Arrest warrant issued for Sudan’s Bashir

Today WAS going to be a post about Kiva, but more important news has come up today. Kiva will be tomorrow’s post.

Finally after years of campaigning, some news heading in the right direction regarding Darfur: The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Sudan president Omar al-Bashir. Unfortunately, the ICC has no military force, and therefore can only deliver the arrest warrant to official Sudanese representatives and hope that Bashir will voluntarily turn himself in. That is extremely unlikely to happen.

The BBC is reporting the in-country response–namely of scorn. Bashir is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity including extermination and war against civilians, yet the UN has not yet labeled the civil war as a genocide. Until this happens, no real justice will occur.

His charge sheet from the ICC includes: (under war crimes) intentionally directing attacks against civilians, pillaging, (under crimes against humanity) murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture, and rape.

The ICC has accepted as evidence children’s drawings that document the violence. (See Below. Note both the shootings and beheading that is drawn by the child. The planes target villages in general, and schools in particular, as has been reported.)

CNN, the Washington Post, and MSNBC are now reporting, as of one hour ago, that Sudan has now expelled all foreign aid organizations from the country. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is concerned about this new act, and the lives it may endanger in the Darfur region. Aid agencies are oftentimes the only source of medicine, food, and other necessary supplies for refugees.

In related news, a former Sudanese soldier has come forward saying that he was ordered by the government to murder and rape children and women. He also claims that he was forced into serving into the military under threat of bodily injury.

Pressure must now be put on the United Nations to declare this civil war as a genocide. The ICC’s actions were a good step in the right direction. Email your state senator or representative, or send a postcard to President Obama directly through Save Darfur.

 

China and the Olympics; Tibet or Darfur?

We’ve heard the news reports. We’ve seen the satirical political cartoons. We’ve heard the Dalai Lama speak about freedom and peace, and we’ve heard Chinese official rhetoric.

People such as NY Times writer Nicholas Krystof were predicting protests against the games as far back as January.

Actress Mia Farrow decide to take a positive and productive spin on the protest, and created Dream for Darfur. There, people could view an alternative opening ceremony. Readers were urged boycott the major companies who bought commerical time during the games, yet scored low on the Olympic Official Sponsor Corporate Report Card–those who have not made an official protest of the situation in Darfur. Did it help? Maybe.

Though ABC news wrote on the story and noted that while Darfur is a good and important topic, perhaps focusing on Tibet would have been more effective. You can’t rank the importance of one human life over another. There’s no possibility of saying that people in Darfur are more important than the people of Tibet. And yes, they still desperately need help. But perhaps Ms. Farrow could have paid more attention to Tibet, where Chinese policy is more obvious and involved.

Tibet is a direct result of action taken by the Chinese government. Dare we forget the crackdown on Tibetan citizens before the Olympics? This was a perfect time to raise the issues of the region, when the world’s eyes were on China. Still, you can’t fault Mia Farrow. It was an opportunity to do good and speak out, and she took it.

Personally, if I had been in China for the Olympics, I’d have been exceptionally displeased with all of the rules China impressed on visitors. In particular, the freedom of speech is nonexistent in the country. Visitors, however, shouldn’t have been surprised. For all of it’s economic growth, China still lags in the human rights arena. Now that we’ve had a good long look at China, our goal now should be to improve the right to speech, fair trial and imprisonment, and increased autonomy for Tibet. The chances are that Tibet won’t become an independent nation again for a very long time, if ever. What we can do now is work to make sure that Tibetans are being treated fairly.