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Urge U.S. State Department to Help Protect Darfurian Women and Girls (8/14/08)


Thanks to grassroots advocacy, the U.S. Congress has allocated over $700 million in Fiscal Year 2008 for peacekeeping in Darfur. We are now working to ensure that these funds are used to fulfill the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) mandate, in particular, its responsibility for the protection of women and girls.

You can help!

As the State Department allocates this funding, it must make the protection of women and girls a top priority.

***

Dear Secretary Rice,

On June 19, you chaired a United Nations Security Council session on gender-based violence. It culminated in the unanimous adoption of U.N. Resolution 1820, which demands the immediate end of the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. The following month marked the one-year anniversary of the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). The mission, which has been extended for an additional year, is still woefully understaffed, underequipped, and underfunded. While the genocide continues to rage on, those who are most vulnerable, women and children, are left unprotected.

President Bush recently signed into law a supplemental appropriations bill that included vital funding for peacekeeping in Darfur. I am writing to you to ask that the State Department ensure that these funds are effectively used to help fulfill UNAMID's mandate, in particular, UNAMID's mandate to protect women and girls.

The following steps are simple, practical measures that must be taken to help ensure the safety of women and girls in Darfur:

  • Women from UNAMID's police- and troop-contributing countries are recruited to serve as peacekeepers, translators, police officers, and human-rights monitors.
  • All protection forces, particularly UNAMID's formed police unit, complete rigorous gender and human-rights training.
  • All camps relying on wood-burning fuel for cooking are provided with firewood patrols.
  • UNAMID's Gender Unit is provided with adequate staffing and resources.
  • Peacekeepers found responsible for acts of sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, or sexual violence are punished.
  • The U.S. government ensures that the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations implements these measures with urgency.

These recommendations were developed by the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), which has been active in Darfur since 2004 and represents more than 50,000 members and supporters. In Darfur, UUSC works to weave a web of protection for women and girls by implementing programs on the ground and strengthening UNAMID's capacity to implement its protection mandate. UUSC's recommendations are informed by its specialized knowledge in the protection of vulnerable populations in crises and by its ongoing presence in Darfur.

The U.S. government, namely the State Department, must insist that protecting Darfur's vulnerable population is a top priority.

I appreciate your attention to this matter and I thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

***

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