GOTB Celebrates Sweet 16! Part 2

After the morning speaker's panel, we broke for lunch and then reconvened outside of the Chad Mission to the United Nations to call on the Chadian government to protect Darfur refugees and IDPs living within their borders. The energy that students brought to the demonstrations was striking.

Photo: Scott Langley Photography.

From there, we moved to the Sri Lankan Mission to the UN to call for independent investigation of war crimes committed by both sides during the Sri Lankan Civil War. A number of passers-by seemed intrigued by the goings-on, and our student activists handed out flyers and information.

Photo: Kelly Turley.

Our Filep Karma action was an interesting one, as Dag Hammarskjold Plaza is apparently a popular demonstration spot on a Friday afternoon.

From Demotix.com:

New York -- three separate rallies, for three separate causes, came together at Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza on Friday afternoon. 

Dozens of supporters showed up at 3pm for the Yemen/Libya rally, to show solidarity with the uprisings in those countries. An hour later, more than a hundred high school and college students marched in, part of Amnesty International's "Get on the Bus For Human Rights" program, supporting Filep Karma, a prisoner of conscience in Indonesia. These younger protesters had been bussed in from New England. 

Mixed in with the crowd, were 4 protesters who comprised a 'flash mob', rallying in support of the Goldstone Report, against Shimon Peres appearance at the UN. 

All three causes stood side by side, shared the space and the microphone and the media attention. There must be something in the air this spring.

The day concluded at the Chinese Mission to the UN, and through the rain, our demonstrators kept up their tireless energy, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen.

This was my first Get On The Bus, I've been looking forward to the event since November when I started working with Group 133. And although I woke up terribly sick on Saturday morning, I can say now (after a few days of antibiotics), that the experience was well worth all the work and even the maladies. The coordination team is an amazing group of people, taking time out of busy personal lives to pull this event together. The students and participants are equally inspiring with their creativity and energy during the event. And of course, the expert speakers and the success stories make the event well worth all the work.

Thanks to everyone who worked and participated to make Get On The Bus's Sweet Sixteen a smashing success!

Revised Chad "asks"

The revised list of "asks" for the Get On The Bus 2011 Chad action as recommended by Amnesty International Chad country specialist Sarah Milburn:

• to provide greater protection to women and girls in refugee camps in eastern Chad, including refugees from Darfur and internally displaced persons from Chad, now that they have lost the protection that MINURCAT provided;
• to make every effort to prevent the recruiting of underage combatants in the refugee camps and other insecure areas of eastern Chad, either by the Chadian security services or by armed opposition forces, and to better facilitate the rehabilitation and reintegration of child soldiers;
• to ensure that Chadian soldiers and security personnel cease all violations of the human rights of refugees and other displaced persons in the camps; and
• to ensure that all who have committed such violations are brought to justice, whether they are in Chadian government forces or those of the opposition.

Focus on Refugees and IDPs living in Eastern Chad

At the February Group 133 meeting, the Group 133 Refugee Action Team and Larry Rich of the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur presented information about the GOTB 2011 Action calling for the protection of Darfuri refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) living in eastern Chad.

Some History:
The Republic of Sudan is a large country in northeastern Africa. The people of Sudan have a long history reaching back into antiquity, which is intertwined with the history of its neighbor, Egypt. The Darfur region of eastern Sudan existed as an independent sultanate for several hundred years, and was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The modern country of Suden achieved independence from Egypt and the U.K. in 1956, and was overtaken with decades of civil war. The First Sudanese Civil War (1955-1972) followed ethnic, religious and economic lines between Northern Sudan and Southern Sudan. The war was reignited in 1983, leading to the Second Sudanese Civil War. The Colonel Omar al-Bashir gained control of the country in 1989 in a bloodless cout d'etat and named himself President of Sudan.

Conflict in Darfur:
The Darfur Conflict is an ongoing guerilla war which began in 2003, when the militant groups in Darfur took up arms, accusing the Sudanese government of oppressing non-Arab Sudanese. On the other side of the conflict are the official Sudanese military and police and the Janjaweed, a Sudanese militia group, recruited mostly from Arab tribes from northern regions of Sudan.

The ongoing conflict has led to some of the worst human rights abuses imaginable. The United States Congress declared the conflict in Darfur a genocide in June 2004, and President George W. Bush did the same in September of the same year. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have died as a result of both deliberate and indiscriminate attacks, and more than 2 million civilians have been forced to flee from their homes. The situation on the ground has been plagued with renewed violence, Janjawid attacks, and aerial bombing by the Government of Sudan's military. Currently, the Government of Sudan is resisting the UN Security Council-mandated peacekeeping operation that is desperately needed.

Amnesty representatives have met with UN, U.S. and European officials to call for their vigorous action and have pressed the governments of Chad and Sudan directly. Amnesty's global membership has also organized letter-writing campaigns and demonstrations to draw attention to the crisis.

Get On The Bus 2011 Action:
With the withdrawal of MICURCAT peacekeepers at the end of last year, Amnesty International has expressed serious concern for the safety of refugees and IDPs in camps near Chad's border with Darfur. According to AI USA's Chad country specialist, Chad military personnel have already been implicated in a growing number of sexual assaults against women and girls in the camps, and have failed to protect them from the outside attacks. The threat to refugees and IDPs is expected to increase in 2011.

The 2011 Darfur/Chad GOTB action will call on the government of Chad to protect refugees from Darfur and IDPs in camps in eastern Chad, and in particular to ensure the safety of women and girls in the camps. Specifically, we will ask the government of Chad -

• to permit MINURCAT peacekeepers to return to eastern Chad,
• to provide greater protection to women and girls in refugee camps in eastern Chad, including refugees from Darfur and IDPs from Chad,
• to ensure that Chadian soldiers and security personnel cease all violations of the human rights of refugees and other displaces persons in the camps, and
• to ensure that all who have committed such violations are brought to justice.

The Conflict in Darfur has been a long and complex war, so the information I've provided here is certainly not exhaustive. I encourage readers to follow the links below to gain a wider perspective.  The multimedia resources - photo galleries, documentaries and video footage, and satellite imagery - are much more powerful than any numbers I can write here.

Further Information:

• Amnesty International USA - Eyes On Darfur
• Amnesty International USA - Country Concerns: Chad
• Amnesty International USA - Testimony: Darfuri Refugees in Chad
• The Devil Came on Horseback (film)
• Darfur Diaries (film)
• Save Darfur
• On Our Watch: PBS Frontline Documentary
• UNHCR - Chad
• Refugees International - Chad
• Human Rights Watch - Chad
• Human Rights Watch - Report: The Risk of Return

GOTB Actions '11: Refugees and IDPs in eastern Chad

At tomorrow's February GOTB planning meeting, the Group 133 Refugee Action team will be presenting information about Darfuri refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) currently living in eastern Chad, as well as details about the planned GOTB 2011 action, which will call on the government of Chad to protect those refugees and IDPs living in camps in eastern Chad and, in particular, to ensure the safety of women and girls living in the camps.

In the meantime, I've collected a bit of background information on the issue.

Internally Displaced in Chad - Violence crosses the border
from UNHCR on Flickr:




The UN office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that there are currently 285,500 Sudanese refugees and 157,200 internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in camps along the eastern border of Chad.

With the withdrawal of all MINURCAT peacekeepers at the end of last year, Amnesty International has expressed serious concern for the safety of refugees and IDPs in camps near Chad's border with Sudan. According to AI USA's Chad country specialist, Chad military personnel have already been implicated in a growing number of sexual assaults against women and girls in the camps, and have failed to protect them from outside attacks. The threat to refugees and IDPs is expected to increase in 2011.

Violence in eastern Chad
from UNHCR on YouTube:




The planned GOTB action will call on the government of Chad to protect refugees from Darfur and IDPs in camps in eastern Chad, and in particular to ensure the safety of women and girls in the camps. Specifically, we will ask the government of Chad -

• to permit MINURCAT peacekeepers to return to eastern Chad,
• to provide greater protection to women and girls in refugee camps in eastern Chad, including refugees from Darfur and IDPs from Chad,
• to ensure that Chadian soldiers and security personnel cease all violations of the human rights of refugees and other displaces persons in the camps, and
• to ensure that all who have committed such violations are brought to justice.

Further information:

• UNHCR - Chad
• Amnesty International USA - Country Concerns: Chad
• Amnesty International USA - Testimony: Darfuri Refugees in Chad
• Refugees International - Chad
• Human Rights Watch - Chad
• Human Rights Watch - Report: The Risk of Return

For information or to become involved with GOTB, join us at tomorrow night's planning meeting at 7 o'clock at the Amnesty International Northeast Regional Office in Davis Square at 58 Day Street, Suite 409, Somerville, MA.

GOTB January Meeting

Group 133 members and other GOTB coordinators were delighted to have more students and other newcomers at our January GOTB planning meeting last night.

At last night's meeting, members of the GOTB Action Team discussed next steps and logistics for the April 8th New York City event. The actions planned for the 2011 event are: calling for the immediate release of Tibetan filmmaker Dhondep Wangchen, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of West Papuan prisoner of conscience Filep Karma, calling on the government of Chad to protect Darfuri refugees and internally displaced persons within Chad, and calling on the UN to launch an independent investigation into war crimes committed during the civil war in Sri Lanka, with a possible "side action" at Dow Chemical (formerly Union Carbide) corporate headquarters regarding the industrial disaster in Bhopal, India.

This year's event will also include a solidarity event in Washington, D.C. on Friday, April 15 organized by Amnesty International groups in the D.C. Metro area and Mid-Atlantic region. GOTB organizers also plan to reach out to AI groups across the country and internationally to plan similar solidarity actions in support of this year's issues.

AI Student Area Coordinators, 133 members and high school students involved with GOTB also plan to continue to reach out to high school and college AI group and similar organizations.

Next month's meeting will be Tuesday, February 1 at 7p.m. at the AI Northeast Regional Office in Davis Square. In addition to planning and logistics, the Group 133 Refugee Action Team will present detailed information regarding the planned action calling for the protection of Darfuri refugees and internally displaced persons - particularly women and girls - in eastern Chad.

Get On The Bus 2011

Group 133 and other Get On The Bus supporters have begun planning for next year's Get On The Bus (for human rights) event!

Last night Group 133 members voted for four actions to be included in the April '11 event:

• Calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Dhondup Wangchen, a Tibetan filmmaker and prisoner of conscience and Group 133's special focus case.
• Calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Filep Karma, a West Papuan activist who was arrested by Indonesian authorities in 2004 for raising the outlawed Morning Star flag. Karma is the AI-USA Mid-Atlantic region's special focus case.
  
• Calling on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to establish an independent international investigation into war crimes committed by both the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tigers during the Sri Lankan civil war.
• Urge the government of Chad to protect refugees from Darfur and internally displaced persons from Chad, particularly women and girls.

Of course, these may change or be tweaked as the event draws closer. We're really excited this year because our friends in the Washington DC and Mid-Atlantic region will be holding their own Get On The Bus solidarity actions in the Capital.

Watch here for more information about Get On The Bus '11, the cases mentioned above and other details about the event. For more information visit the Get On The Bus web site at www.gotb.org or the Group 133 web site at www.amnesty133.org.