Human Rights
The struggle in South Africa, like the American Civil Rights struggle,
serves as a shining example for the world to see the impact that can be made
when people make a conscious decision to raise their collective voice and
speak out and act against violations of human rights.
This section of our website is dedicated to spotlighting
current human rights crises around the world and to remembering human rights
struggles from the past. Check back frequently for updates.
The Genocide in Darfur
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Sudan is the largest country in Africa,
located just south of Egypt on the eastern edge of the Sahara desert.
The country's major economic resource is oil. But, as in other developing
countries with oil, this resource is not being developed for the benefit
of the Sudanese people, but instead, for an elite few in the government
and society. As much as 70 percent of Sudan's oil export revenues are
used to finance the country's military.
Darfur, an area about the size of Texas, lies in western Sudan and
borders Libya, Chad and the Central African Republic. It has only the
most basic infrastructure or development. The approximately 6 million
inhabitants of Darfur are among the poorest in Africa. They exist largely
on either subsistence farming or nomadic herding. Even in good times,
the Darfuri people face a very harsh and difficult life; these are
not good times in Darfur.
The current crisis in Darfur began in 2003. After decades of neglect,
drought, oppression and small-scale conflicts in Darfur, two rebel
groups - the Sudanese Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/M) and the Justice
and Equality Movement (JEM) - mounted a challenge to Sudan's president,
Omar al-Bashir. These groups represent agrarian farmers who are mostly
non-Arab black African Muslims from a number of different tribes. President
al-Bashir's response was brutal. In seeking to defeat the rebel movements,
the Government of Sudan increased arms and support to local tribal
and other militias, which have come to be known as the Janjaweed.[1] Their
members are composed mostly of Arab black African Muslims [2] who
herd cattle, camels, and other livestock. They have wiped out entire
villages, destroyed food and water supplies, and systematically murdered,
tortured, and raped hundreds of thousands of Darfurians. These attacks
occur with the direct support of the Government of Sudan's armed forces.
No portion of Darfur's civilian population has been spared violence,
murder, rape and torture. As one illustration of how Khartoum has waged
its war, the Sudanese military paints many of its attack aircraft white
- the same color as UN humanitarian aircraft - a violation of international
humanitarian law. When a plane approaches, villagers do not know whether
it is on a mission to help them, or to bomb them. Often, it has been
the latter.
This scorched earth campaign by the Sudanese government against Darfur's
sedentary farming population has, by direct violence, disease and starvation,
already claimed as many as 400,000 lives. It has crossed over into
neighboring Chad and the Central African Republic. In all, about 2.3
million Darfuris have fled their homes and communities and now reside
in a network of internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Darfur,
with at least 200,000 more living in refugee camps in Chad. These refugees
and IDPs are completely dependent on the United Nations and other humanitarian
organizations for their very livelihood - food, water, shelter, and
health care.
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