The Sudanese military attacked the Kalma camp for displaced persons in South Darfur this week, gunning down civilians armed (according to the UN) mostly with “sticks, knives and spears.” The attack left more than 30 people dead. The UN denounced the attack as “excessive, disproportionate force.” But there’s another word for it – criminal.
Which makes it all the more unbelievable that a number of governments are considering UN Security Council action to suspend the International Criminal Court’s Darfur investigation, on the ground that accusing the Sudanese president of crimes impedes progress toward peace. What progress? What peace?
Sources tell us that some members of the Security Council seem eager to cut a deal and have suggested some terms to Khartoum. I hope before doing anything further, they will go to Kalma and ask the relatives of those murdered this week what they think of putting justice on hold.
Just days after announcing at a press conference in Istanbul that Sudan was beginning to undertake new efforts to bring peace to Darfur - including holding talks with opposition groups - there are newsreports that government forces killed at least 27 in an attack on Kalma camp in Nyala, South Darfur. The camp is home to 80,000 internally displaced persons - the largest in Darfur. The United Nations reported during their noon briefing today that they are “gravely concerned” about the reports of the attack, and UNAMID has sent police and military patrols to the camp to investigate the attack. Tags: UN, UNAMID
Jerry Fowler, president of the Save Darfur Coalition, recently returned from Tanzania where he attended a workshop on re-energizing the Darfur peace process. He recorded the following video at the conference:
PricewaterhouseCoopers donates $4 million to educate Darfur's refugees
NEW YORK (UNHCR) – PricewaterhouseCoopers has donated US$4 million towards the education of refugee children in eastern Chad's camps, in the single largest corporate donation ever received by the UN refugee agency.
The firm, also known as PwC, presented UNHCR with a cheque for US$4 million in New York on Monday. The funds will be used to build and operate schools for refugee children who have fled the conflict in Darfur, western Sudan. Specifically, more than 20,000 children aged between six and 14 years in the refugee camps of Iridimi, Touloum and Am Nabak in eastern Chad will have access to education in a safe learning environment. The children and their teachers will receive a daily meal. Teacher training and school supplies will also be provided.
"The donation from PwC employees is the largest single company donation UNHCR has ever received. Their generosity will provide direct assistance to refugee children from Darfur who currently have limited options for education," explained António Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. "Working together, UNHCR and PwC are committed to providing these children with hope for a better future."
More than 6,000 PwC staff members in more than 100 countries contributed to the 10-day "Power of 10" campaign, which was created by professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers together with UNHCR to recognize the 10th anniversary of the company's creation.
"This program will help the children of Darfur maintain hope for a better life through education. It represents the people of PricewaterhouseCoopers at their best," said Samuel A. DiPiazza, Jr, global Chief Executive Officer of PwC. "We have built a strong, successful organization over the past 10 years and demonstrated that we can accomplish great things when we work together. Our unique partnership with UNHCR is evidence of what can be accomplished when elements of the public and private sectors make a commitment to work together to get things done. The impact is profound."
UNHCR will soon begin working with local and international non-governmental organisations in eastern Chad to begin the construction of new schools and repairs on existing classrooms. The work is due to be completed within two years. The PwC contribution will provide sustainable education to refugee children for at least five years.
Some 250,000 refugees from Darfur are now living in 12 camps established and maintained by UNHCR in eastern Chad.
Roelf Kleon, a Power of 10 contributor from PwC Netherlands, said at Monday's event that the campaign had made him appreciate his good fortune in being able to grow up in a country where education is available for everyone. "When I saw the Power of 10 challenge, I, and many others, felt the responsibility to try to give the children of Darfur the same powerful tool for development that we have had," he said.
The Power of 10 campaign took place over 10 business days across PwC's global network of companies. Individual contributions were made by over 6,100 employees, with an average individual donation of $200. Some PwC firms also made institutional contributions on behalf of their employees.
In her Cube portrait, Power and John Prendergast, founder of the Enough Project (enoughproject.org), gathered five genocide survivors: Perouz Kalousdian, a 99-year-old survivor of the Armenian genocide; Bernard Gotfryd, a Holocaust survivor; Sophy Yem, who survived Pol Pot’s “killing fields”; Jacqueline Murekatete, who narrowly survived the Rwandan genocide; and Motasim Adam, who escaped the ongoing genocide in Darfur. The green bracelets, which say, “Not on Our Watch,” represent the growing strength worldwide of the movement to eliminate genocide.
Joey Cheek, 2006 Olympic gold medalist and co-founder of Team Darfur, has been denied entry to China for the 2008 Olympic Games.
Joey, who has also contributed to this blog, had been granted an entry visa to attend the games and support Team Darfur, an international coalition of Olympic athletes helping to raise awareness about the Darfur genocide. Last night, however, the Chinese government revoked the visa.
According to the Washington Post (registration required): A Chinese official informed Cheek that it was not necessary to give a reason for revoking his visa less than 24 hours before he was scheduled to fly from Washington to Beijing.
I am saddened not to be able to attend the Games. The Olympic Games represent something powerful: that people can come together from around the world and do things that no one thought were possible. However, the denial of my visa is a part of a systemic effort by the Chinese government to coerce and threaten athletes who are speaking out on behalf of the innocent people of Darfur.
My name is Joey Cheek and I am the president and co-founder of Team Darfur. Team Darfur is an international coalition of athletes committed to raising awareness about and bringing an end to the genocide in Darfur, Sudan.
I am so pleased and grateful that the Save Darfur Coalition is honoring one of Team Darfur’s most inspiring members, Lopez Lomong. Lopez will compete for the U.S. Olympic team in Beijing this summer. As a Sudanese refugee, Lopez provides a unique perspective on the crisis in Darfur and frequently speaks out about the need to raise awareness about the genocide because “a lot of people here don’t know what was going on in Sudan and I need to send a message as an athlete from Sudan.”
Lopez speaks from experience about what it is like to be separated from home and family. At age 6, he was abducted from a Sudanese church by a militia faction that wanted to turn young boys into child soldiers. He eventually escaped the militia camp through a hole in a fence with three older boys who carried them on their backs as they walked for three days until they reached Kenya, where police arrested them and sent them to a refugee camp. He spent 10 years in the camp, living on one meal a day.
Lopez learned of a program that sought to relocate 3,500 refugees to the U.S. After an interview with a U.S. embassy official, Lopez resettled with a family in New York and attended Northern Arizona University where he began to pursue his Olympic dreams. Now a member of the U.S. Olympic team, Lopez realizes his unique opportunity as an elite athlete to spread awareness about the crisis in Darfur. “As athletes, we need to send the message to the government not to kill or bomb and to China to stop because those guns are not to defend the country, but to kill innocent people. This is the 21st century. We don’t want kids growing up in refugee camps like I did.”
Lopez’s journey from imprisoned child soldier to Sudanese refugee to member of the U.S. Olympic team has inspired his fellow U.S. Olympic teammates. Philip Dunn, a U.S. Olympic racewalker, told me that “Lopez Lomong represents so many wonderful aspects of the Olympic movement: youth, talent, and an ability to overcome amazing obstacles in life with poise and determination. The movement to bring awareness to Sudanese suffering is well served by someone who has lived through it. As a fellow U.S. Olympic team member, I know I will be more inspired by his life experiences.”
Lopez hopes his story will also be an inspiration for Sudanese children. “I’m worried about the kids who are dying in Darfur and South Sudan. The kids don’t have the dream they could be Olympic athletes or doctors. I want those kids to reach what their dreams are. It’s not just what’s going on between the Chinese government and the Sudanese. It’s what’s going on with the people. We hope those kids can pursue what their dreams are.”
Lopez would like to take his message to the medal podium: “I would hold an American flag and a Sudan flag. It would be a way to say, ‘Here was a victim who had to run away, and look where he is now.’”
Of the more than 2 million people driven from their homes in Darfur, at least one or two could be Olympians. Lopez is clearly proof of that, and I hope that when you read his story and the many challenges he has faced, you are as proud as I am that he will represent us in the Olympics.
Monday morning, the Today show begins broadcasting from Beijing where NBC's morning show will be for the duration of the Olympic Games. Matt Lauer is anchoring the program from the Great Wall starting Monday and the rest of the show's cast -- Meredith Vieira, Ann Curry and Al Roker -- is slated to join him later in the week. Even the weekend Today crew of Lester Holt, Amy Robach and Jenna Wolfe will be in China's capital city reporting on the Summer Games.
But the big question for NBC is whatexactly will the Today show be reporting?
Ten days ago, a grassroots group disrupted the taping of the Today show in Manhattan accusing the network of ignoring the Darfur genocide and what Darfur activists call "the China link," the Chinese government's complicity in the crisis in Sudan. Here is a video of last week's Today show protests:
A story appearing in Monday's Los Angeles Times suggests that NBC's morning show plans on tackling the controversial issues surrounding the Olympic Games that the Chinese government would prefer to be neglected, such as Darfur, human rights abuses in China, Tibet and the country's pollution problem.
Jim Bell, the executive producer of Today told the L.A. Times that the program will "answer the call" when it comes to reporting on these hot-button topics. Here's an excerpt from Monday's story.
"I do think there's an opportunity for us to shine a light on some of those questions," said Bell, who disputed the notion that NBC has paid too little attention to Darfur, noting that the subject is something of a passion for "Today" news anchor Ann Curry, who has made several reporting trips to Sudan.
"I think you'll see that we will answer the call," he added. "When there's news, we will deal with the issues as they come."
But it remains to be seen how many tough questions about China "Today" will raise on its own.
"We aren't going to go there as the guests of the Chinese government and deliberately poke sharp sticks in their eyes," said Lauer, who begins broadcasting from China today. "We're not going to go out of our way to do it. But we think there are going to be a lot of opportunities to bring the subject up, based on the events of the day."
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Designers for Darfur has always been grateful for our partnership with the Today show and particularly Ann Curry as she was one of the first to bring our organization to the forefront. Below is a wonderful video of DFD on the Today show...
We commend the U.S. government’s principled decision to abstain from a Security Council vote which unconscionably linked the reauthorization of the UNAMID civilian protection mission to possible legal protection for the architect of the Darfur genocide. The resolution was tainted by unnecessary language aimed at diminishing the role of justice and accountability in this conflict – and which ultimately could accord impunity to a government apparatus accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Leading nations must not blithely bargain away the ICC investigation.
Now that the UNAMID force has been reauthorized, the members of the Security Council must show real courage, leadership and sacrifice in obtaining and supplying the necessary equipment and support for this mission to succeed. The resolution to reauthorize UNAMID won’t be worth the paper it’s printed on if the peacekeepers on the ground don’t have the personnel, equipment and political support to complete their mission. Leading nations can begin by supplying the helicopters needed for the force.
Designers for Darfur was founded in 2006 by fashion designer Malcolm Harris (Mal Sirrah, Inc.) and co-chaired by model/heiress Lydia Hearst (Hearst Corporation). In association with Fashion Television and The Save Darfur Coalition, Designers for Darfur was launched via an unprecedented charity fashion show held on February 9, 2007 (the climax of New York Fashion Week) at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City.
Designers for Darfur focuses on the three components of their mission: education, advocacy and relief efforts by partnering with organizations such as Save Darfur, Doctors Without Borders and The International Rescue Committee. Designers for Darfur has now come to represent hundreds of international designers, artists and the wider creative community collectively banding together to show their commitment and solidarity towards ending the atrocity of genocide currently taking place in Darfur.
