DRC - The Democratic Republic of Congo

Darfur is one of many conflicts. There are others. Others like the forgotten conflicts occurring in The Democratic Republic of Congo. Rape is being use as a weapon of war to isolate women from their families, destroy community cohesiveness and show that the men of these villages can not protect their wives, daughters and families from danger. Rape is being used on women and girls documented as young as only 15 (fifteen) MONTHS old as well as the elderly as old as 85.

If your grandmother was being raped by a child soldier who has learned to fight his own kind, what response would you have? Besides outrage, hate and fear, mounting a defense to this kind of weapon of war has to be fought with action. We must force our leaders to see that action and consistent implementation of a justice system is a huge step forward in the right direction.

Write a letter to your governor, your representative, the human rights council in your state or the federal government branch associated with the United Nations. Search online for Non-Governmental Organizations like the Human Rights Watch to see current news and reports in these affected regions.

Step One. Week One.

10 Steps for Darfur

Ten Steps for Darfur: As Outlined by the Human Rights Watch

Below are the ten steps that will be the core values to which I write my letters from. I encourage everyone to write letters regarding these recommendations and show your support for the resolve that could come as a result of implementing these recommendations.



1. Publish and disseminate orders prohibiting the targeting of civilians and civilian property and indiscriminate attacks.

2. Enforce orders prohibiting targeting of civilians and civilian property and indiscriminate attacks.

3. Vet all appointments to public office on human rights grounds, and remove Ahmed Haroun, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court, from all posts.

4. Publicize and enforce a policy of zero tolerance for violence against women.

5. Provide an up-to-date list of detainees and where they are held, and ensure that UN agencies and humanitarian organizations have confidential access to all detainees.

6. Cease any use in Darfur of military airplanes, helicopters, or vehicles painted white or otherwise mimicking UN or humanitarian organizations.

7. Issue a blanket waiver of legal immunities for war crimes and serious violations of human rights.

8. Fully cooperate with the International Criminal Court, and surrender two suspects now subject to arrest warrants.

9. Fully cooperate with the African Union mission and deployment of the new UN-AU force, including issuance of expedited visas and clearance for vehicles and equipment.

10. Issue a standing invitation to all UN human rights mechanisms and give these mechanisms full and unimpeded access.

New Letter Series: 10 Letters, 10 Weeks.

Human Rights Watch proposed 10 steps that would help alleviate the Genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

This was proposed in December 2007 and was developed on part becuase the Human Rights Council (HRC) was going to review the final report that was being produced by the Group of Experts (GOE) specifically reviewing the situation in Darfur.

I will write ten letters in ten weeks regarding each of the ten steps to different officials in the United States Legislature in order to promote those key elements in hopes that new amendments and pieces of legislation will be drafted to pressure the Executive branch into taking more direct action against the genocide.

This is also in correlation with STANDNow.org The Student Anti-Genocide Coalition. Their spring 2008 goal is to target the Executive branch in order to help the citizens of Sudan.

Read more about their work here with their four main goals:

Seal the Deal: Sudan, The Executive Legacy

http://www.standnow.org/campaigns/seal/about

1. Stick to your Promises
2. Enforce UNAMID
3. Apply an All-Sudan Solution
4. Lobby China

Response from the President.

It took a couple of months, I hadn't expected a response in a formal way except perhaps a surprise visit sometime from some government agency wanting to know why I debate so frequently against the current Bush Administration for it's inadeqacy.


But. A response I did request, and a reponse I did receive. Unfortunately, I don't believe a word of it.

Dear John Letter. Human Rights Style.

Sometimes you think you get it, sometimes you're lost. But you know you will continue to try anyway. Regardless of the outcome, you know in the end you have done your part to try to change and better the world. You fight for Human Rights.


Sometimes there are certain people in your life who you love, but who neither support what you do, nor understand why you give your life to fight for it.


Sometimes their answer is simply, "I don't care." It's personal. And it hurts.


Like a bad outcome to an election, you know in a matter of 4 years, there is another chance. And you hold on to the hope of that chance for change. You pick yourself back up - and move on.


If you've ever had to write one of these letters, you understand human rights.


To --------

I am going to a place, deep in the heart of the African continent, where the people do not know what I stand for or understand what I hope to accomplish. To be quite honest, I do not know what it is that I must do or what actions I must take to feel whole. I have learned much in my many years as an American, but only in the villages of poverty can I learn what the epitome of hope is. There is hope in the weakest of children faced with malnutrition who dare to forget their own lives to ask how you are doing. At the same time, there is the darkest evil in the strongest of men who seek to silence these children. If peace and hope continue to die at the hands of our own people, than a panacea must be found. I will give up my life fighting for this cause, because there is nothing I desire more than to see the beauty of this world through the eyes of the simplest creature, human, animal or ecosystem alike, that is given the chance to pursue any dream they wish.

These are the challenges that I face and with the guidance of something beyond my own strength, I hope only that I am successful because failure is something I can’t even try to imagine. Even if that success is short lived and without grace, it is something I must attempt. It is because of this risk I face, that I cannot allow myself to stay here. There is nothing here for you to love when the support for my goals is nonexistent. If my only strength must go to my ultimate passions in life, then we both know this will fail since my strength comes from you. I love you with all my heart, and yet because of that, I cannot put you through the pain of seeing what I see every day. Africa is my dream, it is the beginning and the end of humankind, and I must see it through to whatever end.

Not every man can see the world that you can see. And not every man can understand the pain that goes into being something great. I know you understand why I have to leave, but do not agree. Together with you, I could be nothing short of being in blissful happiness, but without you, I can understand so greatly, what it is that the people of this world do not have. I wish with all my heart that you live without fear and achieve what you dream most without consequence. You will become everything you imagine, because of your honesty and passion. I am so very proud of you and I only hope one day you can forgive me.

Goodbye ---- . I will miss you with everything I am.
S

Banning Cluster Munitions

BAN CLUSTER MUNITIONS by 2008.

So Far: 75 Countries have signed the Treaty.

Is your country one of them?


To get in on the action: Visit the Human Rights Watch Website (Click the Link above or visit) http://hrw.org/campaigns/clusters/index.htm

Follow up needed.

Letter to President George W. Bush

After debating for months on whether or not I should write a letter to the current president, I found myself browsing the African Policy page on www.whitehouse.gov to which I realized, not ONE single main page headline dealt with mass atrocities.

They were all headlines promoting heath and awareness of malaria and financial/economic benefits we are providing to the country. Immediately I felt take aback that the primary objective of our government was not to end the immediate threat of genocide, but to forget the mass atrocities, and focus promoting healhy lifestyles.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for the initiatives that help provide healthcare, education and financial responsibility for these countries, but if there are no people left to educate, what then? I would have hoped our president had a better sense of priority than what I have seen today. I promplty forgot about all of my reservations towards writing a letter to President Bush and wrote this letter in less than 10 minutes.


1 December 2007

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Bush:

During the course of my daily research on African affairs, I wanted to know more about what our government was doing to protect the lives of millions of men, women and children who are being systematically killed, tortured and mutilated by the gang warfare being conducted on behalf of the Sudanese government. No one in this day and age can deny that the mass atrocities in this area constitute genocide. The north and south Sudan civil war has raged on and become much more complicated since 2005 and yet foreign policies of our government and governments like ours, have done little more than promote economic sanctions.

Economic sanctions are a step, but are certainly not the solution. I have searched the website presented by the White House and have found nothing to suggest that anything further is being heavily researched and pursued towards finding a feasible solution to this conflict. It is our responsibility, as citizens of a first world government and P-5 member of the United Nations that we continually seek out ways to promote peace around the world. There should be no question as to our responsibility for allowing genocide to continue to be allowed to ravage the country and spread like wildfire to the surrounding countries like Chad and Ethiopia.

While studying what our government finds important in regards to African Policy, I see the many great initiatives, programs and projects to promote the welfare of education and malaria resistance, even ways to support the failing financial situation and create investment opportunities for African countries. All of these issues are important, but they will all eventually fail if there are no people for which those policies apply to. The children are the next generation and they are important as their health and education is also vitally important; however, if the children are being systematically raped, forced into camps, trained as soldiers and killed by being thrown into the fires that burn their villages down, there will be nothing left to save.

As a citizen of this country, I ask that as our president, you take command and organize the people of our country to end the genocide in Darfur, Sudan and other countries facing similar problems. If you just walk down the cobblestone pathways between the buildings of any college in the United States, you will see there are millions of students, just like myself, who write letters to congress or hold signs that say “Save Darfur” and other slogans. These students desperately want to help end these crises. We will never win our fight if we continue to be activists that are fractured, unorganized and spread out across the country. Our government needs to unify them, bring them a common goal and purpose and give them the ability to not lose hope that our cause is worth the time and effort we put into it. You have that power, use it.

Very truly yours,



Sara Lori Cartwright
1440 10th Street #207
Bellingham, Washington 98225
Western Washington University
www.EndingGenocide.co.cc