What makes darfur a genocide

Africa's leaders persist in minimizing the international crimes being committed in Darfur as "a humanitarian crisis," very much redolent of acts of nature like a flood, earthquake, or hurricane.

But Darfur is not an act of nature. It is caused by human actors, exercising political authority. They must be halted and brought to account. One point of view within the leadership of the African Union is that unlike the case of Rwanda, a genocide in terms of both the quantity nearly one million killed and quality mass murder of the acts perpetrated, "a mere" 50, have been killed in Darfur.

Apparently, in the arithmetic of the African Union, the 2 million forcibly displaced into death-like conditions in refugee camps guarded by the same Janjaweed militia that have raped, outraged, and violated them should have been physically wiped out too. The report of the Commission is yet to be published but authoritative sources close to the Commission indicate that it found as a fact that in Darfur, the government of Sudan had been involved in "war crimes and crimes against humanity, and massive human rights violations by members of the security forces.

While this bureaucratic rigmarole goes on, the people of Darfur are being savaged and the continent's rulers shrink from their moral and legal duty to call the crime by its name, Genocide. Criminal Justice , International Justice. Darfur: the New Name of Genocide. September 23, By Chidi Odinkalu. In addition, the US has imposed economic sanctions on Sudan since However, after working and talking with the Sudanese government for years, the US formally revoked its sanctions on Sudan in On September 17, , British Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote an open letter to the members of the European Union calling for a unified response to the crisis.

Both China and Russia have blocked many United Nations resolutions on Darfur because of their support for the Sudanese government, a big trading partner.

China invests heavily in Sudanese oil. Russia and China opposed UN peace keeping troops in Sudan. Since the ousting of Omar al-Bashir in early , the Sudanese government has established and retained a transitional government.

Although this government recently did agree to turn to turn over al-Bashir to the ICC, its next steps and transition to a permanent government remain to be seen. Arbitrary detention, torture, limitations of the freedom of press, and gender-based violence continue to be seen in both Darfur and Sudan as a whole under this new government. Sudan — Darfur. Pro-government militia in Darfur. SLM combatants. President Omar al-Bashir. Arab Janjaweed. Darfur refugee camp in Chad. Darfur children in an IDP camp.

The lack of jobs available to refugees is due in part to restrictions placed on them by the Chadian government, but also, the economy of the camps and surrounding community has simply not grown to accommodate the refugee community. Ethnic Disparity: Considered to be the first genocide of the 21st century, the Darfur genocide began in after rebels, led mainly by non-Arab Muslim sedentary tribes, including the Fur and Zaghawa, from the region, rose against the government.

They claimed years of inequitable treatment and economic marginalization, among other grievances. The government unleashed Arab militias known as the Janjaweed to attack villages and destroy communities. Janjaweed attacks were notoriously brutal and invoked a slash and burn policy that included killing and severely injuring the people, burning homes, stealing or burning food and livestock, and poisoning water wells.

Empower affected populations with sustainable livelihood solutions and immediate, informal learning opportunities that will boost their resilience, improve their lives in the Chad refugee camp settings, and translate well in Darfur, should they choose to return.

The program has successfully trained over 1, people in Eastern Chad in perma-gardening, improving food consumption, agricultural production, their ability to save money and their mental well-being while indirectly benefiting approximately 3, family members.

Broadcast our advocacy channels to ensure the safe and voluntary return of displaced populations and the presence of necessary services and protections to facilitate their smooth reintegration. Call for the international community to remain engaged throughout the transition from peacekeeping to peacebuilding instead of abandoning its responsibilities at this critical and unstable stage. JWW came into being as a response to the Darfur genocide. The Darfuris remain a vital cornerstone of our work.

Solar Cooker Project: JWW initiated the Solar Cooker Project in as a way of protecting Darfuri women and girls — survivors of the Darfur genocide living as refugees in Eastern Chad — by reducing their dangerous trips outside of the camps in search of firewood for cooking, serving hundreds of thousands of refugees in five camps. With the installation of inexpensive plastic sheeting and PVC pipes, women in refugee camps turned their family bathing areas into reservoirs for grey-water collection.

They used the collected water to irrigate small vegetable patches. Many schools participated by raising funds to supply one water well, each a lifeline for refugees.

The wells were built with local supplies by local labor, organized and led by a JWW partner. The schools, designed to serve over 4, students, were the first of what was conceived as a series of schools to be built in the 12 Darfuri refugee camps in Chad.

Backpack Project: This was created so that frightened children in the Oure Cassoni refugee camp in Chad could attend schools run by one of our partners. JWW distributed over 15, backpacks filled with shoes, books, school supplies, soap and toothpaste to school-aged children. West, Deborah L. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, D27 W47 [ Find in a library near you ].

Summary of the discussions that took place at a conference held in March Contains a map, list of conference participants, and list of publications by the Program on Intrastate Conflict.

Xavier, John. Darfur: African Genocide. New York: Rosen, D27 X38 [ Find in a library near you ]. General history of the region that focuses on geographical and historical factors in the genocide.

Includes suggestions for further reading, a glossary, and an index. Written for young adults. Explore our comprehensive entries on the events, people, and places of the Holocaust. Learn More. Herlinger, Chris, and Paul Jeffrey. New York: Seabury Books, Documentation from a United Methodist missionary photojournalist and a Church World Service writer highlighting the Darfur crisis through photographic documentation, personal narratives, and a bibliography.

Includes a forward by Desmond Tutu. Jok, Jok Madut. Sudan: Race, Religion, and Violence. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, J65 [ Find in a library near you ]. Examines the roles and relationship between race and religion in Sudan, especially as they create divisions within the country.

Also examines trends of militancy in Sudan. Includes a bibliography, maps, and an index. Flint, Julie. KTQ M56 S75 [ Find in a library near you ]. Considers Sudanese government and Janjaweed militia collaboration in the ethnic cleansing of Darfur. Chronicles atrocities and critiques international response. Includes maps, photographs of atrocities, statistics, and lists victims by village. Gingerich, Tara, and Jennifer Leaning. G56 [ Find in a library near you ]. Utilizes the results of interviews and a literature review to assess the use of rape as a weapon in Darfur with particular consideration of the nature of the rapes, the circumstances in which they took place, their relationship to the larger issue of ethnic cleansing, the impact on the non-Arab community of Darfur, and possibilities for mitigation and support by the international community.

Human Rights Watch. H [ Find in a library near you ]. Examines the responsibilities of the Sudanese government and military officials for implementing policies of ethnic cleansing in Darfur. Provides policy recommendations and calls for an end to impunity so those responsible can be prosecuted.

Contains photographs, footnotes, a list of war criminals, and an index. Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival. New York: Nation Books, D27 M37 [ Find in a library near you ]. Three human rights activists visited Darfur in to document and film the ongoing genocide.

Expanding on their film, the authors present stories of survivors, including internally displaced persons and refugees living in Chad. D [ Find in a library near you ]. Investigative findings of atrocities in Darfur including eyewitness accounts from the villages of Furawiya, Terbeba, and Bendisi. Discusses international law, reparations, and provides recommendations for resolving the crisis. Includes maps, glossary, acronym list, statistics, and appendices.

Steidle, Brian, and Gretchen Steidle Wallace. New York: Public Affairs, D27 S74 [ Find in a library near you ]. Contains photographs and a map. Totten, Samuel, and Eric Markusen, editors. Genocide in Darfur: Investigating the Atrocities in the Sudan. New York: Routledge, D27 G [ Find in a library near you ]. Presents evidence and refugee interviews collected by the Darfur Atrocities Documentation Team.

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