During the month of April, the world commemorated the victims of some of humanity's most heinous offenses. April 6 was Remembrance Day in Rwanda and just this week, April 25 marked Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day. These remembrance days provide the opportunity to reflect on the tragedies of the past and mourn the millions of innocent human beings murdered in the last century.
Unfortunately, remembering is not enough. Even as we recall the horrific crimes of genocide that marred the twentieth century, the seeds for a future remembrance day are being cultivated. The current situation in the Darfur region of Sudan has already been labeled by President Bush and others as "genocide," making it the first genocide of this new century. However, the inaction of the world community that marked previous responses -- and is so condemned each remembrance day -- is sadly being repeated.
The campaign by the government-backed Arab militias, known as janjaweed, to wipe out villages and populations of African tribes in Darfur -- tribes, it should be noted that, like their attackers, are overwhelmingly Muslim -- is now over two years old. Hundreds of villages have been destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of villagers have been forced to flee into unprotected refugee camps in neighboring Chad, camps the janjaweed have begun to terrorize as well. The estimated number of dead ranges from 100,000 to 400,000 from attacks, starvation, and disease.
Action in response to what has consistently been characterized as the world's greatest humanitarian crisis has been cautious and ineffective. Foreign governments took the word of the Sudanese government that the militias would be reined in, echoing Munich. An African Union peacekeeping force, sent with two few soldiers and too limited a mandate, made little difference, echoing Rwanda. The lessons that ought to be reinforced by the multiple remembrance days are being ignored.
To be fair, the United States government has probably done more to confront this genocide than any previous genocide -- a bar that was pathetically easy to surpass -- but every incremental step has been hard fought by a dedicated group of individual activists, lawmakers, and human rights organizations. A small victory came this week when a US-sponsored sanctions directive was issued by the United Nations Security Council to be imposed on four Sudanese military officers. On Sunday, this month of remembrance will conclude with a (hopefully) giant march in Washington, DC, to urge further and more useful action.
But progress is slow and every delay costs thousands of innocent lives. These are lives that the world will somberly commemorate in the future with some version of a Darfur Remembrance Day. The inability to confront an unfolding genocide even as we commemorate genocides of the past proves that remembrance is only one step. The other step toward truly making genocide prevention a global priority is action. And it is up to both citizens and governments to act.
While governments have the diplomatic, economic, and even military tools to make a greater impact, there is much that can be done on an individual level, beginning with lobbying the government to take a more proactive approach in Darfur. In addition, one could donate to organizations providing direct aid to victims and anti-genocide advocacy, or one could become educated about the situation and inform friends, or one could write letters to local editors asking for more consistent media coverage, and one could invite others to take these steps as well. These actions may not make headlines, but they are the small actions that ignite the engine of change.
As April concludes and some of the genocide remembrance days are behind us for another twelve months, it is time to take the second step toward genocide prevention. It is time to act to stop the genocide in Darfur. Now.
To take action today, join the Million Voices for Darfur being represented at this weekend's march. Check http://www.savedarfur.org/home or http://www.genocideintervention.net/ for updated information and more ideas for action.
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