Dear Jim, thank you for your message in the previous post. Here below are my draft notes. Sorry, they are not short and sweet. I'm unable to spend more time on it. I was up until 3AM, publishing several posts here and awoke five hours later to your message and work on posting this.
If any readers can help with suggestions or tips for a petition (no matter how scrappy, any feedback is of help) please email Jim Moore at [email protected] so that he can add or change text for the petition or edit it to just a few lines if necessary. Thanks. Sorry this is verbose. Time is of the essence. I've not created a petition before and have no idea of what is involved or needed.
However, it's crucial that people from any UN member state can sign the online petition. Some global petitions work really well (I regret not saving the ones I'd seen, who'd ever imagine we would be here six months later) so it's feasible a petition could be simple to use, work reliably and be credible. Please let me know if there is anything more I can do. With warmest thanks and huge appreciation for everything. - Ingrid.
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Draft petition to the UN Security Council and Government of Sudan calling for 40,000 - 80,000 armed security guards with full mandate to protect the people of Darfur by November 30, 2004 - or the resignation of Kofi Annan and arrest of regime in Khartoum - and all other perpetrators of atrocities in Sudan - to be put on trial in The Hague for neglect of duty and crimes against humanity.
GOVERNMENT OF SUDAN AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY HAVE COMPLETELY FAILED THE PEOPLE OF DARFUR
2 MILLION VICTIMS IN DARFUR: AND COUNTING
RWANDA IN SLOW MOTION OVER PAST 20 MONTHS UNDER KOFI ANNAN'S WATCH
We the undersigned citizens of the world petition the U.N. Security Council and Government of Sudan for:
40,000 - 80,000 ARMED SECURITY GUARDS WITH A MANDATE TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE OF DARFUR.
There are at least 200 countries in this world.
The United Nations (UN) comprises 191 member states, including Sudan (recently reinstated on the UN Human Rights Committee).
The World comprises six billion human beings.
If the World to date can only send 500 observers with no mandate to protect the two million victims of Darfur in a region the size of France (or State of Texas) what hope is there for humanity?
800,000 perished in Rwanda 10 years ago - under Kofi Annan's watch - and the West said afterwards: "NEVER AGAIN". But, it is happening - again under Kofi Annan's watch - and this time in slow motion over past 20 months, giving plenty of time for the UN to respond.
The Government of Sudan is killing off its own people while refusing all offers of help with security.
Kofi Annan is not willing to use his office to bring help to Sudan.
For six months Annan has talked tough in New York while being gentle and appeasing toward the government of Sudan.
Recently, Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Weisel asked Mr Annan to use his bully pulpit to bring attention to Sudan in a way that would be much more forceful than today.
Weisel asked Annan to issue a statement each week updating the death toll in Darfur pointing out that the Sudanese government is responsible for stopping it.
Such a move would not require any approval from any nation.
Annan has so far refused to do this or any other high profile condemnation of the Sudanese government.
The UN Security Council will hold a formal meeting in Nairobi, Kenya on November 18-19, 2004, only the fourth time it has done so outside UN headquarters in New York since 1952.
If by November 30, 2004, the horror in Darfur is not monitored by at least 40,000 protectors who have the power to provide adequate security and aid for vulnerable men, women, children and livestock:
WE, THE UNDERSIGNED CITIZENS OF THE WORLD, CALL FOR THE RESIGNATION OF KOFI ANNAN AND THE ARREST OF THE REGIME IN KHARTOUM - ALONG WITH ALL OTHER PERPETRATORS OF ATROCITIES IN DARFUR - TO BE PUT ON TRIAL IN THE HAGUE FOR NEGLECT OF DUTY AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
It is possible that a further 100,000 Sudanese, or more, may flee at anytime for their lives over the border into camps in Chad and cause unimaginable strain on aid agencies and the 200,000 refugees already there helplessly waiting to go home to Darfur. Reports say 10,000 refugees are dying in the camps each month from attacks, malnutrition and disease.
If the refugees are not free to live, work and plant food in their country within the next three months, they will have to wait helplessly in the camps for the next 1-2 years at great cost in lives and aid.
Six months ago, the UN asked donors for 300 million US dollars to help one million victims of Darfur. Up until recently only one half was met by donors. As of October 2004, the UN reported two million (and rising) victims in need of basic food and aid.
What is to become of two million (and counting) victims over the next 1-2 years if a state of emergency in Darfur is not declared and adequate help given now, who is reponsible for such a catastrophe?
Ultimately, the citizens of the world pay for the UN, World Food Program and contribute billions of dollars to international governments, aid agencies and charitable organisations around the world.
In the 21st Century we the citizens of the world expect that abuse of human rights, genocide, ethnic cleansing and other crimes against humanity are severely dealt with as soon as they are discovered.
DARFUR IS RWANDA IN SLOW MOTION. 800,000 PERISHED IN RWANDA. EXPERTS ESTIMATE THE DEATH TOLL BY CHRISTMAS 2004 WILL REACH 300,000 - OR ONE MILLION IF UNIMPEDED ACCESS IS NOT PROVIDED FOR HUMANITARIAN RELIEF.
TWO MILLION PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SLAUGHTERED IN SUDAN OVER THE 15 YEARS SINCE THE PRESENT DICTATORSHIP IN KHARTOUM STOLE POWER.
THE WEST SAID "NEVER AGAIN". THE WEST IS GENUINE. ISN'T IT? AND MEANS WHAT IT SAYS. DOESN'T IT?
Newt Gingrich said it well in this recent editorial in the Los Angeles Times, excerpt dated November 3, 2004, below:
"... Speaking last month when the U.S. Senate passed a resolution calling for Sudan's removal from the commission, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) had it right when he said "the 1948 Genocide Convention calls on states-parties to 'prevent and punish' genocide when it occurs. If we are going to preserve the credibility of the United Nations and its separate commissions, advance the cause of human rights and protect oppressed people around the globe, then the U.N. must take more aggressive action."
This is a test of the integrity and decency of the U.N. as an institution. Continued inaction against Sudan will only encourage more deaths, not only in Sudan but at the hands of future tyrants who understand all too well the unwillingness and inability of the U.N. to put aside internal politics to stop them. ..."
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Note: For fact checks on what has happened in Darfur, Sudan over the past six months, please see daily archives at http://passionofthepresent.org or key in word (i.e. Annan) into search bar in left of site's main page.
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