A panel of experts and academics on the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan argued Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the EMU’s Fir Room that asserting public pressure on politicians and media outlets will help end the crisis. The event, titled “Not On Our Watch: Perspectives In Genocide In Darfur” and organized by Amnesty International and the Lane County Darfur Coalition, aimed to raise public awareness of the Darfur genocide, which has received limited media attention.
The genocide in the Darfur is estimated to have killed between 200,000 and 400,000 people and has displaced 2.5 million into massive refugee camps in surrounding nations. Beginning in the wake of a 2003 revolt in southern Sudan, the Sudanese government has supported armed guerrilla groups in an ongoing campaign of murder and rape against villagers in the southwest Darfur region. The oil-rich East African nation has been embroiled in war during the past three decades yet the blooming crisis has become removed from any single cause, instead encompassing a variety of complex religious, ethnic, geographic and economic conflicts domestically and internationally.
While the U.S. government has called the crisis in Darfur genocide, it has been slow to act, said University professor of psychology Paul Slovic, one of the three panelists.
Beginning with the Armenian genocide, Slovic noted the international community has largely ignored the 20th century’s series of genocides. The same is true today, as U.S. media outlets have also generally shied away from the Darfur crisis since it began in 2003, said Slovic.
Working as a photojournalist in Darfur, panelist Paul Jeffrey said media outlets faced huge obstacles to gaining access to Darfur, including high expenses, a violent, repressive government and a lack of public interest in the issue.
“While the majority of international politicians continue to decry the genocide in Darfur, little has changed on the ground in the country,” Jeffrey said. “To get even a visa into the country is a diplomatic dance.”
Jeffrey said the Chinese government has been the predominant defender of Sudan’s genocide campaign, consistently blocking any UN peacekeeping actions in the region. China is a huge importer of Sudanese oil, and a recent Amnesty International report has accused the Russian and Chinese governments of supplying weapons to the Sudanese government.
University Ph.D. candidate Jennifer Erickson said rape by Sudanese soldiers and government-sponsored militiamen has been a particularly powerful weapon, used systematically in the destruction of Darfur. Compounding the tragedy, she said, is the rise of rape in the refugee camps.
“There is no punishment for perpetrators,” said Erickson. “Women will often see their attackers again; this often happens in the camps.”
In order to help change the situation in Darfur, Slovic said public pressure is the only way to force politicians to do more than express outrage. In regard to China, which will be in the international spotlight for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, a focused public effort could result in dramatic change.
But without that pressure, Slovic warned, change is unlikely.