Darfur Background

Together we can end the genocide in Sudan.

Entire villages bombed and destroyed; countless women and young girls raped; humanitarian aid blocked; hundreds of thousands murdered and millions of civilians displaced — this is the climate of impunity that continues today in Darfur, a region in Western Sudan. Today, Darfur is the site of an ongoing genocide and an urgent humanitarian crisis.

Since February 2003, the Sudanese government has executed a campaign of mass murder, mass rape, forced starvation, and cultural decimation against Darfur’s civilians. More than 400,000 people have been killed. Millions are now either displaced within their own country or cling to life as refugees in Chad and the Central African Republic.

In July 2004, Congress unanimously declared that the situation in Darfur constituted genocide. The White House followed with its own official genocide determination in September 2004.

The Obama administration and a large majority of Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress support a multinational protection force to stop the violence. But words haven’t translated into real action yet. More than seven years after Congress’ official genocide declaration, there is still no effective civilian protection presence in Darfur.

Western Sudan is the focus of one of the world’s largest humanitarian operations. Forced to work in an incredibly volatile environment, aid agencies in Darfur have repeatedly warned that they are hanging on a thread: if the delivery of humanitarian aid in Darfur is ever completely shuttered, then hundreds of thousands more will die from conditions of forced starvation and disease.

Will you do your part to help the people of Darfur? Click here to visit our Action Center.