Darfur Research Paper

 

Julia Vasquez English I, 2nd The calamity in Darfur has escalated to some of the worst human rights violations in history. According to Amnesty International, a human rights organization, this region located in the west of Sudan, has been the center of a war for five years. The conflict arose when the government supported rebel groups in discriminatory acts against Darfur’s people. (“About Instant Karma”). According to Sam Dealey, a writer for  Time

magazine, since 2003, when the conflict started, an estimated 200,000 people

have been murdered throughout the region, and 2.5 million more people have been displaced by the war. (“When the Good Guys Go Bad” 40). The crisis in Darfur is a sociological disaster that has resulted in mass genocide; however, campaigns have been organized throughout the world in hopes of ending the violence. According to Human Rights Watch, an organization dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world, the sociological disaster in Darfur has been the result of “ethnic cleansing” by the Arab-ruled Sudanese government. The government supports the Janjaweed militias who have attacked the targeted ethnic groups that the government desires to eliminate. (Human Rights Watch). According to Andrew B. Loewenstein, an attorney with an expertise in international disputes, the government trains, arms, and finances the militias. The Sudanese government orders the Janjaweed to kill the people of these groups, putting the government at fault for the crisis, as well as the actual forces that cause the violence. (Loewenstein). According to Amnesty International, these powers have committed uncountable crimes against humanity that have resulted in mass genocide. These crimes include murder, beating,

 

rape, the destruction of villages, torture, slavery, abduction, pillaging, and the destruction of food and water sources that are necessary to the survival of Darfur’s inhabitants. (“Darfur Crisis: Background”). According to

The Economist ,

a weekly

newspaper focusing on international politics and business news opinions, during a sixmonth period, an average of 160,000 people are displaced by the violence. (“Pity the People of Darfur, Pity the Peacemakers Too” 56). The atrocities continue to escalate and seem virtually unstoppable. Loewenstein documented a story of a refugee’s escape from Darfur. She lost everything when the Sudanese soldiers and Janjaweed militias invaded her village. Her husband and son were killed and her entire village was burned. She was able to escape with other survivors. Three boys, from whom she later became separated, accompanied her during the escape. However when she later found the boys, they were in an appalling state. Their throats had been slit, their hands chopped off, their feet cut from the toes to the ankle, and the skulls of the boys had each been broken open and their brains removed. (Loewenstein). As horrifying and unreal this story may seem, it is all too familiar within the region. The people are forced to live within a region of war and violence, cut off from supplies and the world. Despite the numerous human rights violations and crimes against humanity, there is still dispute whether to call the violence in Darfur genocide. According to attorney Loewenstein, in order to be proved and classified as genocide, the violence must have been committed with the intention to terminate an ethnic group. The crisis, despite the clear evidence and personal stories from survivors and refugees, was deemed not genocide but instead crimes of war and crimes against humanity. The United Nations stated that the massacre committed by the Sudanese government is not

 

genocide. The UN stated that although the Sudanese government’s militias have murdered and displaced members of some of the tribes in Darfur, no intent is shown to eliminate an entire racial group. However the stories from witnesses and survivors from the region reveal the sinister acts of the militias and the government. One pregnant woman was seen being stripped by the soldiers attacking her and then being beat in her  abdomen to kill the baby. The militia killed her fetus because the baby would be the “son of a black man,” showing the intent of killing off the black tribes residing in Darfur. (Loewenstein). The UN is still taking some action to try and stop the crisis and restore peace in Sudan, but the Sudanese government is far from cooperating with them. According to The

Economist ,

Sudan’s government has gone as far as inviting Arabs

from Niger and Chad to settle in the evacuated lands of Darfur. Twenty thousand peacemakers will finally be sent into the region after years of trying to persuade the Sudanese government. However, despite these attempts, the killing, violence, and crimes against humanity continue in Darfur. (Pity the People of Darfur, Pity the peacemakers Too” 56). Despite the seemingly endless atrocities in Darfur, hope for the tribes still there and the refugees who have been evacuated, is still alive. Organizations around the world have been formed in hopes to restore peace to the region. One of the largest human rights organizations, Amnesty International, has formed campaigns that raise funds to stop the war, but at the same time attract the public to get involved. A current campaign formed by Amnesty International is the “Make Some Noise”. A significant part of the campaign is the Instant Karma project. It joins the power of music and artists from around the world to create a soundtrack dedicated to saving lives and ending the

 

violence in Darfur. The album revolves around the songs of John Lennon, one of the most famous singer, songwriter, and peace-activists of all time. Twenty-three of  Lennon’s songs, including “Give Peace a Chance”, “Gimme Some Truth”, and “Imagine,” have been re-recorded to call attention to the crisis. Fifty of the world’s most famous musical artists devoted to restoring peace are recorded on the album, including U2, REM, Aerosmith, Green Day, Christina Aguilera, Avril Lavigne, and the Black Eyed Peas. All of the proceeds of the CD go towards the Campaign to Save Darfur. The project creates an attractive motive for the public to get informed and involved. (“About Instant Karma”). Another campaign and project aimed towards saving Darfur is the “Darfur Now” documentary. The documentary follows the story of six activists on their   journey around the world and even inside the region of Darfur. These six followed are Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Adam Sterling, the executive director of the Sudan Divestment Task Force, Ahmed Mohammed Abakar, a displaced Darfurian, Don Cheadle, actor and co-founder of the Not on Our Watch Foundation, Pablo Recalde, leader of the World Food Program team in West Darfur, and Hejewa Adam, an attacked Darfurian who has now joined the rebel forces. (“6 People, 6 Actions”). According to Take Part, an online social action and activism community social network, the film showcases the hardships and accomplishments that the six make in their efforts to help the people living in danger in Darfur and in refugee camps. The documentary focuses on the message that the measures taken by one person can make a significant difference and keep hope alive even when the violence seems so unstoppable. The six advocates work together  through one hope for one cause. They show from six different positions the impact that

 

the violence has on the people of Darfur, and how when everybody joins together, it can be stopped. (“About the Film”). Perhaps the most effective campaign is the Voices of  Darfur project. According to Save Darfur, a coalition  calling for international intervention in the Darfur conflict, it is a nationwide speaking tour that shines a light on the hardships going on in Darfur from a first-hand view. Darfurian refugees, who were blessed to be able to escape the violence, share their personal stories with the public to inform and bring awareness of the conditions from which they were so fortunately able to break away. They tell of the physical and emotional conditions in which they were trapped and those that so many are still held. The tour started in 2007 and has since visited 44 cities and spoken to 10,000 people. The campaign is so effective because of the personal accounts from the refugees that reveal the magnitude that the crisis has escalated to and how they are eternally emotionally and physically scarred due to the “ethnic cleansing” that the government so wishes and the brutality that is resorted to in order to achieve it. (“Voices from Darfur”). The organized campaigns around the world are all set for one purpose and in one hope that peace will once again be restored and the atrocities in Darfur will see their end. The sociological disaster in Darfur has left the people, in no doubt, experiencing mass genocide that appears to be unstoppable due to the Sudanese government’s ruthless tactics and final goal. What may be the last hope for the people are the organizations and campaigns established to re-establish peace in the region. Hope for  the 1 million who are still trapped and endangered in Darfur also resides in the involvement of the governments of countries all around the world, including the United States. Pressure must be added by these powers to the Sudanese government to even

 

have a chance at stopping the “ethnic cleansing” by the government and disabling the Janjaweed militias. Genocide cannot continue in Darfur and it must be stopped now before it becomes a lost cause.