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Monday, December 05, 2005

Petition the UN.

In October, I wrote a post giving six things you can do to help end the genocide in Sudan. Ready for one more?

Samuel Totten, professor at the University of Arkansas and co-chief editor of the journal Genocide Studies and Prevention, is gathering signatures for a petition urging international action against the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. Click the comment link below for the full-text of the petition.

Actual signatures are best. So print the petition, sign it, circulate it amongst your friends and colleagues and send it to

Dr. Samuel Totten
University of Arkansas, COEHP
205 Peabody Hall
Fayetteville, AR 72701

If you prefer, send your name, city and affiliation (if appropriate) to stotten@uark.edu. Then click the envelope below to forward this post to your friends and colleagues.

Remember, after all this time, women, children and men are still being killed in Darfur. (Five hundred people each day.) People are still being raped. (Women and girls are very vulnerable.) People are still displaced. (Over 2.5 million people, so far.) Won't you add your voice to those calling for an end to the genocide?

"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little." -Edmund Burke, statesman and writer (1729-1797)

2 comments:

Karama said...

The petition reads:

"We, the undersigned, beseech the international community, and particularly, the United Nations, to organize and implement a strong, well-manned, and well-resourced intervention in Darfur, Sudan, in order to stop the ongoing genocide being perpetrated by Government of Sudan (GOS) troops and the Janjaweed (Arab militia) against the Black Africans of Darfur. In order for the intervention to be effective -- and not another fiasco as the international community witnessed in Rwanda in 1994 and then again in Srebrenica in 1995 -- the mandate must come under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which allows for peace enforcement, not simply peacekeeping. We urge that a minimum number of 12,000 troops be allocated for this mission, and that the mission be supplied with all the necessary equipment -- in good working order and adequate supplies to operate, and repair such when needed, to carry out the mandate/mission.

We also strongly urge that the mission be undertaken as soon as possible for each day that goes by an estimated 500 innocent people are losing their lives.

Proof of the effectiveness of such a mission should be based upon the following criteria:

1. An immediate end to the violence in the Darfur region;

2. Immediate access for all humanitarian aid that needs to be delivered to the internally displaced refugee camps and other areas where the victims of the GOS and Janjaweed may be seeking shelter and safety.

3. Immediate, voluntary, and safe return of the refugees to their homes and villages.

4. Accountability for all of those engaged in the planning and perpetration of the crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide."

Karama said...

Totten adds:

"PS: Please feel free to make as many copies as you wish. Please also urge friends, family and colleagues to sign the petition. And if possible, please send the petition with this message as to many folks as possible, urging them to (1) get the petition signed by as many people as possible, and (2) send the petition via email to as many of their own friends, neighbors, colleagues and family members as possible urging them to do the above. By following this process I am hoping to cover all parts of the U.S. and, again, obtain as many signatures as possible."