Help Put a Stop to Grave Crimes in Darfur

New Action:

From Human Rights First:

Since the human rights emergency in Darfur began, civilians have been victims of mass killings and rape, their villages have been burned, and they have been forced to flee for their lives.

More than 1.8 million people have been cast out of their homes, and as many as 300,000 people may have already died.

At the same time, the Sudanese government has engaged in a pattern of targeting human rights defenders in an attempt to prevent news about serious violations of human rights in Darfur from reaching the outside world.

The Sudanese government, whose army and proxy militia, the Janjaweed, are responsible for much of the violence, has taken no serious action to bring those responsible for these crimes to justice.

In January 2005, the U.N. appointed International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur strongly recommended to the U.N. Security Council that the situation in Sudan be referred to the International Criminal Court and stated that such a move would contribute to the restoration of peace in the region.

The United States has said that it does not support a referral of the situation in Darfur to the ICC, but the alternative it has proposed has no budget and little international support. It would mean delay in bringing serious human rights violators to justice and risk prolonging the suffering in Darfur.

Please join with us in asking Secretary of State Rice to ensure that the United States not veto a Security Council referral of the situation in Darfur to the ICC.

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