Darfur in the Canadian Media this week:

Escaping From Genocide – Montreal Gazette (by the way, has anyone read this book, “Tears of the Desert” by Halima Bashir? I’d like to hear feedback…)

Thousands Flee Darfur Heavy Fighting – Toronto Star

Court Probing Deadly Darfur Camp Attack – Toronto Star

It’s As if Evil Itself Had Come to Our Village – Toronto Star

Survivor of Darfur horrors rejects calls for her silence – Times Colonist

This morning, I attended a little panel discussion at the Church Center in New York City on the situation in Sudan and the consequences of the decision by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to seek an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. The venue was small and two of the speakers were Darfuris, making it a good arena to hear some important points of view.

While most of the discussion went back and forth between the usual blend of tentative optimism and fear of disaster, there were a couple very informative points that I’d like to pick up on.

First and foremost, all of the panelists agreed that what’s missing in the international community is any form of CONSISTENCY. With the possibility of an ICC indictment against key government leaders, there is a real chance for the international community to get its act together and come up with a strategy. The United Nations Security Council has the option of suspending any possible indictment under Article 16 of the Rome Statute, which could be turned into leverage against the government to make them engage in the peace process and follow through on their commitments under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005. While many human rights groups are against politicizing the ICC like this, there is a very real tension between justice and peace (and humanitarians not being kicked out of the country) which could be resolved to some extent by a well-thought out application of Article 16. Of course, this sort of consistency and coherency on the part of the international community has yet to be seen and probably won’t be in the near future due to the chaos surrounding elections in the US and Canada. Additionally, the panelists seemed to think that Bashir probably wouldn’t shape up even if Article 16 were invoked.

A second point that was brought up that really interests me is the fact that the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the North and the South created a little bit of space in Sudan for civil society and opposition groups in the country. I believe it was Fabienne Hara from the International Crisis Group who made the point that, for all the international community hates the government of Sudan, they do very little to engage Sudanese human rights groups, good governance groups, civil society, and opposition groups. An organization like Stand actually may have a chance to lead the way on this by getting to know respectable groups operating in Sudan (of which I don’t know any yet) and figuring out how to support them. This point was further driven home by Salih Mahmoud Osman, a prominent Darfuri lawyer, recent speaker at McGill, and friend of Irwin Cotler, who said that Western attention and support can actually protect civil society groups from government repression. It seems to me that the idea of engaging with Sudanese human rights groups is a no-brainer and should be something that even the Canadian government could do in the future. The only possible danger, brought up by a colleague at work later, was the possibility that many of these groups have a strong presence of the Sudanese security apparatus. I have no idea to what extent this is true but it certainly seems plausible. At the same time, however, it doesn’t kill my interest in pursuing the idea anyway. I have a few business cards and could possibly follow up on this so please leave comments to express your opinions on this issue.

Other than those two points, there were many interesting insights into the state of domestic politics in Khartoum and the future of elections, but I’m tired right now so you don’t get to hear about it. Feel free to send me a comment or email if you would like more info.

The duo Mattafix are slightly crazy but definitely have their hearts in the right place. In this video for their song “Living Darfur” they actually film along the Chad-Darfur border, and have some wonderful shots of life in the region, replete with smiling children, soccer matches, and the lead singer bringing his club moves to the desert. Check it out.

Here at Stand, we are determined to make the crisis in Darfur an important election issue for all Canadian parties. So…people within Stand much brighter than myself have devised the brilliantly catchy Speak the Name effort.

What is Speak the Name? Basically, when a politician mentions Darfur, we give that politician a bit of free press and publicity, regardless of the party. And seeing as how most politicians in an election cycle really like being supported by a vast network of active young folk, this really has the potential to get them fired up about finding a solution to the crisis in Darfur.

In fact, the Liberal Party has just given us a wonderful example to start things off in the right direction. This just in from Liberal candidates Raymond Simard and Anita Neville:

“Raymond Simard, MP for St. Boniface and Anita Neville, MP for Winnipeg South Centre, together with a team of Manitoba Liberal candidates chose the future site of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights to announce that a future Liberal government would provide real aid and action on Darfur, as well as promoting human rights and international agreements that the Conservative government of Stephen Harper has abandoned.”

Below that, they outline a four point plan to bring peace to Darfur: 1) appointing a regional coordinator and increasing aid and trade to Africa, 2) “rescuing” the North-South peace process, 3) committing to the Darfur peace process through a contact group and pressuring China, and 4) strengthening the peacekeeping force currently in Darfur.

There are a few really exciting parts of this outline for action. First of all, the idea of appointing a regional coordinator sounds very similar to Stand’s longstanding recommendation for a Special Envoy to the region. It would show the rest of the world how serious the Canadian government is about this crisis and streamline efforts to bring about a solution. Has the Liberal Party been reading our policy recommendations in the Darfur Digest by any chance?

Second, these candidates seem to recognize the importance of an “all-Sudan” approach to addressing the conflict in Darfur. Focusing on Darfur without paying attention to the fragile North-South peace agreement signed in 2005 risks toppling the country back into an even more devastating civil war. Kudos to you, Simard and Neville, for having a slightly more sophisticated understanding of the situation.

Third, the United Nations-African Union joint peacekeeping force could really use some help, both politically and in terms of resources and expertise. It is often said that a peacekeeping force can only be effective if there is a peace to keep. At the moment, there are numerous cracked and shattered ceasefires and no signs of a peace agreement on the horizon. A contact group is a good idea to unify interested powers behind one approach to the peace process. In fact, this is a similar strategy to the one that was taken by international powers to bring about the North-South peace deal of 2005. And China needs to be included and engaged for this sort of pressure to be effective. (Another one of our longstanding recommendations…)

In terms of resources, the recent killing of 7 peacekeepers in July attests to the difficulties faced by an under-resourced, under-manned peacekeeping unit. It is yet to be seen what the Liberals actually mean by “strengthening the peacekeeping mission,” but recognition of the problem is a very good first step.

So anyway, thank you Raymond Simard and Anita Neville for helping make Darfur an election issue! I look forward to a response from the other parties….

Stand Canada is a collection of students, volunteers, and other Canadians unwilling to be complicit in genocide or crimes against humanity. We make it easy to act against genocide by providing people with the tools they need to affect policy. Currently, we are focusing on protecting civilians and bringing about a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Darfur.

On this blog, we hope to keep people informed on all the subjects having to do with genocide and Canadian policy. We’ll praise the most supportive politicians and criticize hair-brained or lack-luster policies. We’ll highlight international human rights movements and keep you updated on shocking news items. There’ll be links to smart people saying interesting things and recommendations for good reading material, conferences, and other goodies.

I personally hope for lively discussions in the comments section. This will be the place to praise your local politician for speaking out against civilian deaths in Darfur or to criticize your government for not providing peacekeepers to the United Nations-African Union force in Sudan – whatever you want to say.