rape, and poisoning of water systems.
Up to one
million people have reportedly been displaced from their
homes. Andrew
Natsios, head of the U.S. Agency for International
Development says, "if
nothing changes we will have one million
casualties. If things improve
we can get it down to about 300,000
deaths." [3]
More than 130
countries are obligated by the 1948 Genocide Convention
to prevent and
punish such crimes against humanity. So even if the
United States
sends no troops to Sudan, formally recognizing the
genocide would enable the
U.N. security council to authorize other
countries, like Germany, France,
and Spain, which don't have troops
to Iraq, to help stop the killing in
Sudan.
We could also take another simple step, and publicly condemn the
genocide. This would send a powerful signal that the world is
watching, not looking the other way. "Genocide is still calibrated to
the international reaction," writes Nicholas Kristof in the New York
Times.
Whenever genocide has occurred before, the world
community has vowed,
"never again." Yet today, it is happening
again.
The Bush administration is failing so show leadership on
Sudan. Is
President Bush now so preoccupied with Iraq that his
administration is
incapable of action on emergent issues of the day?
Sadly, the answer
appears so far to be yes.
Please help stop this
genocide, by making your calls today.
Sincerely,
- Carrie, Joan,
Lee, Noah, Peter, and Wes
The MoveOn.org team
Friday, July
2nd, 2004
P.S.:
A photo gallery depicting the situation is
at:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5305166/site/newsweek/New
York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has written a moving series
of columns
from Sudan, many of them focusing on the personal experiences
of a young
woman there named Magboula. You can read them at:
1. "Dare We Call
It Genocide?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/16/opinion/16KRIS.html(Archived
and available for purchase)
2. "Sudan's Final Solution"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/19/opinion/19KRIS.html(Archived
and available for purchase)
3. "Magboula's Brush With Genocide"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/23/opinion/23KRIS.html(Archived
and available for purchase)
4. "Dithering as Others Die"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/26/opinion/26KRIS.htmlNewspapers
everywhere are calling for action:
The Washington Post: "As Genocide
Unfolds"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54947-2004Jun19.htmlThe
New York Times: Time for Action on Sudan
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/18/opinion/18FRI1.html?th(Archived
and available for purchase)
Calls for action from newspapers throughout
the country have been
compiled by the Center for American Progress, at:
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=97645Footnotes:
[1]
Genocide is commonly defined as "the systematic and planned
extermination of
an entire national, racial, political, or ethnic
group." -
Dictionary.com
The formal definition of genocide, under the United
Nations'
1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide, is:
"any of the following acts committed with intent
to destroy, in
whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or
religious group,
as such:
(a) Killing members of the
group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the
group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life
calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in
part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births
within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group
to another group."
Source:
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/p_genoci.htm[2]
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3057010[3]
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5288549/_______________
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