Humanitarian Crisis in Sudan - Action Alert Compose Your Letter
What To Do
1. Familiarize yourself with the background information on Sudan.
2. Compose your letter.
Express grave concern to Canadian authorities about attacks on ethnic African civilians in Darfur by Janjaweed militias with the support of government troops. Call for the Canadian government to immediately support the following measures:
Humanitarian intervention. Canada should support intervention to protect civilians at risk along the lines of the plan developed by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations. The DPKO plan would deploy 4,000 to 5,000 troops – an African Union (AU) force with financial and logistical support from donor governments (including Canada).
The AU force should be authorized by the UN, but failure to reach agreement at the UN Security Council should not preclude deployment of such a civilian protection force. In these exceptional circumstances, faced with ethnic cleansing and large-scale loss of life, an AU force would conform with customarily accepted principles conditioning military intervention outside the authority of the UN Security Council. These norms are outlined in “The Responsibility to Protect,” the report of the Government of Canada sponsored International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty.
Criminal responsibility. Canada should encourage a formal process of investigation of criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity committed in Sudan. This could occur by formal reference from the UN Security Council to the International Criminal Court, or through some other official investigative commission created specifically for this purpose.
Sanctions. Canada should encourage the UN Security Council to impose targeted economic sanctions on the government of Sudan, including an arms embargo and restrictions on Sudanese oil exports.
Humanitarian aid. Canada should allocate extra funds, in addition to the $23 to $25 million committed to date, for humanitarian assistance to relieve the plight of Darfur’s displaced and affected citizens.
Diplomatic engagement. Consistent with the above measures, Canada’s diplomacy should also be more robust. WFMC encourages high level engagement by the Prime Minister and relevant cabinet ministers, as well as Canada’s Special Envoy to the peace process in Sudan, Senator Mobina Jaffer.
3. Send your message to:
The Rt. Hon. Paul Martin
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa
K1A 0A2
Fax: (613) 941-6900
Email: [email protected]
Hon. Pierre Pettigrew
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Lester B. Pearson Building
125 Sussex Drive
Tower A, 10th Floor
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0G2
Fax: (613) 996-3443
Email: [email protected]
Hon. Bill Graham
Minister of National Defence
101 Colonel By Drive
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0K2
Fax: (613) 995-4063
Email: [email protected]
Hon. Aileen Carroll
Minister for International Cooperation
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
200 Prom. Du Portage
Gatineau, QC
K1A 0G4
Fax: (613) 953-5469
Email: [email protected]
You can also write to the Sudanese authorities in Canada:
Mr. Abd Elghani E. AWAD EL KARIM, Chargé d'Affaires
Embassy of the Republic of the Sudan
354 Stewart Street,
Ottawa ON K1N 6K8
Fax: (613) 235-6880
Email: [email protected]
