URI Global Council Endorses Darfur Unity Statement
April 7th, 2005 by sfuqua
The United Religions Initiative Global Council in March voted to endorse the Darfur Unity Statement in recognition of the continuing necessity for international intervention in the Darfur region of Sudan. Originally signed by over 100 non-governmental agencies in July of 2004, the Save Darfur Coalition’s Unity Statement remains relevant today with over two million refugees in need of aid and death toll estimates in the region now exceeding 300,000.
April 7, 2005. San Francisco, USA – The United Religions Initiative
Global Council in March voted to endorse the Darfur Unity Statement in
recognition of the continuing necessity for international intervention in the
Darfur region of Sudan. Originally signed by over 100 non-governmental
agencies in July of 2004, the Save Darfur Coalition's Unity Statement
remains relevant today with over two million refugees in need of aid and
death toll estimates in the region now exceeding 300,000 (the statement can
be found at www.savedarfur.org).
Many statements of “never again” followed the terrible
massacres in Rwanda eleven years ago today. Yet January's report from the
UN International Inquiry on Darfur made clear that the conflict in western
Sudan would soon become the next "never again." In spite of the
international attention the region received last summer, the Commission was
"particularly alarmed that attacks on villages, killing of civilians,
rape, pillaging and forced displacements have continued during the course of
the Commission's mandate."
Alarmed at the lack of resolution to this crisis, a small group of
interfaith activists informally convened in March as the URI Darfur Action
Group. Representing URI members from across the United States and from
Brazil, Israel, Ethiopia, Nepal, Pakistan and Chile, the group requested that
the URI Global Council show its solidarity and desire for peace by endorsing
the Unity Statement. "Even in this late day we are not powerless to act,
to help a desperate people avoid further atrocities and the suffering of
refugee life," said one of the group's conveners, Stephen Fuqua.
"Though the URI Global Council cannot make policy pronouncements on
behalf of URI members, it can speak for itself." Reporting on the
Council's agreement to support the Unity Statement, URI Executive
Director Charles Gibbs said "the Standing Committee
enthusiasticallysupports having URI be added as a signatory to the Unity
Statement. Akey factor leading to the committee's support was that the
request camefrom our grassroots representatives and members who had been
seriouslyconsidering this issue."
In March the URI Darfur Action Group additionally sent a letter to
interfaith leaders throughout the United States requesting their support for
a campaign to encourage passage of the Darfur Accountability Act in the US
Senate. Recent Security Council Resolutions have finally begun to make
inroads toward punishing perpetrators of crimes against humanity and
sanctioning individuals and the government of Sudan. They have also approved
a much-needed peacekeeping force for southern Sudan, whose future stability
is intertwined with the conflict in the west. The Accountability Act would
provide additional American aid in the region and work to secure additional
African Union and UN peacekeeping troops specifically for Darfur.
About the United Religions Initiative
The United Religions Initiative works to end religiously motivated
violence and build cultures of peace, justice and healing. Active in more
than fifty countries, URI’s work is accomplished by a powerful network
of more than 240 Cooperation Circles. Each year URI activities involve
hundreds of thousands of peacebuilders worldwide. To find out more about URI,
visit www.uri.org.
Further background information on the atrocities in Sudan as well as the
Darfur Accountability Act campaign can be found at
www.interfaithnews.net/darfur.
