Hundreds of thousands of people have died in the ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan. The Sudanese government and militias called the Janjaweed have forced over two million more out of their homes, in the process destroying all means of survival and the infrastructure necessary for their return. The violence continues, and security and protection are urgently needed in the refugee camps.
Darfur Survival Campaign mobilizes health professionals, students, and members of the general public to press for urgently needed security in Darfur, including augmented African Union troops and a UN peacekeeping force of 20,000, as authorized by UN Security Council Resolution 1706. In addition, the Campaign insists on compensation and restitution for survivors.
Investigators traveled to the Chad-Sudan border to interview survivors of the genocidal attacks and to Darfur to document the devastation of three villages. Their findings are presented in two reports, The Use of Rape as a Weapon of War in the Conflict in Darfur, and Darfur - Assault on Survival: A Call for Security, Restitution and Justice.
Assault on Survival documents the systematic destruction of villages in Darfur by the Janjaweed, who burned down houses, schools and markets, destroyed corps and looted livestock and household possessions. With their homes destroyed, no crops or animals to sustain them, and their attackers pursuing them sometimes for days, the survivors had no choice but to flee to the desert. Many perished in the unforgiving environment; others, reached relative safety in Chad. Worldwide organizations have cited Article IIc of the Genocide Convention in support of its view that the Janjaweed and the Sudanese government are responsible for genocide in Darfur. Article IIc defines genocide as deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction.
In addition to the Darfur Survival Campaign, many organizations have held a series of training sessions in Khartoum and Darfur on the proper documentation and treatment of sexual violence for doctors, lawyers and mental health professionals. Partnering with a Sudanese organization, the Amel Center for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture brought a multidisciplinary team of lawyers, physicians and psychologists to work with Amel Center staff in training local professionals and officials on international standards for documenting rape, methods for treating victims and how to cope with issues of secondary trauma and burnout among staff. Orbite is advocating for the amendment of Sudanese laws and procedures that intimidate women from reporting rape or seeking medical or psychological care, threaten the rape victims with charges of adultery and make it nearly impossible to gain a rape conviction.
