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Posted 11:43 PM by Mary

For Immediate Release - Contact Roy Speckhardt at (202) 238-9088

(Washington, DC) Humanists across the nation are raising a call to action in the face of alarming atrocities in Darfur, Sudan, on this International Day of Conscience. "We are committed to protecting individual human rights everywhere, and the situation in Darfur demands immediate attention," stated Fred Edwords, editor of the Humanist magazine. “We can’t ever allow ourselves to get used to tragedies so great and so preventable.”

The American Humanist Association is engaged in multiple activities in order to raise a Humanist voice in response to this human rights crisis.

Today the AHA is issuing a plea to General Secretary Kofi Annan and Secretary of State Colin Powell urging an international response and stepped-up humanitarian aid--see attached. This statement includes endorsements from Africa Action, Equal Partners in Faith, the Humanist Society, the MK Gandhi Nonviolent Institute, and the Secular Student Alliance.

The AHA is also a member of the Save Darfur Coalition, as noted in today’s Dallas Morning News, and is a financial sponsor of the United Nations Sudan Genocide rally to be held September 12 in New York City.

The AHA further joins Citizens for Global Solutions in urging President Bush to recommend that the International Criminal Court examine the Darfur situation.

"Our shared humanity calls on all of us to speak out for human rights in Sudan. We must work together to raise public consciousness about the Sudanese genocide and encourage an effective international response,” concluded Edwords.

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Letter to General Secretary Kofi Annan and Secretary of State Colin Powell:

We, the undersigned organizations, have come together to express our concern over the alarming situation in Darfur, Sudan. Like the United States Congress, we affirm that the crisis in Darfur constitutes genocide. All permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and more than 130 countries worldwide, as parties to the Genocide Convention, are obligated to “prevent and punish acts of genocide.”

The situation in Darfur demands action and leadership. Reports indicate that as many as 30,000 people have already died as a result of the actions of the Janjaweed militia and over 1 million have been displaced. Estimates show that approximately 1,000 people are dying each day from starvation, disease, and physical violence. Additionally, alarming reports indicate that sexual violence, including rape is being used as a weapon of genocide.

We call upon the United Nations and the United States to conduct and support a formal multilateral peacekeeping operation of diplomacy and humanitarian intervention. Specifically, we ask that you lead the way to enforce the cease-fire, provide security and funding, staff programs assisting the displaced, and stop the widespread killings by all means available. In addition, we believe that genocide is a crime that warrants legal punishment for those who are responsible for its implementation. We encourage you to establish an international war crimes tribunal for Sudan in order to investigate this genocide and bring those who are responsible to justice.

The genocide occurring now in Darfur, warrants swift and significant attention. Legal and moral imperatives demand that the United Nations and the United States take action to stop the genocide and aid in humanitarian efforts.

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The American Humanist Association is the oldest and largest Humanist organization in the nation. The AHA is dedicated to ensuring a voice for those with a positive nontheistic outlook, based on reason and experience, which embraces all of humanity.

Posted 10:51 PM by Mary

Draft Letter to Kofi Annan

Genocide in Sudan: A Call to Action

Dear UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell,

We, the undersigned organizations, have come together to express our concern over the alarming situation in Darfur, Sudan. Like the United States Congress, we affirm that the crisis in Darfur constitutes genocide. All permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and more than 130 countries worldwide, as parties to the Genocide Convention, are obligated to “prevent and punish acts of genocide.”

The situation in Darfur demands action and leadership. Reports indicate that as many as 30,000 people have already died as a result of the actions of the Janjaweed militia and over 1 million have been displaced. Estimates show that approximately 1,000 people are dying each day from starvation, disease, and physical violence. Additionally, alarming reports indicate that sexual violence, including rape is being used as a weapon of genocide.

We call upon the United Nations and the United States to conduct and support a formal multilateral peacekeeping operation of diplomacy and humanitarian intervention. Specifically, we ask that you lead the way to enforce the cease-fire, provide security and funding, staff programs assisting the displaced, and stop the widespread killings by all means available. In addition, we believe that genocide is a crime that warrants legal punishment for those who are responsible for its implementation. We encourage you to establish an international war crimes tribunal for Sudan in order to investigate this genocide and bring those who are responsible to justice.

The genocide occurring now in Darfur, warrants swift and significant attention. Legal and moral imperatives demand that the United Nations and the United States take action to stop the genocide and aid in humanitarian efforts.

Sincerely,

The American Humanist Association

Posted 10:50 PM by Mary

Dear President Bush,

Like you, we are distressed by the continuing reports of atrocities coming out of Darfur, Sudan. Congress has called this crisis a genocide and urged rapid action, but even though we have spoken up against these crimes as a country and increasingly as a world community, the Janjaweed militias keep attacking villages and camps with impunity, and the government of Sudan continues to drag its feet. Meanwhile, thousands more are killed, raped and forced to flee with each passing week.

Clearly, we must do everything within our power to stop this genocide. An additional option that we urge you to consider is to seek a UN Security Council resolution to refer the Darfur crisis to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

While we might have differing views on the International Criminal Court, we all agree that the situation in Darfur is so dire that we must employ all possible diplomatic tools at our disposal to bring this genocide to a halt. An ICC referral could help:
· Send a clear message to the perpetrators that the world condemns their crimes and will not let them get away with murder;
· Increase diplomatic pressure on the Sudanese government to take swift action to disarm the Janjaweed and protect its own citizens;
· Discourage Janjaweed leaders from continuing their ghastly attacks through the threat of accountability;
· Speed up the collection and preservation of evidence (there are already indications that Sudanese leaders have destroyed evidence and have transferred out of Darfur those thought responsible for atrocities, allegedly to protect them from accountability); and
· Ensure that the people of Darfur will have recourse to justice in case their government lets their assailants off the hook.

While current U.S. policy is to remain disengaged with the ICC, U.S. law specifies that any restrictions from cooperating with the ICC shall not “prohibit the United States from rendering assistance to international efforts to bring to justice Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic, Osama bin Laden, other members of Al Queda, leaders of Islamic Jihad, and other foreign nationals accused of genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity.” In the past, the UN Security Council has authorized ad hoc tribunals or mixed international-domestic courts to provide justice for massive atrocities. However, the ICC costs less than the ad hoc. Also, because it is already established and operational, it could start collecting evidence now and deter ongoing crimes by making real the threat of accountability today – instead of months or even years from now, after the genocide is complete.

This is exactly the type of situation for which the International Criminal Court was created: when national authorities stand by and allow crimes that shock the conscience of humanity to be committed with impunity. The dissembling and delay of the Khartoum government hint at complicity in the genocide and indicate an unwillingness to bring to justice those most responsible. The world community must now step up to close this gap of impunity and signal to the government and perpetrators that there are some crimes the world cannot ignore.

The Darfur crisis is urgent and requires urgent action. There is much to be done on all fronts, and we are grateful for the attention your administration has paid to this pressing issue. As you seek a rapid resolution to this crisis, we encourage you to use all available tools at your disposal, including the ICC, to halt this genocide as quickly as possible.
[Draft Letter, AHA]