OurPledge

ACTION: Urge the President to Deploy a Team of U.S. Diplomats

[From the Genocide Intervention Network]

What to say: Call 1-800-436-6243. Urge President Bush to deploy a team of U.S. diplomats working for peace in Darfur and all of Sudan.

Why it is important: In 2004, President Bush was instrumental in brokering a peace agreement to end a 21-year civil war in Sudan. To ensure peace for all of Sudan, this agreement must be implemented.

Additional information: An all-Sudan solution is necessary to bring lasting peace to Darfur. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and Abyei* Protocol are two key elements of the all-Sudan solution, which the United States must work to effectively implement.

ACTION: Wanted for War Crimes

[UPDATE: We're going to keep this action up over the long weekend. If you've already signed the petition below, please ask your friends and family members to sign! Thank you!]

WHAT: Sign a petition that will be sent to the current members of the UN Security Council. The petition calls on the UNSC to:

- “visit Khartoum in May 2008 to ask for the Sudanese government to hand over the two suspects” [i.e., Ahmed Haroun and Ali Kushayb, who are responsible for committing war crimes and other crimes against the people of Darfur]
- “impose targeted sanctions (asset freezes) on the Sudanese Government ministers protecting these two men”

WHY: The International Criminal Court has an open case on Darfur. It’s been more than 280 days since the ICC issued indictments against Haroun and Kushayb. And still the two criminals have yet to see their jail cells in the Hague.

ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo needs the UN Security Council’s help in order to drive forward his case against the abovementioned — such help would in turn generate some much needed momentum for possible future cases targeting other Sudanese government perpetrators.

Most importantly, bringing Haroun and Kushayb to justice would make the Sudanese government think twice about continuing its genocide against innocent men, women, and children in Darfur.

HOW: Click here to sign this “Wanted for War Crimes” petition.

[End of Post]

Spielberg presses China on its sponsorship of genocide. In case you missed it.

This week Steven Spielberg ended his role as an artistic advisor to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This news was picked up by thousands of media outlets, hopefully sending a strong signal to China’s leaders that they will continue to pay a high image-price for sponsoring the genocide in Darfur. See Spielberg’s full statement after the jump.

Getting the message across

A recent newspaper ad from the Save Darfur Coalition…

[End of Post]

Watch out Hu Jintao

An unprecedented and sophisticated grassroots campaign of pressure and shame is underway. The targets are the Chinese government and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Darfur movement is going to make sure the world knows about Beijing’s ongoing military, financial, and diplomatic sponsorship of genocide in Sudan. All of the necessary advocacy elements — media outreach, grassroots mobilization, outreach to high-profile politicians and celebrities, etc. — are really starting to come together.

The Darfur movement is already seeing results.

Please see the statement after the jump to find out what China needs to do to help the people of Darfur.

ACTION: A direct line to China

[From the Save Darfur Coalition:]

The 2008 Olympic Games are now six months away. But as China is planning for the Games, it is ignoring the countless men, women and children suffering in Darfur.

Today we are holding press events at Chinese embassies and consulates around the world urging China to use its influence over Sudan to help end genocide.

Please join us by calling the Chinese Embassy to urge Sudan’s largest trade partner to help end the violence in Darfur.

Breaking: Spielberg pulls out of Olympics

“Move marks public relations blow to China”

By TED JOHNSON, Variety (Feb. 12, 2008)

Steven Spielberg has decided not to participate in the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing as an artistic adviser, citing the lack of progress in ending the genocide in Darfur.

The move marks a public relations blow to the Chinese government as it tries to prevent the Games from being politicized, not just on the Darfur crisis but other issues.

“After careful consideration, I have decided to formally announce the end of my involvement as one of the overseas artistic advisers to the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games,” Spielberg said in a statement released today.

“I have made repeated efforts to encourage the Chinese government to use its unique influence to bring safety and stability to the Darfur region of Sudan,” Spielberg wrote. “Although some progress has been made …the situation continues to worsen and the violence continues to accelerate.”

“With this in mind, I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue with business as usual,” he added. “At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies, but on doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that will continue to be committed in Darfur.”

Spielberg noted that the Olympic Organizing Committee had sent him a contract nearly a year ago, but he left it unsigned.

[End of Post]

Congressman Tom Lantos, 1928-2008

Today we mourn the loss of a true champion of human rights, Congressman Tom Lantos. He was an outspoken and courageous advocate for the people of Darfur. He served our country honorably, effectively, and selflessly.

Please see the press release after the jump.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Congressman Lantos’ family, friends and staff.

-The AADG/OurPledge.org Team

ACTION: A letter to China

[From the Save Darfur Coalition:]

36,451 Save Darfur Coalition activists have already called on their members of Congress to sign a letter to Chinese President Hu urging him to use China’s power to stop the genocide.

Recent news from the region is grim–violence is spilling out of Sudan into neighboring Chad. Every day, countless men, women, and children face violence, starvation, and disease.

12,000 Flee Darfur for Chad, U.N. Says

By The Associated Press
Published: February 10, 2008

GENEVA (AP) — Up to 12,000 refugees fled Sudan’s Darfur region to neighboring Chad over the weekend following air strikes by the Sudanese military and thousands more may be coming, the U.N. refugee agency said Sunday.

The agency was bringing emergency assistance to the Chad border where the Darfur refugees were giving detailed descriptions of air attacks Friday on three West Darfur towns.

The refugees are ”destitute and terrified,” said Helene Caux, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees headquartered in Geneva. ”They told of their villages being looted and burned, and encircled by militia.” Most of the new refugees in Chad are men and they told the U.N. that thousands of women and children are on their way, Caux added.

U.N. officials say the worsening situation in Darfur has been exacerbated by a recent rebel attack on the capital of neighboring Chad. Chad has accused Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir of backing those rebels in a bid to prevent deployment of a European peacekeeping force in the Chad-Sudan border region where some 400,000 refugees are living.