"If we turn our heads and look away and hope that it will all disappear then they will - all of them, an entire generation of people. And we will have only history left to judge us."
Legal Definition of Genocide by The Genocide Convention:
-Killing members of the group -Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group -Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part -Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group -Forcible transferring children of the group to another group What is going on?
There's basically a battle due to the division of land between agriculturalists and nomadic farmers. The Sudanese government is involved and supports the rebels (Janjaweed) who are killing the inferior "Black Sudanese." What was initially a fight for land has turned into GENOCIDE.
TThe Janjaweed have been supplied with weapons, uniforms, and air support by the government to raid the villages of the Black Sudanese. Millions of people have been displaced due to the raids and thousands have been raped. More than half of the villages in Darfur have been completely destroyed.
Due to the conflict, over 2 million people in Darfur are seeking refuge in makeshift camps in Sudan, while about 200,000 are seeking refuge in Chad. They are living in hot conditions in the desert with very little shelter and limited supplies of food, water, medicine, and other essentials. The government has also put a planned starvation into place for the Black Sudanese to wipe them out. About 50,000 people are dying from starvation every month.
The conflict in Sudan was officially declared to be genocide on September 9, 2004. Under the 1948 Genocide Convention, the US and international community are now obligated to take action to prevent further damage and punish those who are responsible. We as members of the United States can (and should) do something to help the people in Sudan.