
Thousands protested around the world yesterday to mark the five year anniversary of the crisis in Darfur in which at least 200,000 people have been killed and millions have been displaced. According to Amnesty International, there are UN troops in the region, but the Sudanese government is blocking them from helping. There is a call for more international attention to the situation as well as more resources dedicated to stopping the violence against innocent people and children:
Activists are pushing for speedier progress on the full deployment of the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force. Approximately 35 percent of the 26,000-troop force is currently on the ground in Darfur. But the government of Sudan is standing in the way of full deployment by rejecting troops from non-African countries and refusing land for bases, among other obstructions.
The coalition partners are urging President Bush to influence other countries, such as China, to press Sudan to quit obstructing the deployment. They also want President Bush to exert diplomatic pressure on U.N. donor nations to contribute helicopters and other transport equipment necessary for the peacekeepers and set an example by funding contributions of needed equipment.
[From Amnesty International]
Celebrities including Matt Damon were photographed destroying toys to show the way that the conflict has stripped Sudanese children of their childhoods. More than one million children in Darfur live in refugee camps.
Caring campaigner Matt Damon has led a host of international celebrities backing protests against the war in Darfur.
In a series of powerful images, Matt and a variety of famous faces - including Thandie Newton, Joely Richardson and Jemima Khan - are seen destroying toys and setting fire to children’s drawings. The pictures, released to coincide with Sunday’s global day of protest, are a symbol of the suffering of the youngsters in the troubled region.
“After the genocide in Rwanda we all shook our heads and said never again,” said Matt. “Today, as killings mount in Darfur, we need to make never again a priority and demand protection for the most vulnerable.”
[From Hello! Magazine]
You can learn more about the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, and how you can help, at SaveDarfur.org, AmnestyInternational.org, Human Rights Watch, and DarfurScores.org. For a haunting look into what is happening in Darfur, see Amnesty International’s EyesonDarfur.org.
Here are the photos of the celebrities destroying toys, thanks to Hello! Magazine and The Mirror. When I first saw these images I thought that they were too stylized and that a human approach would have been more effective, but they did manage to get more attention to this very important cause and that’s what matters.





