Global Day for Darfur in Central Park, NY and other locations

CWS/ERP Associate Director Fidele Lumeya addresses the crowd at April 2006 rally for Darfur in San Francisco.

Photo: Tom Hampson/CWS

September 8, 2006

Church World Service and some 170 faith-based, humanitarian and human rights organizations are sponsoring a rally in New York’s Central Park to call for a United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur, Sudan.

The September 17 rally, sponsored by the Save Darfur Coalition, is timed to coincide with the opening of the 61st General Assembly of the United Nations.

Participants are urged to wear a blue hat -- the color of helmets worn by UN peacekeeping forces worldwide -- to symbolize the need for UN peacekeepers in Darfur. The UN Security Council authorized a peacekeeping force last month. The government of Sudan has not agreed to the move.

The New York rally will coincide with the 61st meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in the city.

Since 2003, the Sudanese government-sponsored genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan has killed over 400,000 men, women, and children, forced 2.5 million Darfurians to flee their homes, and left more than 3.5 million individuals reliant on humanitarian aid. Systematic rape of Darfuri women and fatal violence against humanitarian aid workers has increased dramatically over the last few months.

Church World Service has been at the forefront of humanitarian action among refugees from Darfur, and in advocating an end to the genocide. In April, CWS and other Save Darfur Coalition members sponsored rallies in Washington, DC and San Francisco to urge President Bush to take decisive action.

The September 17 event, in Central Park’s East Meadow, will feature the Big and Rich due, the rock group O.A.R. and several speakers. Additional events will be held in Paris, London, Abuja, and numerous other cities globally and in the US.

Resources for 10 days of action leading up to the September 17 Global Day for Darfur are available from The Save Darfur Coalition website, along with special editions for faith communities.

Read more about CWS's response to the crisis in Darfur, Sudan.