if we don't, who will? if not now, when?

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Current mood: pensive
Fifty eight years ago, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, announcing the basic rights and fundamental freedoms to which every citizen of the world is entitled, and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, declaring genocide a crime under international law which the civilized world must prevent. This weekend, we mark these anniversaries with heavy hearts, reminded that we are bound to aid those who have been deprived of these very rights and protections.

In the preamble to the Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations and its members pledged to achieve "the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms." Despite this pledge, we have seen an atrocity unfold before our very eyes in Darfur, yet we have taken little action to protecte these sacrosanct rights. The lack of international action has allowed the Sudanese government to continue with what USAID and the United Nations have called an "ethnic cleansing," as the nigthmare continues for our brothers and sisters in Darfur.

Although the Declaration promises "the right to life, liberty, and security of person," hundreds of thousands of civilians have been murdered and more than 2.5 million people have been displaced into unprotected camps throught Sudan or sent to refugee camps in neighboring Chad. The Declaration states the "no one shall be subjected to torture, or to cruel, in human or degrading treatment," yet hundreds of wome are raped or sexually assaulted every week, with no force to protect them. The African Union, the only peacekeeping force in Sudan, does not have the manpower or the mandate to prevent these heinous acts from occurring. It is obvious that the Sudanese governmetn has no intention of stoppint its indiscriminate massacre of Darfuris. If we do no act, the people of Darfur will continue to suffer, without hope or end in sight.

As we commemorate the 58th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Genocide Convention we must remember that with the crisis in Darfur, now is no time to celebrate. It is time to champion the rights of the Declaration not by words, but through our actions. We cannot stand idly by as the Sudanese government continues its systematic destruction of the people of Darfur. We are compelled by the conscience of the world to put an ened to this humanitarian disaster and restore dignity and hope to the Darfuri. If we do not, we betray our commitment as the protector of human rights, and risk compromising the very nature of our own conscience. I join with you on this Weekend of Prayer for Darfur, and pray that our efforts will bring more attention to the worsening crises.

--Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi, courtesy of savedarfur.org, posted on Friday, December 8, 2006 - 4:18 pm



On the website, there is a section called Dollars for Darfur. Especially for high school students, their goal is to raise $200,000 for this cause. Half of all the money raised will go to funding for humanitarian efforts for Darfuri refugees and the other half will go to funding the advocacy efforts of the Save Darfur Coalition. The site is also selling t-shirts, sweatshirts, banners, wristbands, car magnets, postcards, lawn signs, posters and hats, as well as a donation page.


It's time for us to stop this. The country has been through more than enough.


"If one person falls, the other can reach out and help"
-Ecclesiastes 4:20

"Look upon my suffering and deliver me"
-Psalm 119:153