ISG AND IAGS OFFICERS WRITE WORLD ENVOYS ON SUDAN

ED. NOTE: The following letter was sent to the US Secretary of State and members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) in early July, accompanied by recommendations for a UNSC resolution on Darfur citing evidence how it fit the clauses of the UN Genocide Convention, a press release from Physicians for Human Rights Calls for Intervention to Save Lives in Sudan: Field Team Compiles Indicators of Genocide (June 23, 2004), and an article by Eric Reeves, Quantifying Genocide in Darfur (Sudan), on July 2. The only acknowledgment or reply received was from the new US Representative to the UNSC, John Danforth. One may observe that the letter had no apparent effect on proposals and negotiations within the UNSC.

July 2, 2004

Dear Secretary of State Powell:

We write to you as genocide scholars who have studied the documentation and analyses of different genocides for 30 years. Our consternation about the genocide in progress in Darfur, Sudan (see pages following) leads us to ask you to use your position to secure three goals:

1) Stopping genocide in Sudan and disarmament and prosecution of the perpetrators of genocide and crimes against humanity international monitoring in Sudan and military intervention to protect the security of the people of Darfur and enable them to return.

2) Redressing the injuries to the victims, including immediate assistance to refugees and internally displaced persons and compensation for injuries and loss of homes and economic resources destroyed: and

3) Prevention of future use of genocide, crimes against humanity and deliberate violence against civilians in conflicts.

We are appreciative of your concern with this issue expressed during your recent trip. We are available to meet with you and discuss the situation at your convenience.

Respectfully,

Helen Fein
Executive Director, International Institute for the Study of Genocide

Robert Melson
President, Association of Genocide Scholars

Helen Fein is the Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of Genocide (New York, NY), a former MacArthur Foundation Fellow in International Peace and Security Studies at Harvard University, and author and editor of 10 books on genocide and collective violence including two prizewinning books: Accounting for Genocide: National Responses and Jewish Victimization During the Holocaust(1979) and Genocide: A Sociological Perspective (1991, 1993).

Robert Melson is the President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Professor of Government at Purdue University, and author of Revolution and Genocide: On the Origins of the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust (1992), comparative studies of genocide and collective violence in Armenia, Nigeria and Rwanda, and False Papers: Deception and Survival in the Holocaust(2000), a memoir of his experiences as a child survivor.

 

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The ISG Newsletter is published by the Institute for the Study of Genocide. Helen Fein, Executive Director; Orlanda Brugnola, President.