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Week Ending November 2, 2007

H.RES.573 Recognizing and commending the efforts of the United States public and advocacy groups to raise awareness about and help end the worsening humanitarian crisis and genocide in Darfur, Sudan, and for other purposes.

<< Click flag for map and country data, Sudan

The matter of genocide in Darfur, Sudan was raised to public notice in 2003 and 2004 although the problem has beguns years earlier. Since then 2/5 million have been displaced and 400,000 have been murdered by the Sudan Government sponsored Janjaweed militia.

A 2006 peace agreement has done nothing to stop the violence.

The resolution recognizes the efforts made by individuals, non-profit groups and others to provide aid to Darfur victims.

More resolution below….

Sponsor:  Rep. James Moran (D-VA-8^th)

Vote: Passed House 366 to 0 October 30, 2007 (RC 1011)

Cost to the taxpayers: No discernible cost.

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MORE INFORMATION

Whereas the violence conducted by the Sudanese-backed Janjaweed militia in Darfur, Sudan, has left nearly 2,500,000 people displaced from their homes and up to 400,000 civilians dead;

Whereas despite the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement on May 5, 2006, violence, death, and destruction in Darfur continue unabated, threatening the lives of thousands of civilians, humanitarian aid workers, United Nations officials, and African Union peacekeepers;

Whereas President Omar Hassan El-Bashir of Sudan continues to reject the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping force to Darfur as stipulated in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1706 (2006) and has yet to unconditionally accept the terms of the African Union/United Nations hybrid peacekeeping force as generally agreed to on November 12, 2006;

Whereas on July 22, 2004, Congress declared the atrocities unfolding in Darfur as genocide, and on September 9, 2004, former Secretary of State Colin Powell declared that `genocide has been committed in Darfur and that the [G]overnment of Sudan and the Janjaweed bear responsibility';

Whereas on April 18, 2007, President George W. Bush declared at the United States Holocaust Museum, where the Committee on Conscience has spent considerable efforts advocating to end the genocide in Darfur, that the United States has a moral obligation to help end the genocide in Darfur;

Whereas hundreds of United States faith-based, human rights, humanitarian and youth-led advocacy organizations have established Darfur-related campaigns since the United States declaration of genocide in 2004;

Whereas hundreds of State and local communities, schools, universities, and individual citizens have mobilized and organized fundraisers, campaigns, and initiatives to help end the genocide in Darfur;

Whereas over 600 chapters of anti-genocide high school, college and university student organizations have been established since 2004 to help end the genocide in Darfur;

Whereas 54 American colleges and universities, 18 American States, 8 American cities, and 8 international and faith-based organizations have adopted divestment policies from Sudan thus far;

Whereas on April 30, 2006, thousands of Americans gathered at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to urge the United States and the international community to help end the genocide in Darfur;

Whereas similar public advocacy efforts in the United States to end mass human rights violations, racial discrimination, and violence in Africa have not been seen since the South African anti-apartheid movement;

Whereas these aforementioned efforts have embraced the slogans `Never Again' and `Not On Our Watch', reminiscent of the failure of the international community to stop the Holocaust and the genocides in Bosnia and Rwanda; and

Whereas the United States has led the international community's condemnation of the atrocities and violence in Darfur: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

(1) recognizes and commends the efforts of the United States public and advocacy groups to raise awareness about and help end the worsening humanitarian crisis and genocide in Darfur, Sudan;

(2) supports the efforts of the various local schools, communities, and faith-based, human rights, humanitarian, and youth-led advocacy organizations that have dedicated their time and energy to help end the genocide in Darfur and to promote peace, defend human rights, and improve the lives of those affected in Sudan and Chad; and

(3) urges the United States to work with its partners in the international community to implement a more robust set of multilateral measures until President El-Bashir accepts a full-scale international peacekeeping force in Darfur.

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