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What You Can Do

Mass arrests and public beatings have taken place in and around the Sudanese capital of Khartoum following an attack by Darfur rebels on May 10th. The rebel-initiated assault and government retaliation both raise serious concerns for the prospects for peace in Darfur. Furthermore, human rights and Darfuri groups are receiving reports of the use of torture and summary public executions against unarmed civilians in the capital, and reports that certain Darfuri ethnic groups are being targeted.

Many Darfurians in Canada have heard about the disappearance or detainment of family, friends, neighbours and acquaintances from loved ones in Khartoum. They worry that Sudanese security forces will use torture against those in custody, as has been regularly documented in the past. There is widespread concern that civilians will bear the force of government retaliation, and that Sudan will use accusations of complicity in rebel attacks to escalate tensions with neighbouring Chad.

At this critical time, we are sending letters to each of Canada's Members of Parliament (MPs). You can make an important difference by making a phone call to your MP's office, and asking him or her to voice their concern to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and within their party.

Read more about the recent violence
-Read the letter to Canadian Members of Parliament by Save Darfur Canada and the Darfur Association of Canada
-Read recent reports from The Sudan Organization Against Torture, Human Rights Watch, and Aegis Trust.

Take action: Call your Member of Parliament

Step one: Find your Member of Parliament by clicking here.
Phone calls are an extremely effective means of communicating with your MP. For every phone call received, MPs assume that hundreds of people feel the same way. Your concerns will be given more consideration by phone than by form letter or by email.

Step two: Call your Member of Parliament using the sample message below; or adapt the message as you wish.

Hello, my name is ____, and I live in the riding of ____. I am calling to leave a message for Mr/Mrs ____. The message is related to a letter your Ottawa office recently received by email from Save Darfur Canada and the Darfur Association of Canada, regarding the May 10th violence in Khartoum, Sudan.

I am troubled by the recent wave of violence in Sudan's capital, and particularly by violence against unarmed Darfuri civilians. Please ask Mr/Mrs ____ to work with fellow Parliamentarians to make peace in Darfur and all of Sudan a higher foreign affairs priority. It is also important that he/she call Foreign Affairs Minister Bernier's Office to register his/her own concern.

Canada must loudly and consistently condemn the use violence by all parties to the conflict, especially when it targets civilians, and actively work to secure commitments from armed groups to resolve the crisis by peaceable means. In particular, the Canadian government must work more closely with the international community to ensure the peacekeeping mission to Darfur is fully deployed as soon as possible. Could you please pass on this message to Mr/Mrs ___?

If you want to get more information about what Canada is and isn’t doing, take a few moments and email one of these members:

All Party Parliamentary Group for the Prevention of Genocide and other Crimes Against Humanity

All Party Member emails:

dallar@sen.parl.gc.ca (L. Gen. Roméo Dallaire, Senator, Chair of All Party Group)
dewarp@parl.gc.ca (Paul Dewar, MP, NDP, Vice-chair)
goldsy@sen.parl.gc.ca (Yoine Goldstein, Senator, Liberal, Vice-chair)
barbov@parl.gc.ca (Vivian Barbot, MP, BQ, Vice-chair)
lunnej@parl.gc.ca (Dr. James Lunney, MP, Conservative, Vice-chair)

Liberals who released document calling for action on Darfur:

ignatm@parl.gc.ca (Michael Ignatieff)
cotlei@parl.gc.ca (Irwin Cotler)
pearsg@parl.gc.ca (Glen Pearson)
wilfeb@parl.gc.ca (Bryon Wilfert)
Roméo Dallaire (as above)

1-800-GENOCIDE

This is the best campaign ever, and yet not being used enough. Please give this a try!

I know that making a phone call to a politician can be a little intimidating, as I have done it a couple times now. But the beauty of this campaign is if you are a little jittery about talking, you can call outside of business hours and talk to a machine. I think this is one of the most direct, quick results and really easy to complete campaigns yet! You can make your voice heard in less than 5 minutes.

I am not a scholar in World Politics or even local politics, but I do believe that if you want something done, you are the one responsible in ensuring that the person who can make things happen, is told by you, what you want to happen. I no longer have patience for anyone who complains about their politicians not doing a particular thing and yet don’t ensure that the politician knows what the particular thing is to be done. They take action according to what they know we are passionate about…..so, please give this a try. Go to the STAND Canada website at www.standcanada.org/pages/800gen.html and follow the instructions or if you don’t have time to do that, but know you want to help Darfur, pick up the phone, dial 1-800-Genocide….. 1-800-436-6243 request the Minister of Foreign Affairs and say “What is Canada doing about the genocide in Darfur?” ….. Why aren’t we doing more?.... Shouldn’t Canada be leading the way because of our Responsibility to Protect? … We are allowing a Government to kill their people, how can that go on? If that is all you say.. that, is a job well done.

Whether you talk to the politician or his/her answering machine, you have made it known that there are Canadians who feel we need to do more for Darfur. If our Government was trying to wipe out one race of people living here, wouldn’t you hope that people from all over the world would take action to stop it.

Here is a snippet of ‘how to’ from the STAND Canada website: The goal of 1-800-GENOCIDE is to give Canadians the opportunity to directly influence their government regarding the situation in Darfur, Sudan. Our target is 1000calls/month. We believe if we can get upto or over 1000 people a month calling key MPs then we will be able to significantly influence the policy of the Canadian Government towards the crisis in Darfur. With thousands of people already dead and millions of people displaced and dying the time for action is now. Do not let your government drag its collective heals any longer. Leave a message and demand strong action by the Canadian Government to end the crisis.

The toll-free number will connect Canadians directly to their choice of 6 Members of Parliament. They will have the opportunity to exercise direct democracy and impact the policy choices of the Canadian Government at NO COST.

How the system works:

When callers in Canada dial in to 1-800-436-6243 (GENOCID) they will be connected to our direct advocacy phone system. They will be given the choice of the 3 MPs and will be offered the option of listening to select talking points for each MP. Following the talking points they will be connected directly to the MP's office. They will leave a message with a staffer or a voicemail expressing their concerns about the crisis in Darfur and what they think the Canadian Government's response should be. After they leave a message they will have the choice to re-enter the system to leave another message for another MP is they choose.

List of Targeted MPs:

1-800-GENOCIDE will be targeting three key Canadian Members of Parliament.
All three have yet to take positive action to address the situation in Darfur

Please click the links for suggested talking points
* Prime Minister, Stephen Harper
* Foreign Affairs Minister, Maxime Bernier
* Leader of the Opposition, Stephane Dion

Letter Writing to UN

The website below gives you an opportunity to write to the United Nations Security Counsel pressing them to take more action against the Government of Sudan.

I have already sent my letter off and have copied it below.

http://www.wantedforwarcrimes.org/index.php/English/

My Letter:

Your excellency,

I would like to express my outrage at the fact that the Government of Sudan has still not turned over their wanted war criminals.

Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb have not only been walking around free for almost a year since the arrest warrants for over 40 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur sit waiting, but they have also been rewarded by their Government for their fine killing abilities.

Instead of being arrested, Ahmad Harun is still functioning as State Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and now has also been appointed to co-chair a commission investigating human rights abuses, including those committed in Darfur. How absolutley ridiculous is that. What more blatant snub of International Criminal Law could the Government of Sudan exercise. This appointment, I'm sure, accomplished what the Government officials wanted...dash all hopes the Darfurian victims previously had that the strength and authority of the United Nations would stop the crimes. It certainly has added to my fear that the UN does not have the will or teeth to stop this Government of serial killers.

The Government of Sudan clearly believes they are above all laws and that they can continue their 'business' unscathed and untouched. They must have cabinet meetings in which they laugh amongst themselves about their ability to continue their genocidal spree of killing and raping without any worry of the world stepping in to stop them.

I was one of the investigators with the United Nations Inquiry For Darfur. It makes me sick knowing that is has been almost four years since I interviewed hundreds of victims who looked at me with hope because I was there on behalf of the UN and the rest of the world to save them and yet no credible action to stop the crimes has been taken. I presume many of the people who I interviewed are now dead or have given up all hope that anyone is coming to save them. International law is being made a mockery of because we have done nothing.

I implore you to have the UN Security Council go to Khartoum as soon as possible to demand that the suspects are handed over and to impose targeted sanctions on those Government officials who are hiding Ahmad Harun and Ali Koshayb, and those who continue to commit war crimes in Darfur.

Will you do this?

I look forward to hearing back from you.