Human Rights First have set up a campaign to get the UN to appoint a special peace envoy in Darfur (via Sudan Watch):
Join Human Rights First in the HOPE for Darfur Campaign to appoint a prominent envoy to reenergize the diplomatic process in the Darfur region of Sudan. The appointment of a high-level envoy will be a visible symbol of renewed political and diplomatic will to resolve the Darfur crisis. Read HRF’s Case for an Envoy.
There is an urgent need to bring an end to the human rights emergency in Darfur. In the last two months the security situation has deteriorated dramatically. United Nations personnel have withdrawn from parts of the region because of increased violence, the humanitarian relief work of international nongovernmental organizations has been greatly restricted, and the civilian toll is again climbing.
A prominent envoy appointed with the support of the United Nations, in cooperation with the United States and other key countries, is crucial to bringing peace to the region.
All this may seem hopelessly naive in the face of the UN’s ineffectual efforts in Darfur to date, and its poor record in Rwanda, Bosnia, Iraq, and just about anywhere else you care to mention, but really, when it comes down to the matter of ending the genocide, at the moment it’s the only game in town. Plus, campaigns of this sort help to spread awareness of what’s happening right now, in Western Sudan and over the border in Chad, with the active involvement of the regime in Khartoum. It needs to be stopped; no one else is going to do it; and this may – just may – make a difference. No one else seems to have any better ideas.
There’s a short movie here, plus a petition to sign.
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