Julia Vasquez

English I, 2nd

The calamity in Darfur has escalated to some of the worst human rights

violations in history. According to Amnesty International, a human rights organization,

this region located in the west of Sudan, has been the center of a war for five years. The

conflict arose when the government supported rebel groups in discriminatory acts

against Darfur’s people. (“About Instant Karma”). According to Sam Dealey, a writer for

Time magazine, since 2003, when the conflict started, an estimated 200,000 people

have been murdered throughout the region, and 2.5 million more people have been

displaced by the war. (“When the Good Guys Go Bad” 40). The crisis in Darfur is a

sociological disaster that has resulted in mass genocide; however, campaigns have

been organized throughout the world in hopes of ending the violence.

According to Human Rights Watch, an organization dedicated to protecting the

human rights of people around the world, the sociological disaster in Darfur has been

the result of “ethnic cleansing” by the Arab-ruled Sudanese government. The

government supports the Janjaweed militias who have attacked the targeted ethnic

groups that the government desires to eliminate. (Human Rights Watch). According to

Andrew B. Loewenstein, an attorney with an expertise in international disputes, the

government trains, arms, and finances the militias. The Sudanese government orders

the Janjaweed to kill the people of these groups, putting the government at fault for the

crisis, as well as the actual forces that cause the violence. (Loewenstein). According to

Amnesty International, these powers have committed uncountable crimes against

humanity that have resulted in mass genocide. These crimes include murder, beating,
rape, the destruction of villages, torture, slavery, abduction, pillaging, and the

destruction of food and water sources that are necessary to the survival of Darfur’s

inhabitants. (“Darfur Crisis: Background”). According to The Economist, a weekly

newspaper focusing on international politics and business news opinions, during a six-

month period, an average of 160,000 people are displaced by the violence. (“Pity the

People of Darfur, Pity the Peacemakers Too” 56). The atrocities continue to escalate

and seem virtually unstoppable. Loewenstein documented a story of a refugee’s escape

from Darfur. She lost everything when the Sudanese soldiers and Janjaweed militias

invaded her village. Her husband and son were killed and her entire village was burned.

She was able to escape with other survivors. Three boys, from whom she later became

separated, accompanied her during the escape. However when she later found the

boys, they were in an appalling state. Their throats had been slit, their hands chopped

off, their feet cut from the toes to the ankle, and the skulls of the boys had each been

broken open and their brains removed. (Loewenstein). As horrifying and unreal this

story may seem, it is all too familiar within the region. The people are forced to live

within a region of war and violence, cut off from supplies and the world.

Despite the numerous human rights violations and crimes against humanity,

there is still dispute whether to call the violence in Darfur genocide. According to

attorney Loewenstein, in order to be proved and classified as genocide, the violence

must have been committed with the intention to terminate an ethnic group. The crisis,

despite the clear evidence and personal stories from survivors and refugees, was

deemed not genocide but instead crimes of war and crimes against humanity. The

United Nations stated that the massacre committed by the Sudanese government is not
genocide. The UN stated that although the Sudanese government’s militias have

murdered and displaced members of some of the tribes in Darfur, no intent is shown to

eliminate an entire racial group. However the stories from witnesses and survivors from

the region reveal the sinister acts of the militias and the government. One pregnant

woman was seen being stripped by the soldiers attacking her and then being beat in her

abdomen to kill the baby. The militia killed her fetus because the baby would be the

“son of a black man,” showing the intent of killing off the black tribes residing in Darfur.

(Loewenstein). The UN is still taking some action to try and stop the crisis and restore

peace in Sudan, but the Sudanese government is far from cooperating with them.

According to The Economist, Sudan’s government has gone as far as inviting Arabs

from Niger and Chad to settle in the evacuated lands of Darfur. Twenty thousand

peacemakers will finally be sent into the region after years of trying to persuade the

Sudanese government. However, despite these attempts, the killing, violence, and

crimes against humanity continue in Darfur. (Pity the People of Darfur, Pity the

peacemakers Too” 56).

Despite the seemingly endless atrocities in Darfur, hope for the tribes still there

and the refugees who have been evacuated, is still alive. Organizations around the

world have been formed in hopes to restore peace to the region. One of the largest

human rights organizations, Amnesty International, has formed campaigns that raise

funds to stop the war, but at the same time attract the public to get involved. A current

campaign formed by Amnesty International is the “Make Some Noise”. A significant part

of the campaign is the Instant Karma project. It joins the power of music and artists from

around the world to create a soundtrack dedicated to saving lives and ending the
violence in Darfur. The album revolves around the songs of John Lennon, one of the

most famous singer, songwriter, and peace-activists of all time. Twenty-three of

Lennon’s songs, including “Give Peace a Chance”, “Gimme Some Truth”, and

“Imagine,” have been re-recorded to call attention to the crisis. Fifty of the world’s most

famous musical artists devoted to restoring peace are recorded on the album, including

U2, REM, Aerosmith, Green Day, Christina Aguilera, Avril Lavigne, and the Black Eyed

Peas. All of the proceeds of the CD go towards the Campaign to Save Darfur. The

project creates an attractive motive for the public to get informed and involved. (“About

Instant Karma”). Another campaign and project aimed towards saving Darfur is the

“Darfur Now” documentary. The documentary follows the story of six activists on their

journey around the world and even inside the region of Darfur. These six followed are

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Adam

Sterling, the executive director of the Sudan Divestment Task Force, Ahmed

Mohammed Abakar, a displaced Darfurian, Don Cheadle, actor and co-founder of the

Not on Our Watch Foundation, Pablo Recalde, leader of the World Food Program team

in West Darfur, and Hejewa Adam, an attacked Darfurian who has now joined the rebel

forces. (“6 People, 6 Actions”). According to Take Part, an online social action and

activism community social network, the film showcases the hardships and

accomplishments that the six make in their efforts to help the people living in danger in

Darfur and in refugee camps. The documentary focuses on the message that the

measures taken by one person can make a significant difference and keep hope alive

even when the violence seems so unstoppable. The six advocates work together

through one hope for one cause. They show from six different positions the impact that
the violence has on the people of Darfur, and how when everybody joins together, it can

be stopped. (“About the Film”). Perhaps the most effective campaign is the Voices of

Darfur project. According to Save Darfur, a coalition calling for international intervention

in the Darfur conflict, it is a nationwide speaking tour that shines a light on the hardships

going on in Darfur from a first-hand view. Darfurian refugees, who were blessed to be

able to escape the violence, share their personal stories with the public to inform and

bring awareness of the conditions from which they were so fortunately able to break

away. They tell of the physical and emotional conditions in which they were trapped and

those that so many are still held. The tour started in 2007 and has since visited 44 cities

and spoken to 10,000 people. The campaign is so effective because of the personal

accounts from the refugees that reveal the magnitude that the crisis has escalated to

and how they are eternally emotionally and physically scarred due to the “ethnic

cleansing” that the government so wishes and the brutality that is resorted to in order to

achieve it. (“Voices from Darfur”). The organized campaigns around the world are all set

for one purpose and in one hope that peace will once again be restored and the

atrocities in Darfur will see their end.

The sociological disaster in Darfur has left the people, in no doubt, experiencing

mass genocide that appears to be unstoppable due to the Sudanese government’s

ruthless tactics and final goal. What may be the last hope for the people are the

organizations and campaigns established to re-establish peace in the region. Hope for

the 1 million who are still trapped and endangered in Darfur also resides in the

involvement of the governments of countries all around the world, including the United

States. Pressure must be added by these powers to the Sudanese government to even
have a chance at stopping the “ethnic cleansing” by the government and disabling the

Janjaweed militias. Genocide cannot continue in Darfur and it must be stopped now

before it becomes a lost cause.