Please come to Darfur Planning Meeting: Thursday, June 23rd

Please come to our next Darfur Coalition Meeting on Thursday, June 23rd at 5 pm at the Talking Drum Cafe on 413 Main St. in Holyoke, MA. We need to continue our focus on ending the murders and rapes in Darfur.

We are open to any suggestions to what actions to take next. Please bring them to the meeting. We shall discuss how colleges and cities can divest of investments in Darfur. We also want to encourage towns to pass the following Darfur Resolution:

Darfur Resolution

The Town of ______ is committed to the defense of the rule of law, including basic standards of international law and international human rights which are contained in treaties signed by the United States such as the United Nations Charter, the Geneva Conventions, the Convention Against Torture, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CERD), the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), and the American Convention of Human Rights, which are part of the “supreme law of the land” according to the U.S. Constitution, and hereby resolves:

1. The Town’s racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity, including the presence of residents of varied national origins from throughout the world is one of our community’s greatest strengths;
2. An increasing number of these residents are of African immigrant origin, and include many from the Sudan;
3. The Sudanese presence here, and throughout the United States in increasing numbers during the last few years reflects the longstanding armed conflicts and authoritarian rule which have prevailed in that country over the last 50 years. Authoritarian rule has produced the forced displacement of millions of people from southern Sudan and from the Darfur region;
4. The Town of _____ took note of the United Nation report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, which resulted in the United Nation’s Security Council Resolution No. 1593, in which the Security Council decided to refer the situation prevailing in Darfur since 1 July 2002 to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Therefore, our community stand with the victims of the atrocities in Darfur in affirming their basic human rights and struggle for democracy in their homeland, and urge the residents of this community and of other communities in the United States and around the world to join the call for:

a) International action to end killing and provide security for millions of internally displaced people of Darfur and to facilitate the voluntary return to their land and the rehabilitation and reconstruction of their homes.

b) Urgent humanitarian relief to address the current serious situation.

c) Full accountability and the end of impunity for these systematic human rights violations will create the road to an overall peace negotiation and process of democratic transition.

d) The need to promote healing and reconciliation that includes redress for the victims and their families. In this respect the creation of healing institutions such as Truth and Reconciliation Commissions with involvement of all sectors of Sudanese society is essential. These healing mechanisms are to complement judicial processes and thereby reinforce the efforts to restore long-lasting peace, with African Union and international support.

e) US Government and the other countries to fully cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in its investigations and proceedings. Sudanese Human rights activists in our community are concerned that recent anti-terrorism cooperation policy between the US and the Sudan might let key perpetrators of the Darfur crimes get impunity.

The Town of _______ stands with the global community and condemns the atrocities occurring in Darfur region of Sudan. We recognize our moral obligation to stop this genocide. We are committed to alerting our community to the urgency of the situation in Darfur and working together to end this human tragedy now.

PLEASE COME NEXT THURSDAY, JUNE 23RD AND BRAINSTORM ON WHAT ACTIONS WE CAN TAKE TO STOP THE GENOCIDE IN DARFUR. THANK YOU.