On Wednesday July 22, Darfur advocates and communities around the country have organized a National Call-In Day to the White House.  Please spread the word, urge your organizations to participate, and take action.

Ask President Obama to help the people of Darfur by:

• Supporting the International Criminal Court and the arrest warrant against Omar al-Bashir
• Ensuring the IMMEDIATE deployment of the 26,000 UNAMID Peace Forces to Darfur with a full mandate, helicopters, logistics and necessary supplies needed.
• Pressuring the Government of Sudan to allow all expelled humanitarian organizations back into Darfur without any delays or conditions.

Contact the White House in any of the following ways:

• Call 202-456-1111
• Fax 202-456-2461
• Email the White House
• Become a Fan and Post to the White House’s official Facebook page
• If you have a Twitter account, post: “@WhiteHouse Support Bashir’s arrest warrant and the immediate deployment of UNAMID Peace Forces to Darfur #obama #darfur”

IF YOU ARE IN THE D.C. AREA ON JULY 22, join in a rally by the Sudanese and Darfuri communities to call for international cooperation with the International Criminal Court and the protection of civilians living in refugee camps. The rally is coordinated by the Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy.

WHEN: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

WHERE: Starts from the Lafayette square in front of the White House.

WHAT: Rally at the White House. Then walk to the State Department at 2:35 p.m. and arrive at 2:50 p.m.

List of online actions for Darfur:

• www.darfurscores.org/darfur-legislation for a list of bills and legislation on Darfur
• www.stopgenocidenow.org/iact/iact8/twitter to tweet on twitter about the I-ACT team’s latest interviews from refugee camps
• www.twitter.com/genocideprevent to tweet on twitter about preventing genocide
• www.savedarfur.org click on take action, scroll down to send a postcard to Pres. Obama
• www.addyourvoice.org sign an online postcard to Pres. Obama
• www.savedarfur.org/pages/passed_legislation/ for a list of passed legislation on Darfur
• www.investorsagainstgenocide.org
  (TIAA-CREF and Vanguard are finally taking steps towards offering only genocide-free investing. Help ‘Get Out the Vote’ )
• www.Facebook.com/pages/SaveDarfurCoalition to facebook about Darfur
• www.youtube.com/group/ActNowForDarfur to upload your YouTube video
• www.savedarfur.org/pages/actnowfordarfurvideoinstructions for instructions to upload your video onto YouTube
• www.unitedhumanrights.org info about pressuring oil co.’s and for UNAMID deployment
• www.rocktosavedarfur.org for battle of the band concerts
• www.darfurrehab.org for the statewide teaching program about the genocide in Darfur
• www.preventorprotect.org
• www.genocidepreventionmonth.org watch “The Last Survivor”, a new film about survivors from genocides by Righteous Pictures
• www.savedarfur.org
• www.ecc4darfur.org or www.njcoalition4darfur
  for information about the solar oven cooker campaign
• www.state.nj.gov.us/governor/ to email Governor Corzine
• www.lautenberg.senate.gov to email Senator Lautenberg
• www.menendez.senate.gov to email Senator Menendez
• www.usunnewyork.usmission.gov to email Ambassador Susan Rice (to the U.N.)
• www.state.gov to email Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
  or text 90822 and type in ‘What about Darfur?’
• www.house.gov/payne/contact.shtml to email Representative Payne
• www.whitehouse.gov to email President Obama
• www.pascrell.house.gov to email Representative Pascrell
• www.frelinghuysen.house.gov to email Representative Frelinghuysen
• www.codey.senate.gov to email Senator Codey

Recently, I watched a PBS report about the poverty in Haiti. Children in many regions of Haiti are undernourished and often have nothing to eat other than cookies made from dried mud. The U.N. estimates that 840 million people on this planet are undernourished. Worldwide, hundreds of millions of people are fighting a decline in food resources.

What are the root causes of food insecurity? According to UNICEF the root causes are poverty, war and civil conflict, corruption, national policies that do not promote equal access to food for all, environmental degradation, barriers to trade, insufficient agricultural development, population growth, low levels of education, social and gender inequality, poor health status, cultural insensitivity, and natural disasters.

On June 15, 2009, the Human Rights Council held a panel discussion on the relationship between climate change and human rights. Panelist Atiq Rhaman stated that global climate change had emerged as the greatest threat facing humankind today. Kyung-wha Kang, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the human impact of climate change was not only related to environmental factors but also to poverty, discrimination and inequalities.

Obviously this is a global problem that is in immediate need of a global solution! What can we do as citizens and as sisters and brothers of this human race? We can email and call our elected leaders asking for a change in policies on agribusiness, pollution, and free trade. We can ask our senators and congressional representatives to hold hearings on agricultural practices that make sense for everyone (currently the farm bill causes many farmers to lose their farms while a few wealthy farm owners are paid to not produce food). We also desperately need to minimize our carbon footprints. This summer, buy a share of seasonal fruits and vegetables from a local farmer and ride your bike or walk whenever possible. How about buying sustainable fair trade products–benefitting you, the producer and the environment?

World Trade policies must be changed. Food should be distributed fairly and farming policies should promote sustainable growth practices. The U.N. policy on human rights states that everyone has the right to life, food, safe water and health, home, land, properties, livelihoods, employment and development. It is unjust that the people suffering from food insecurity are also those who are least responsible for the causes of global warming. The most vulnerable societies suffer terribly from climate change–frequent and prolonged floods, cyclone, tidal surges, salinity intrusion, sea level rise and drought.

Say ‘no’ to dirt cookies! Say ‘yes’ to fair trade policies, sustainable farming practices and environmentally-friendly resources!

Call 1-800-GENOCIDE to be connected with a staff member from the office of your Congressional Representative, Senator, and even President Obama! Tell them about the need for humanitarian aid organizations to be allowed back in to Darfur. Ask them to do all they can to establish real peace negotiations in Darfur and Southern Sudan.

The people of Darfur are suffering daily under brutal, murderous attacks by the Janjaweed and the Sudanese military and sometimes by rebel groups and raiders. Over 30,000 villages have been burned to the ground since 2003. Most of the survivors live in idp (internally displaced people) camps in Darfur. (Over 280,000 Darfuri people live in refugee camps in Chad.) On March 4th, 2009, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was served with an arrest warrant by the ICC (International Criminal Court) of the U.N. This brought on his recent expulsion of 13 international and 3 national humanitarian aid organizations from Darfur. MSF (Medicines Sans Frontiers/Dr.’s Without Borders), Oxfam America, Care, Mercy Corps, and other wonderful relief organizations are currently unable to distribute basic necessities like food, clean water, medical help, emotional support, and plastic tents. The idp camps are being attacked with even more frequency without the presence of humanitarian aid organizations to deter the militias.

The people of Southern Sudan were brutally attacked, tortured, murdered and enslaved for over 23 years by the Sudanese Government. For the past few years a shaky peace treaty has been teetering on a balance. Over 12,000 Southern Sudanese are estimated to still be enslaved in Northern Sudan.

A true and lasting peace treaty is vitally important for both Darfur and Southern Sudan. Please raise your voices and your cell phones by texting 90822 for the State Department (Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Special U.S. Envoy for Darfur Scott Gration) and calling 1-800-GENOCIDE to speak with staff members from offices of your elected officials. Ask for real peace negotiations and re-admittance of humanitarian aid organizations.