The crimes that people get away with

Friends: Imagine one fine Saturday your little girl goes out to play with her friends. She is living a carefree and happy existence. She plays with her Barbie dolls, she loves to play dress up but most of all, she enjoys watching Dora the Explorer on television. Your little girl is your pride and joy. She is your life. You think that you would do anything to protect her. A short while later, she runs back into the house, all bloodied and in shock. She has been raped. She has been mutilated. Her life has been ruined. As a parent, you want vengeance. You want the culprits brought to justice. She tells you that a group of men, one after the other, had taken turns to “hurt” her. Now imagine that there is nothing that you can do about what has happened to your little girl. You find out there are groups of men going around your neighborhood, raping women and children. The police are powerless to do anything about it. You find out that nobody will ever be brought to justice. You feel that your world is falling in around you. As a parent, your ability to protect your child has been taken away from you. Nothing you can do will heal your daughter. The psychological effect on your daughter will remain with her for the rest of her life. The shame that you experience based on your inability to protect your angel will never leave you. As we know, a horrendous crime like this would never go unpunished in the US, in the UK or anywhere in the western world. But in Africa, more specifically in Darfur, it is happening on a daily basis. Young girls, some as young as four years of age, are being raped under the very noses of the African Union forces that have been deployed to Darfur to help protect them. Added to the already horrible situation in Darfur, the rape of young girls is a crime that should defy belief that man can commit these crimes. The international community sits by and does nothing to stop what is happening to the innocent Darfuri people. The government of Sudan laughs in the face of international criticism and knows that it is well protected by its friends who are senior members of the international community. Rape is not the only human rights abuse that is occurring in Darfur. Mass attacks on the civilian population by the Sudanese supported militia, the Janjaweed, is in contravention of the Geneva Conventions that govern war and the treatment of civilians during times of war, in particular Geneva Convention IV, Article 3., Section 1 that primarily deals with the treatment of civilians. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has strongly urged the Sudanese government to hand over the two main people that it feels are responsible for the mass human rights abuses being directed against the innocent civilians in Darfur. They are Ahmed Haroun, Sudan's human rights monitor (believe it or not) and the Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kushayb. Indictments were issued in February, 2007 against these men. As the Sudanese government refuses to identify the authority of the ICC, it is also refusing to hand over these two monsters. In reference to the stalled peace talks that were initiated in Libya back in October, the UN is currently attempting to get them restarted with active participation of all concerned parties, only this time Egypt has offered to host the talks. The UN has also been highly critical of the Sudanese government’s slow progress pertaining to land distribution and troop approval for the yet to be deployed UN/AU Hybrid Force. What makes progress in Darfur so difficult is that on the one hand, the UN is playing with kid gloves in reference to how it is dealing with Sudan and on the other hand, its very own apparatus, the ICC, is pushing for the arrest of the main bodies responsible for the nearly 600,000 deaths to date, the displacement and ill-treatment of 2.5 million displaced persons and for placing the lives of over 4 million people in jeopardy. It is a classic example of the right foot not knowing what the left foot is doing. The strong presentation given last week to the Security Counsel by the chief prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, certainly guarantees an increase in the lack of cooperation given by the Sudanese government to finding a solution to the conflict in Darfur. So what this means is that there will be more delays pertaining to the deployment of UN/AU Hybrid Force and it is not likely that any of the near 56 Sudanese officials that are under indictment by the ICC will ever face a court of international justice for the crimes, that they are responsible for, that have been committed against the innocent Darfuri civilians. On a larger scale, and a much more shameful scale, little girls will continue to be raped. They will continue to cry in the arms of their parents who will continue to remain powerless in the face of such horrendous abuses being committed against them and their children. Together, we must act. The International Alliance For Human Rights in conjunction with Hope for Humanity Alliance International, will stage the largest concert ever held to help enhance global awareness of the horrors of Darfur and to enhance the international community to get off its ass and do something, anything, to help stop what is happening to the young children and their innocent parents in Darfur. Talking, talking and more talking will not work! We need action, the people of Darfur need action and without action hope will continue to fade from the eyes of these innocent people. Contact David Nolan at 212.695.7022, ext. 315 or just respond to this email highlighting the ways in which you may help.