Justice for Darfur

By Angelina Jolie
Wednesday, February 28, 2007; Page A19

BAHAI, Chad — Here, at this refugee camp on the border of Sudan, nothing separates us from Darfur but a small stretch of desert and a line on a map. All the same, it’s a line I can’t cross. As a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, I have traveled into Darfur before, and I had hoped to return. But the UNHCR has told me that this camp, Oure Cassoni, is as close as I can get.

Sticking to this side of the Sudanese border is supposed to keep me safe. By every measure — killings, rapes, the burning and looting of villages — the violence in Darfur has increased since my last visit, in 2004. The death toll has passed 200,000; in four years of fighting, Janjaweed militia members have driven 2.5 million people from their homes, including the 26,000 refugees crowded into Oure Cassoni.

Attacks on aid workers are rising, another reason I was told to stay out of Darfur. By drawing attention to their heroic work — their efforts to keep refugees alive, to keep camps like this one from being consumed by chaos and fear — I would put them at greater risk.

I’ve seen how aid workers and nongovernmental organizations make a difference to people struggling for survival. I can see on workers’ faces the toll their efforts have taken. Sitting among them, I’m amazed by their bravery and resilience. But humanitarian relief alone will never be enough.

Until the killers and their sponsors are prosecuted and punished, violence will continue on a massive scale. Ending it may well require military action. But accountability can also come from international tribunals, measuring the perpetrators against international standards of justice.

Accountability is a powerful force. It has the potential to change behavior — to check aggression by those who are used to acting with impunity. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), has said that genocide is not a crime of passion; it is a calculated offense. He’s right. When crimes against humanity are punished consistently and severely, the killers’ calculus will change.

On Monday I asked a group of refugees about their needs. Better tents, said one; better access to medical facilities, said another. Then a teenage boy raised his hand and said, with powerful simplicity, “Nous voulons une épreuve.” We want a trial. He is why I am encouraged by the ICC’s announcement yesterday that it will prosecute a former Sudanese minister of state and a Janjaweed leader on charges of crimes against humanity.

Some critics of the ICC have said indictments could make the situation worse. The threat of prosecution gives the accused a reason to keep fighting, they argue. Sudanese officials have echoed this argument, saying that the ICC’s involvement, and the implication of their own eventual prosecution, is why they have refused to allow U.N. peacekeepers into Darfur.

It is not clear, though, why we should take Khartoum at its word. And the notion that the threat of ICC indictments has somehow exacerbated the problem doesn’t make sense, given the history of the conflict. Khartoum’s claims aside, would we in America ever accept the logic that we shouldn’t prosecute murderers because the threat of prosecution might provoke them to continue killing?

When I was in Chad in June 2004, refugees told me about systematic attacks on their villages. It was estimated then that more than 1,000 people were dying each week.

In October 2004 I visited West Darfur, where I heard horrific stories, including accounts of gang-rapes of mothers and their children. By that time, the UNHCR estimated, 1.6 million people had been displaced in the three provinces of Darfur and 200,000 others had fled to Chad.

It wasn’t until June 2005 that the ICC began to investigate. By then the campaign of violence was well underway
.

As the prosecutions unfold, I hope the international community will intervene, right away, to protect the people of Darfur and prevent further violence. The refugees don’t need more resolutions or statements of concern. They need follow-through on past promises of action.

There has been a groundswell of public support for action. People may disagree on how to intervene — airstrikes, sending troops, sanctions, divestment — but we all should agree that the slaughter must be stopped and the perpetrators brought to justice.

In my five years with UNHCR, I have visited more than 20 refugee camps in Sierra Leone, Congo, Kosovo and elsewhere. I have met families uprooted by conflict and lobbied governments to help them. Years later, I have found myself at the same camps, hearing the same stories and seeing the same lack of clean water, medicine, security and hope.

It has become clear to me that there will be no enduring peace without justice. History shows that there will be another Darfur, another exodus, in a vicious cycle of bloodshed and retribution. But an international court finally exists. It will be as strong as the support we give it. This might be the moment we stop the cycle of violence and end our tolerance for crimes against humanity.

What the worst people in the world fear most is justice. That’s what we should deliver.

The writer is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

A parody shirt of those parody shirts that use soda pop iconography to make Christianity cool. Every beast devours its own tail!

Order the shirts here, $22 including shipping.

I saw this and immediately thought of you: The strangest CD I have ever heard.

I feel ripped off, cheated, and completely lied to. Fuck you, motherfucker - just FUCK YOU.

Insane Jane - Your Mouth

Quit knocking on my door, what gave you the idea that I’d want you back for more
there’s nothing here that you could need
there was a place in time I needed you to hear my voice speaking in your ears
well now I’m screaming - you’re still not listening

laying in the shadows laying in my bed my head is spinning
can you stop and understand that my life is not a total commitment to everyone I ever met
I don’t want to know who he’s been messing with
I don’t wanna know who she lied to or what she wore or what you’re doing

all I want is for you
is to sit in front of a mirror
take a good look at yourself
is your mouth still running?

See, you and I, we don’t have the same opinions - let’s keep it that way
and you and I, we don’t have the same ideas - let’s keep it that way
I don’t have anything that I want to share with you
and i don’t want anything you have to share with me
so let’s keep it that way

I regret the day I met you
why did I tell you my name?
how did you get into my life
into my life, into my brain
now I got a moment alone, I’m laughing
loudly laughing
’cause I don’t have to hear your jaws flappin’ clappin’
yes I’m laughing
at
you
ha ha ha!

You know who you fucking are.

To play, start by listing 10 weird things/habits/little known facts about yourself. When this is done, choose 10 people to be tagged and write their names at the bottom of your list. No tag backs! Those who get tagged then write their own 10-item list in their own journals. Be sure to include this set of rules.

1. I am allergic to beets, radishes, purple onions, and stupid people. Fortunately, I have a patch for the stupid people.

2. I hate having my nipples touched in any way by anything. If you think this is an invitation to ever fuck with my nipples just for kicks, know now that I will react violently and punch you in the throat - and I do not discriminate on gender. If you must test me, I will go all Uma Thurman in Kill Bill on your ass.
3. If I could only pick one food to eat for the rest of my life, it would be sushi.
4. I am sad a lot more of the time than I let on, and I constantly pretend that I’m not.
5. It is my firm belief that Hillary Clinton is inherently evil - it is a gut feeling I have always had.
6. If I could have the guarantee that everyone I love in my life would always be well cared for and perfectly happy, but the consequence of this guarantee would be my complete removal from their lives and to never see them again, I would do it.
7. I had a dream last night where I got to meet and speak at length with Sidney Poitier, but I could not get my composure intact long enough to stop crying for at least the first 30 minutes without thinking “I’M HANGING OUT WITH SIDNEY MUTHAFUCKING POITIER!”
8. I am a coffee snob. I must have a cup first thing in the AM, or I’m unfuckingbearable. A bad cup of coffee is worse than none at all.
9. I am terrified of heights, but not snakes, spiders, or dying.
10. I really am angry, but not really a biscuit.

I tag: