Transcript Darfur - Sudan Genocide-IR

Mr.
Weiss
Genocide in the Darfur Region of Sudan
Sudan
Darfur
Mr.
Weiss
Genocide in the Darfur Region of Sudan
Mr.
Weiss
Genocide in the Darfur Region of Sudan
Mr.
Weiss
Genocide in the Darfur Region of Sudan
Mr.
Weiss
Major
Genocides
of the 20th
Century –
The
Century of
Genocide
Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment
of the Crime of Genocide
Adopted by Resolution 260 (III) A of the United Nations General Assembly on 9
December 1948.
Article 1
The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in
time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to
punish.
Article 2
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with
intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as
such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to
bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Mr.
Weiss
Genocide
There are four kinds of people in every genocide:
1. Perpetrators: people committing genocide
2. Victims: the people who the perpetrators are committing
acts of genocide on
3. Bystanders: the people who stand by and just watch the
genocide.
4. Upstanders: the people who stand up to the perpetrators
and try to stop the genocide. (One of the key questions is
how do we turn bystanders into upstanders.)
Dr. Roger Smith
Mr.
Weiss
Genocide in the Darfur Region of Sudan
History
•From 1899 until achieving independence in 1956, Sudan, the largest
country in Africa, was ruled jointly by Britain and Egypt
•In the years since 1956 Sudan has been ruled by a succession of
unstable civilian and military governments. It has been in a state of
civil war for many years and human rights abuses are widespread
•In the 1990’s the government forces have repeatedly launched aerial
bombardments on civilian targets in southern Sudan (a separate issue
from Darfur)
•Over 1.2 million people have died since 1983 in this civil war
devastating the economy of Sudan
Mr.
Weiss
Genocide in the Darfur Region of Sudan
•There has been a long running conflict in Sudan between the Arab
Muslim northerners of Sudan (the base of the government) and the
black Africans of the south who practice mainly Christian or animist
beliefs
•This conflict worsened in 1983 when the government imposed the
strict Muslim “Shari’a” law
•There have been numerous attempts and resolving this conflict but
none have worked
•In recent years at least 200,000 people (some estimates are 400,000)
have been killed in the Darfur region and 2.5 million have been driven
from their homes
Mr.
Weiss
Genocide in the Darfur Region of Sudan
•The Janjaweed are nomads who, according to Human Rights
campaigners, have formed a militia that is well armed and trained by the
government of Sudan who raid communities in Darfur, burning them,
killing people, raping women, etc.
•The government denies giving assistance to The Janjaweed
•The United Nations has been able to do very little to help this genocide
•The war in Iraq has made it more difficult for the United States and NATO
to intervene in Sudan however the United States has called this a
genocide and has tried to take some meaningful action
•China is a major obstacle to intervention in Darfur due to its economic/oil
ties to Sudan
Mr.
Weiss
Genocide in the Darfur Region of Sudan
•Some people are comparing the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games to the 1936
Olympics in Berlin
•Filmmaker Steven Spielberg withdrew as an artistic advisor to the Beijing
Olympics over China’s economic and diplomatic support of the
government of Sudan
•In April of 2004, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, after a moment of
silence on the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, said if Sudan
continues to thwart humanitarian access to Darfur, “the international
community must be prepared to take swift and appropriate action. By
action…I mean a continuum of steps, which may include military action
•July, 2004 – The United States calls the situation in Darfur a genocide
Mr.
Weiss
Genocide in the Darfur Region of Sudan
•In January, 2005 the 21 year old North-South Civil War comes to a peace
agreement
•In March, 2005 U.N. Resolution 1593 refers “the situation in Darfur” to the
Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. The United States, China,
Algeria and Russia abstain
•The U.N. has passed many resolutions over the last few years but none
have stopped the killings
•Several large grassroots movements have been formed to try to put
pressure on the international community to stop the killing. The U.S.
based SaveDarfur Coalition includes Jewish, Christian and Muslim
groups. It spends its $15 million budget on publicizing the crisis and
lobbying for political change
Mr.
Weiss
Genocide in the Darfur Region of Sudan
•January, 2008 President Bush signs the “Sudan
Accountability and Divestment Act”. It authorizes state and
local governments in the U.S. to divest assets in companies
that conduct business operations in Sudan, to prohibit
United States Government contracts with such companies
•In 2007 Sudan agreed to a joint United Nations/African
Union peacekeeping force of 26,000 troops but as of this
year, only 9,000 have been deployed and they lack the
equipment needed to do their job nor do they have a
mandate to disarm the Janjaweed.
Mr.
Weiss
Genocide in the Darfur Region of Sudan
International Criminal Court charges Sudan's president with genocide
14/07/2008
The prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday formally called for the
arrest of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir for genocide, crimes against humanity and war
crimes in Darfur.
Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told judges at The Hague that Omar al-Bashir bore
criminal responsibility for alleged atrocities committed over the past five years.
A statement says "ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has presented evidence showing
that the Sudanese President committed the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity
and war crimes."
The statement says Moreno-Ocampo has concluded there are reasonable grounds to believe
that al-Bashir bears criminal responsibility in relation to 10 counts of genocide, crimes
against humanity and war crimes.
Mr.
Weiss
Genocide in the Darfur Region of Sudan
International Criminal Court
Po Box 19519
2500 CM, The Hague
The Netherlands
Wednesday 4 March 2009
Press Release: 04.03.2009
ICC issues a warrant of arrest for
Omar Al Bashir, President of Sudan
ICC-CPI-20090304-PR394 ‫عربي‬
Situation: Darfur, Sudan
Sudanese president tells
international criminal court to
'eat' arrest warrant
Mr.
Weiss
Genocide in the Darfur Region of Sudan
International Criminal
Court issued a second
warrant for the arrest
of Sudan's President
Omar al-Bashir for
three counts of
genocide. (7/12/10)
Mr.
Weiss
Genocide in the Darfur Region of Sudan
The New Republic
Genocide Step by The Editors
Post Date Wednesday, June 03, 2009
"When you see a genocide, whether it's in Rwanda or
Bosnia or in Darfur, that's a stain on all of us," he
said. "That's a stain on our souls."
Mr.
Weiss
Genocide in the Darfur Region of Sudan
Darfur conflict Peace elusive in war-torn
region
At a glance
Updated 16 February 2012 11:45 AM GMT
The United Nations has described Sudan's western Darfur region
as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
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1.9 million living in displacement camps in Darfur
Many have also fled to Chad and Central African Republic
Restricted access for peacekeepers and aid workers
About 300,000 deaths since 2003