America must respond to Darfur genocide

Last month, Sudan's President, Omar al-Bashir, expelled 16 humanitarian aid agencies from Darfur, leaving about 1.5 million people in refugee camps with almost no source of food, water or medicine. Nearly 300,000 people have already been killed in the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, and now that aid has been removed, the numbers of dead are about to soar. This is the Darfur Genocide, Part II. As food, water and medicine run out, Darfur again stands on the brink of becoming the greatest humanitarian disaster of our lifetime. Yet this humanitarian disaster is manmade, and we have the ability to stop it.

It is difficult to conceive of tragedy on such a large scale. The story of Suad Ahmed, a young woman only a few years older than us, provides a face to the numbers. While collecting firewood with her little sister outside her refugee camp, Suad saw a Janjaweed militia coming toward them, and sent her sister to run back to the camp while she ran in the opposite direction to distract the soldiers. Suad was gang-raped by seven Janjaweed soldiers and left to die. What is so sad about Suad Ahmed's story is how unexceptional it is in Darfur. There are more stories of rapes like Suad's than we will ever know. There are 300,000 stories of civilians being killed in cold blood by Janjaweed militias and Sudanese government bombs. This is genocide. This is what we must fight against.

I believe in the "Responsibility to Protect." A relatively new and developing norm, the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) asserts that all states have a responsibility to protect their people; however, if a state is unable or unwilling to protect its people from massive loss of life—or as in the case of Darfur, if the government is largely responsible for the deaths—then the responsibility to protect these civilians is passed on to the international community. The Responsibility to Protect prioritizes prevention, diplomacy, peacekeepers and every other means possible, with military intervention as only an absolute last resort. The heads of state from over 170 countries signed onto the main principle of R2P at the 2005 World Summit, and there is significant support for it in civil society groups worldwide. Yet, despite the clear advancement in rhetoric and norm brought by the introduction of R2P, the world has not done nearly enough to stop the genocide in Darfur.

Some ethicists claim that watching someone drown without trying to help is as immoral as actively drowning him or her. In the case of Darfur, Sudanese President Bashir is not only allowing 1.5 million people to drown (or in this case starve, dehydrate or die from disease); he's now physically preventing anyone else from trying to help them. But we, too, are watching this happen, and doing nothing. 

We have the influence to reverse Bashir's decision and protect these refugees, both directly through fundraising and through our policymakers. The U.S. government can fund peacekeepers, pressure China to stop selling arms to Sudan, place sanctions on regimes responsible for mass atrocities, and offer incentives for Sudan to change course. However, our policymakers will not act unless they feel the pressure to, so we must organize. Student groups helped end the war in Vietnam. Student groups helped end apartheid in South Africa. And now another student group, STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition, is working to end the genocide in Darfur and prevent future genocides from ever happening.

While there is still much work to be done, STAND has already had a number of real successes. Across the country, student members of STAND, and its parent organization the Genocide Intervention Network, are largely responsible for the nationwide divestment of funds from Sudan, the securing of resources for U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur, and just last month, the appointment by President Barack Obama of a special envoy for Sudan. This summer, I saw firsthand influential members of Congress calling the office of the Genocide Intervention Network, asking what they should do about Darfur.

By creating a permanent constituency of engaged American citizens to which powerful policymakers are truly accountable, this movement has the potential to make genocide history. Make genocide history...it's an interesting phrase. When I read history books and learn about the Holocaust, and as I write this letter today on Holocaust Remembrance Day, I wonder how good people—who knew that innocent civilians were being killed in massive numbers—could have done nothing to stop it. After the Holocaust, the world vowed, "Never Again," yet so far these words ring hollow.

I am afraid that our grandchildren will read about Darfur in their textbooks and wonder, again, how good people—who knew that innocent civilians were being killed in massive numbers—could have done nothing to stop it. There will always be violent conflicts, but throughout history the action of the international community has been the deciding factor between whether or not these conflicts turn into genocides. This is the first test of whether the Responsibility to Protect civilians is just rhetoric or is indeed a new paradigm in international relations in which a state's sovereignty cannot be used an excuse to commit genocide.

Next week on Monday, April 27 at 5:30 p.m. in UpCDC, our newly formed Vassar Chapter of STAND will be hosting a lecture by Mark Hanis, founder and President of the Genocide Intervention Network, who will elaborate on the Darfur genocide, what our policymakers can do to influence Sudan, and what we can do to influence our policymakers. Please spare an hour of your time; you will not regret it.


—Danny Kadishson '09 is Co-Founder of STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition, Vassar Chapter. He was the Advocacy Assistant at the Genocide Intervention Network last summer.