Global Day for Darfur

GENEVA, 9/15/2006 Activists and human rights supporters are gearing up for the Global Day for Darfur which takes place Sunday, 17 September.

In major cities throughout the world London, Berlin, Nairobi and Paris among others activists will demonstrate in support of a strengthened UN peacekeeping force in Sudan.

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled across the Sudanese border to escape the military campaign in Darfur. They are living in refugee camps where they are susceptible against disease, hunger and sexual assault.

Currently there are 7,000 African Union (AU) troops in Sudan managing the ceasefire agreement signed in May 2006.

But their attempts have not succeeded in ending the violence. AU troops plan to end their mission on 30 September unless a transfer to a UN peacekeeping force can be implemented. The Khartoum government has rejected a UN resolution authorizing a 20,000 peace force in Sudan.

Franciscans International fears that without an international force in the region to protect the civilian population or keep watch over humanitarian activities, the security situation will deteriorate and aid agencies and human rights monitors will be forced to leave. We strongly support the introduction of a major UN peacekeeping force in Darfur as a way to stop the violence and promote peace.

We also join the Human Rights Councils Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Sudan, Sima Samar, in urging the Sudanese government to immediately take action to protect and prevent attacks against civilians, urgently disarm the Arab militias and strengthen the criminal justice system in Darfur.

We are also concerned by the situation in Eastern Chad and we will actively participate in dialogue that will encourage peace in Sudan with the Special Rapporteur, states and NGOs during the Human Rights Council, starting next Monday, says Alessandra Aula, FIs Advocacy Officer.

Franciscans International stands in solidarity with religious communities, activists and people of goodwill who are taking part in the Global Day for Darfur their efforts and engagement are crucial for focusing the worlds attention on this conflict.

FI Speaker Series: Colombia

GENEVA  
Sr Elizabeth Arboleda, a Tertiary Capuchin, can tell the difference when a rural farmer in Colombia is killed by members of the national army or by paramilitaries.

The soldiers shoot the people, she explained, while the paramilitaries cut their bodies with chainsaws.

This is the reality Sr Elizabeth lives everyday in the Colombian province of Oriente Antioqueo. She works with displaced grassroots communities to develop programs to become economically self-sufficient.

FI invited Sr Elizabeth to participate in the September session of the UN Human Rights Council. During the past five years, she has worked with the poor and indigenous peoples in a country torn by a 50-year-long internal armed conflict.

The Oriente Antioqueo region produces large amounts of hydroelectricity for national consumption and its abundance allows power to be shipped to other countries. The construction of a major dam in the area is expected to increase energy production.

Despite the great wealth around them, rural people live without electricity, running water and telephone wires, she said.

Sr Elizabeth explained the government wants to build more dams and views rural land as a prime resource to achieve these goals.

Currently there are three military bases to protect the dam project and soldiers regularly abuse and intimidate civilians to encourage them to evacuate their communities.

The community has shrunk from 250 families to 38 within the past few years. Extrajudicial killings are commonplace the bodies of rural farmers are found in remote areas, days later, dressed in army fatigues.

Many people fear the military and they do not leave their communities to practise their livelihood. In order generate income, Franciscans help villagers organise community shops where they sell handicrafts and goods to other villages.

The only means of transportation comes once a week to the remote villages, she said. Sisters ride with the villagers to these shops and check how they are run.

People in rural communities have few legal resources to fight for their rights. They are stigmatized by police because they are social and economically marginalized and isolated. Local police are corrupt and turn a blind eye to human rights abuses perpetuated by paramilitaries and the national army.

Colombia is working on a peace process between the government and paramilitary groups orchestrated by President Alvaro Uribe. But few people believe in it.

Nobody believes in the peace process because of the governments hypocrisy and double speak, she said. How can government officials make peace with paramilitaries when they pay paramilitaries to move people away from mega projects?

Sr Elizabeth encourages Franciscans International and other human rights organisations to monitor the situation in Colombia and increase political pressure on the government to act against these injustices.

Though she describes human rights work as hard, Sr Elizabeth views her efforts as an ongoing journey, motivated by the Gospel, to improve the lives of others.

Even if we work hard if we do not put our hearts into it, it is ultimately useless, she explained.

But for someone working for love, you never get tired or discouraged.