The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Room 7226
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Secretary Clinton:
We applaud your leadership and commitment to addressing sexual violence
in armed conflict. As you continue to monitor the situation in Sudan
and work to facilitate effective humanitarian operations for Darfuris
displaced in Sudan, Chad and the Central African Republic, we the
undersigned organizations urge you to ensure that programming for
survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGV) is recognized as
essential and incorporated into the basic needs objectives for
humanitarian operations in the region. We hope that you will make the
restoration of SGV programming a priority alongside the “life-saving
sectors” of protection and food security, and we believe that with U.S.
assistance programming can be immediately restored to pre-expulsion
levels.
Many of the 13 international aid agencies expelled from Darfur in March
2009 worked to provide comprehensive humanitarian services, including
support for women and girls who have experienced sexual violence. Such
attacks have been documented during the initial Government of
Sudan/Janjaweed campaign in Darfur in 2003-2005, and both within and
outside UNHCR Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps since their
establishment in 2004. These agencies were involved in painstaking
negotiations with the Government of Sudan in order to provide SGV
services, and since their expulsion SGV services have been eliminated
in Darfur. The Government of Sudan controls the authorization of
humanitarian operations under their domestic jurisdiction and had
relentlessly obstructed the negotiation of technical agreements with
these agencies in order to stymie SGV programming. The al-Bashir
government continues to maintain that mass sexual violence has not
occurred in the Darfur region and obstructs SGV programming in order to
avoid even indirect recognition of these atrocities.
We request that you prioritize the restoration of SGV programs that
were severed in March 2009 due to the expulsion of international aid
agencies. These services include emergency assistance for injuries,
documentation of injuries sustained during these brutal attacks, access
to HIV/AIDS prophylactic treatment, pregnancy testing, and
psychological and social support. Furthermore, we ask that you work to
achieve the following goals:
As you know, the U.S. is the primary donor to the humanitarian
operations in Darfur, and the recent engagement of the al-Bashir
government by the Obama administration now presents the opportunity to
ensure that SGV services are provided to survivors in Darfur, and
across the Sudan-Chad border in Eastern Chad. We need urgent action to
protect the rights of victims and to ensure the Government of Sudan is
no longer able to obstruct the delivery of these essential services.
Sincerely,
African Centre for European and Peace Studies
American Friends of the Episcopal Church of Sudan
American Friends Service Committee
American Islamic Congress
American Jewish World Service
Americans Against the Darfur Genocide
Amnesty International USA
Arab Coalition for Darfur
Champion Darfur
Darfur and Beyond
Darfur Reconciliation & Development Organization
Darfur Urgent Action Coalition of Georgia
Dear Sudan, Love Marin
Defend Darfur Dallas
Enough Project
Genocide Intervention Network
Human Rights Watch
Idaho Darfur Coalition
International Refugee Rights Initiative
Investors Against Genocide
Kentuckiana Interfaith Taskforce on Darfur
Keokuk for Darfur
Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur
North Jersey Coalition for Darfur
Orange County for Darfur
Physicians for Human Rights
Refugees International
San Antonio Interfaith Darfur Coalition
San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition
Save Darfur Coalition
Save Darfur of Redding, CA
Save Darfur Washington State
Save Darfur: Central PA
Shine a Ray of Hope for Darfur
STAND at Stanford University
STAND at UC Berkeley
STAND at UC Davis
STAND UCLA
Stop Genocide Now
Texans Against Genocide
cc: Major General J. Scott Gration (Retired), Special Envoy to Sudan
