Here at Daily Kos, we are a community of many, a community of party activists, a community that only wants to see a better America.
Personally, I have a deep passion to see legislation that seeks justice for each and every citizen get passed. I want to see the issue of poverty addressed in coherent manner, to see that those sitting on death row are given every opportunity to justice in the court system, to see that women are not abused. In the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
Therefore, I hope to find my niche here at Daily Kos as well as add another aspect to my own blog, Faithfully Liberal, by bringing a Daily Action Diary. It will cover the gauntlet of issues from financial issues to violence and hopefully everything in between. I encourage you to read the issue below and take the appropriate action if you deem it necessary.
We continue with today’s action item from Amnesty International:
While we come to the four year anniversary of the war in Iraq, the crisis in Sudan also approaches its own four year anniversary. An update from Oxfam International sheds some light on the desperation of the situation.
- Over 2 million people – nearly one in three in Darfur - have had to flee their homes and are sheltering in camps for Internally Displaced People (IDPs)
- A further 230,000 refugees from Darfur are in camps over the border in neighbouring Chad
- Up to 4 million people – more than half Darfur’s entire population – are now reliant on humanitarian aid
- As the conflict increasingly spills over into Chad, the number of Chadian people displaced by violence has quadrupled in the past 10 months to 120,000.
Aid agency workers are also in harms way as security seems to deteriorate on a daily basis.
In one of the worst incidents, in December 2006, armed men entered the compounds of Oxfam and other agencies in Gereida, South Darfur. An Oxfam staff member was beaten and another agency worker raped, and 12 humanitarian vehicles stolen in one single night. Gereida is Darfur’s largest camp and as a direct result of the incident, assistance to 130,000 displaced people has been greatly reduced.
But most at risk are the women in the Darfur region of being raped and abused with violent acts committed against them. Amnesty is asking for people to petition authorities in Sudan to comply with the International Criminal Court to bring about justice for the women who have been abused.
Thousands of girls and women have been raped and subjected to other forms of sexual violence in the Darfur region of Sudan. Inquiries by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court identified "high numbers of...mass rapes and other forms of extremely serious gender violence", and a UN Commission of Inquiry found that these abuses amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Since the launch of the ICC the investigation in June 2005, however, authorities in Sudan have publicly refused to comply with ICC requests or otherwise allow the Court to conduct investigations in Darfur.
The situation in Darfur was referred to the ICC by the UN Security Council in March 2005. The ICC is the world’s first permanent court able to hold individuals criminally responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. It can play a unique role in combating impunity for the worst crimes of violence against women.
Take action on this issue here.
And please take another step by petition that two women not be stoned to death after being found guilty of adultery, without a lawyer on their behalf.
Take action on this issue here.
But go one step further and demand that President Bush live up to his promise that genocide would not happen on his watch.
Take action here.
For even more information visit Save Darfur.
Cross posted at Faithfully Liberal.