Friday, September 14, 2007

Global Day for Darfur - Sunday, September 16

Please read this, heed it, and pass it on. --Jeff Weintraub
==============================
GLOBAL DAY FOR DARFUR E-ALERT
Darfur News | Day for Darfur Events | Sign the Petition
Attacks on civilians continue in Darfur and the UN has still only deployed a handful of the peacekeepers needed. Join with us as events take place around the globe this weekend to call on world leaders to use their authority to ensure urgent deployment of the hybrid peacekeeping force, and demand an immediate end to attacks against civilians and humanitarian agencies.
=> Find Your Event

--------------------
GLOBEFORDARFUR

On July 31st 2007, the UN Security council passed resolution 1769 which authorised the deployment of a much-needed peacekeeping force for the Darfur region of Sudan. This is a very welcome move but on the ground nothing has changed yet: attacks on civilians are continuing and the UN has still only deployed a handful of the peacekeepers needed. The African Union force on the ground (AMIS) is unable to provide the protection that's needed.

Despite the adoption of the 'Responsibility to Protect' in September 2005, the Sudanese government and the international community have failed to protect the people of Darfur. The Responsibility to Protect is a commitment to act through the UN if a government is unwilling or unable to fulfill its own responsibility to protect its citizens, yet two years on the people of Darfur continue to experience widespread human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law.

An extra million people require assistance, another half million have been driven from their homes, and thousands more have lost their lives. The conflict in Darfur has spread beyond Sudan's borders, affecting hundreds of thousands of civilians in eastern Chad.

The priority of the international community must be to address the escalating protection needs of civilians in Darfur, at a time when attacks on civilians continue, and the operating environment for humanitarian agencies to reach those in need is at its lowest point since mid 2004.

We cannot wait in silence for the deployment of the hybrid force, UN member states must provide the current AMIS force (African Union Mission in the Sudan) with the necessary financial, material, logistical and human resources to protect the people of Darfur, and we must ensure the expeditious and full deployment of the hybrid force they are waiting for.
--------------------

Participating organisations:

24 Hours for Darfur
Aegis Students
Aegis Trust
American Jewish Committee
American Jewish World Service
Amnesty International
Bahrain Society for Public Freedom and Democracy Support
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
Centre for Minority Rights Development (Kenya)
Collectif Urgence Darfour
Darfur Australia Network
Darfur Call
Darfur Relief and Documentation Center
ENOUGH
European Union of Jewish Students
Fidelity Out of Sudan
Genocide Intervention Network
Human Rights First
Human Rights Watch
Independent Advocacy Project
International Federation for Human Rights
Investors Against Genocide
Italian Blogs For Darfur
National Association of Seadogs International
Olympic Dream for Darfur
One World Trust
RenéCassin
Sauver Le Darfour
Save Darfur Canada / Sauvons le Darfour Canada
Save Darfur Coalition
Service For Peace
Silent Masses
Society for Threatened Peoples / Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (Nigeria)
Soroptimist International
STAND Canada
STAND USA
Stop Genocide Now
Sudan Organisation Against Torture
The International Refugee Rights Initiative
The Pears Foundation
TRIAL
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
United Nations Association of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Waging Peace
WARIPNET
World Evangelical Alliance