Demanding action on Darfur

There has been a flurry of Jewish activity on the Darfur issue in the last few days, after Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir expelled aid organizations from Sudan last week. The Reform movement is urging its members to call on Congress and the president to demand humanitarian aid be restored to Darfur. Here’s Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism director Rabbi David Saperstein’s full statement:

President Bashir’s expulsion of aid organizations from Sudan is morally reprehensible, and will result in the slow death of civilians across Sudan. It is expected that barring the operation of 16 humanitarian aid organizations throughout the country will leave an estimated 1.1 million people without food, 1.1 million lacking health care, and more than 1 million without drinking water. In Kalma camp, a meningitis epidemic is killing those already displaced from their homes, and in Zam Zam camp, a diarrhea epidemic threatens children’s lives.

 Our congregations have been leaders in the movement for human rights in Darfur and for peace in Sudan. More than ever, now is the time for each of us to again call on members of Congress and the administration to pressure international actors to restore humanitarian aid to Darfur. [Resources for action can be found at www.rac.org/darfur.]

 President Bashir’s actions, coupled with recent violence toward aid workers in the region, only make more obvious the need for a strong international presence in Sudan. UN peacekeeping forces must be reinforced, and the U.S. must send an envoy to help bring peace to the region. President Bashir has succeeded at killing his citizens for too long. We cannot allow this tragedy to continue.

The American Jewish World Service also issued a statement Friday on the same issue:

Ruth W. Messinger, president of American Jewish World Service (AJWS), has issued a statement today calling on the international community to actively push for the re-instatement of international aid organizations into Darfur so workers can continue providing critical services to the millions of refugees and internally displaced persons throughout Darfur and Chad.

“The already fragile humanitarian situation in Darfur is bound to deteriorate quickly. Our elected leaders are being called upon to represent the values, conscience, and humanity of their constituents,” the statement reads.

“The expulsion of 13 international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the termination of three national NGOs will lead to the loss of 7,610 humanitarian staff and diminish the capacity of the world’s largest humanitarian effort by about fifty percent. The human results are staggering: 1.5 million Darfuris will lose access to health and nutrition services; 1.1 million will stop receiving general food distribution; and 1.16 million will have water, hygiene, and sanitation services interrupted.

“The situation is dire and will require the entire international community to come together to avert rapid and substantial loss of life.”

And both of those groups joined a multitude of other Jewish organizations on a letter to the president organized by the Save Darfur Caoltion asking tha the president "undertake an urgent, sustained diplomatic push to resolve the conflict in Darfur" and appoint a full-time Sudan envoy. Here’s that letter:

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Dear President Obama,

Darfur demands your attention now. Millions of lives are at risk, and your direct engagement can not be delayed.

We are a broad coalition of faith-based, human rights and advocacy organizations, and on behalf of our constituencies we implore you to respond immediately to the increasingly urgent situation in Sudan.

As you know, the licenses of over a dozen humanitarian aid organizations have been revoked by the government of Sudan, leaving millions of Darfuri civilians at immediate risk of disease and starvation. You, along with other world leaders, must immediately and publicly condemn President Bashir’s actions and insist that he restore access to life-saving humanitarian aid.

We know from your commitment to Darfur as a senator and your campaign pledge of "unstinting resolve" to end the Darfur genocide that you believe that the United States and its citizens cannot stand by while civilians are unjustly targeted by their own government. Since you were elected our president, over 250,000 Americans have signed postcards asking that your administration take swift and strong action to end the genocide in Darfur. Now, with millions of lives hanging in the balance, we must act immediately. Any delay will lead to even greater loss of life in Darfur.

The Sudanese government’s decision to restrict the flow of humanitarian aid to Darfur represents the possible prelude to a humanitarian catastrophe of the highest magnitude. The 13 organizations that had their licenses revoked are some of the largest international aid groups in Darfur and sustain an apparatus that provides the last remaining lifeline for 4.7 million conflict-affected Darfuri people.

The time is now for the United States to immediately undertake an urgent, sustained diplomatic push to resolve the conflict in Darfur, including the reopening of humanitarian access. Sudan’s recent actions reinforce the need to appoint a full-time Sudan envoy with the stature, mandate and authority to drive all aspects of Sudan policy.

We are counting on your leadership, President Obama. But more importantly, so are the people of Darfur.

Sincerely,

Jerry Fowler
President
Save Darfur Coalition

 

CC: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, UN Ambassador Susan Rice

 

 

 

Rabbi David Saperstein
Director
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

 

Mark Hanis
Executive Director
Genocide Intervention Network

 

Rabbi Steve Gutow
President and CEO
Jewish Council for Public Affairs

 

Ruth Messinger
President and CEO
American Jewish World Service

 

Frank Donaghue
Chief Executive Officer
Physicians for Human Rights

 

Reverend William G. Sinkford
President
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

 

John Norris
Executive Director
ENOUGH Project

 

Dr. Antonios Kireopoulos
Sr. Program Director for Faith & Order and Interfaith Relations
National Council of Churches USA

 

 

Aram Hamparian
Executive Director
Armenian National Committee of America

Bryan Ardouny
Executive Director
Armenian Assembly of America

 

Helen Fein
Executive Director
Institute for the Study of Genocide

 

Don Kraus
CEO
Citizens for Global Solutions

 

Abraham H. Foxman
National Director
Anti-Defamation League

 

Jill Savitt
Founder
Genocide Prevention Project

 

 

Rabbi Jeffrey A. Wohlberg, President
Rabbi Leonard D. Gordon, Social Action Chair
Rabbi Marion Shulevitz
Rabbinical Assembly

 

Rev. David Emmanuel Goatley, Ph.D.
Executive Secretary-Treasurer
Lott Carey Convention/Lott Carey International

 

Tzivia Schwartz-Getzug
Executive Director
Jewish World Watch

Rabbi Marla Feldman
Director
Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism

 

Shelley Lindauer
Executive Director
Women of Reform Judaism

 

E. Robert Goodkind
Chair, JBI Council.
Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights

 

Mahmoud Braima
President
Darfur Association in the USA, Birmingham, AL

 

Mohamed Adam Yahya
Founder and Executive Director
Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy

 

Marie Dennis
Director
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns

 

Elise Klein
President
Teachers Against Prejudice

 

Bill Andress
Moderator
Sudan Advocacy Action Forum

 

Martina W. Knee
Member, Executive Committee
San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition

 

Eric Cohen
Investors Against Genocide

 

Susan Morgan
Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur

 

Abdelbagi Jibril
Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre

 

Sharon Silber
US Representative
Society for Threatened Peoples
Jews Against Genocide

 

Nancy Walsh and Gloria Crist
DarfurMetro

 

Eileen B. Weiss
Co-Founder
NYC Coalition for Darfur

 

Jimmy Mulla
President
Southern Sudanese Voice for Freedom

 

James Rucker
Executive Director
ColorOfChange.org

 

Elgasim Salih
President
World Relief Organization

 

Jessica Trubowitch
Director, Legislative Affairs and Intergroup Relations
Jewish Community Relations Council of the San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin, Sonoma, Alameda, and Contra Costa Counties

 

Kathryn Harrison
Executive Director
Darfur Alert Coalition

 

Joe Carson
Affiliation of Christian Engineers

 

Shrikumar Poddar
Mayurika Poddar
India Foundation, USA

 

K. S. Sripada Raju
International Service Society

 

Amin Tejani
ARC, Lansing, Michigan

 

Devesh Poddar
Washington Watch Inc.

 

Barbara Thomas
Annapolis Friends Meeting

 

Josh Pasek
Chair
Young Democrats of America Jewish Caucus

 

Nikki Serapio
Director
Americans Against the Darfur Genocide

 

Eric Fusfield
B’nai B’rith International

 

Bob Brousseau
Kentuckiana Interfaith Taskforce on Darfur

 

Michael Neuroth
Policy Advocate on International Issues
United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries

 

Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus
President
Rabbi Steven Fox
Executive Vice-President
Central Conference of American Rabbis

 

Michael Lucero
Founder
I Stop Genocide

 

Gerri Miller
Dear Sudan

 

David Rosenberg
Coordinator
Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition

 

Gabriel Stauring and Katie-Jay Scott
Stop Genocide Now