Join SAVE DARFUR: Rally to Stop Genocide!

March 30, 2006

On Sunday, April 30, 2006, thousands of people from across the United States will come to Washington, D.C., to participate in the "SAVE DARFUR: Rally to Stop Genocide." The rally will be held on National Mall, between 3rd and 4th Streets in front of the US Capitol (Metro Station -- Federal Center SW [Orange and Blue Lines]). The program will take place from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.

The Rally to Stop Genocide will feature leading voices in the effort to stop the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, including Church World Service Executive Director and CEO Rev. John L. McCullough, political figures, human rights activists, celebrities, and survivors of the Holocaust and of genocides in Cambodia, Kosovo, Srebrenica, Rwanda, South Sudan and Darfur.

The rally is part of the "Million Voices for Darfur" campaign to generate one million postcards for delivery to President Bush, who recently pledged to push for additional UN help to protect the people of Darfur. This campaign urges President Bush to take steps necessary to end the genocide and build a lasting peace.

The rally is also the final stop of the "Tour for Darfur: Eyewitness to Genocide," a 21,000 mile photo exhibit and speaking tour of 22 cities in 11 states to raise public awareness about the Darfur crisis. The tour's featured speaker is Brian Steidle, former U.S. representative to the African Union's peacekeeping mission in Darfur from September 2004 to February 2005.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

"The Rally to Stop Genocide" is organized by the Save Darfur Coalition, an alliance of more than 155 faith-based, humanitarian, and human rights organizations that includes Church World Service. Please visit the SAVE DARFUR: Rally to Stop Genocide Website at www.savedarfur.org/rally. The website features program bulletins, logistics information, tools to help participants get organized and announcements about featured speakers.

For interested people on the West Coast, there will be a parallel April 30 rally held in San Francisco. Fidele Lumeya, Associate Director of the CWS Emergency Response Program, is a featured speaker. Visit http://www.dearsudan.org/april30.htm for details.

Background

Today, devastating crimes against humanity continue in Darfur, as existing international efforts have fallen short. Attacks and bombings are continuing, and the situation has seriously deteriorated. More than 300,000 Sudanese have died either from raids by government-backed janjaweed militia or from hunger or disease engendered by the conflict. More than 2.5 million people have been made homeless. Villages have been bombed and burned. Rape and mutilation are commonplace.

Church World Service and Darfur

Church World Service is responding in Darfur through an international alliance of NGOs from the U.S., Europe, and Sudan. Together we are helping some 325,000 families directly in addition to hospitals and health centers serving up to 250,000 and water projects for additional communities.

Church World Services urges the following advocacy actions:

We call on the U.S. government to use its leadership in the UN Security Council to strengthen the international response in Darfur.
We urge the Security Council to issue a broader mandate for peacekeeping in Darfur that allows for a clear role for the protection of civilians.
This must be coupled with sufficient assured international logistical and financial support.
We urge the Security Council to reconstitute the Africa Union troops on the ground as UN “blue helmet” peacekeepers.
We also call for the Security Council to authorize an expanded multinational peacekeeping presence in Darfur, capable of ensuring the protection of civilians.

For more information about the situation in Darfur and CWS’s humanitarian and advocacy work there, visit CWS response to the Sudan crisis.