Children

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has launched the second part of its multi-phase campaign to detect and treat widespread malnutrition in Togolese children. The agency is now targeting dozens of more isolated villages in the Savanes and Kara regions in the north of the West African country and the Maritime region in the far south after earlier reaching bigger population centers, according to a statement released by UNICEF June 15. (UN News Service)

Students and teachers clashed with police in Chile on June 18 to protest an education bill they say doesn’t go far enough to bring equal access to schooling for the poor even with a government flush with copper dollars. About a thousand students marched shoulder to shoulder in the nation’s capital, confronting police with tear gas and water canon in the upscale Providencia neighborhood. In Valparaiso, the port town where the national Congress is debating the controversial legislation, 10,000 teachers marched in peaceful demonstrations. (Reuters)

Chinese police have detained a retired teacher on subversion charges after she decried the state of many schools buildings that toppled during last month’s devastating earthquake, the Information Center for Human Rights said on June 18. The Hong Kong-based human rights group said police in southwest China’s Sichuan province detained Zeng Hongling for “inciting subversion” after she wrote essays arguing that corruption made a mockery of school building standards. The more than 70,000 people killed in the May 12 quake included thousands of children crushed in schools, which often collapsed even as nearby buildings stayed upright. (Reuters)

A Dutch court began hearings June 18 about whether survivors of a 1995 massacre of Muslims in Bosnia, Europe’s worst mass killing since World War II, can sue the UN for failing to prevent the slaughter. Serb forces killed more than 8,000 Muslims in one week in July 1995, overrunning the Srebrenica enclave declared a UN safe zone. Dutch peacekeepers overwhelmed by the Serbs’ superior force watched helplessly as the male victims were led away from their custody for execution. The Mothers of Srebrenica, survivors of the men and boys killed in 1995, are among those seeking compensation from the UN and the Dutch state in the civil lawsuit. (AP/MSNBC)

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said it is scaling up its emergency operation in Iraq to address the basic needs of more than 360,000 vulnerable children inside the strife-torn nation. After five years of conflict, more than 800,000 Iraqi children are unable to go to school and only 40 per cent can access safe water, according to the agency. Through its Immediate Action for Vulnerable Children and Family - or IMPACT program - UNICEF is aiming to assist over 360,000 children this year and ensure they have access to health care and are protected against malnutrition. (UN News Service)

The work of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is no longer going to be only about delivering food, the former “food aid agency” announced in its new strategy for the next three years (2008-2011); it would now bill itself as a “food assistance agency”. Oxfam’s Mousseau cautioned that while his agency “welcomed” the new range of objectives and activities, “We think this new plan should not necessarily translate into more activities for WFP but rather better quality and effectiveness of WFP’s work. (IRIN)

Last week, on February 12th, UNICEF issued a press release urging donors to give some $856 million to aid women and children and women who have been victimized by such emergencies as the conflicts in Chad and Kenya, to natural disasters such as the floods in Mozambique. Launching its Humanitarian Action Report 2008, UNICEF stated that the funds are to be used to provide urgent assistance in the areas of health, education and nutrition.

There are a number of countries in urgent need of assistance including; Kenya where there are some 150,000 children, half of the estimated population that have been driven from their homes in the recent violence. In Chad there is an estimated 30,000 of those forced from their homes, some 52,000, who are vulnerable, many of which are children and in need of immediate assistance. Other countries with considerable needs are the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), the CAR (Central African Republic), Pakistan and the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea.

However the greatest needs still remains in Sudan, where sexual and gender-based violence remains an immense concern as the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) continues to rise. There are some 2 million IDPs in Sudan, leaving camps stretched beyond capacity and aid agencies battling to meet the needs of those displaced as the conflict continues after nearly 5 years.

 

In reaction to the 230 page reports release, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, stated in a message to the Governing Council of the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Rome on February 13th that efforts must be greatly increased to tackle poverty, especially in the realm of agriculture.

“This must be the year the international community renews its commitment to the needs of the weak, the disadvantaged, those who have been excluded from the mainstream of global society.”

Repeating his request that 2008 be the year that the international community seriously and effectively seeks to address the plight of the “bottom billion”, the poorest of the world’s poor.

“Where there is no hope, one must invent hope.” - Albert Camus

Recently I have written a few posts on the situation in Sudan, and I was fortunate enough to attend the prescreening last night of Sand and Sorrow, which premiers on HBO on December 6th at 8pn ET. The event was held Monday, December 3, at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association Theater, in Washington, DC. HBO, in conjunction with Enough and Campus Progress, which is the student arm of the Center for American Progress.

Bodies scattered across the barren land, their outline remains long after they are gone. Blood red sand stained from the bodies who spilled their blood fighting for their land, homes, and futures. Scorched bodies lie like an invisible mass of death, a plague haunting only those who have been forced to bare witness. A plague with no cure in sight!

Images seared on your brain, in your mind, in your heart…They cannot escape your soul, forever etched in your memory, and this is exactly what the films producers want you to walk away with. The film does not gloss over the horrors that plague Sudan, but shows graphic images of the bodies of those who have been burned alive, the faces of those who still cling to life, and burned out villages among the arid land. The film tells the real stories of tragedy from those who have lived to bare witness to the acts of genocide and systematic rapes. For too long the cries of Sudan have fallen on deaf ears, and thus “Sand and Sorrow” “examines the international community’s ‘legacy of failure’ to respond to such profound crimes against humanity in the past.” “Never Again!”, are the words we have failed to live by time and time again. The films Director, Paul Freedman, said in response to our failures to act, even as the ten year anniversary of Rwanda unfolded, and our continuous failure to end the genocide in Sudan;

“We will do it slowly and we will call it Darfur.
Everybody knows, yet we don’t do anything….
we stand idly by and do nothing!”

Narrated by George Clooney, the film relies heavily on the powerful interviews of Samantha Power, John Pendergast and Nick Kristof. However in its brief 93 minutes the producers take you into an American High School, and Capital Hill, to give you some incite into the concern and frustration back home. In the film also follows a contingent of African Union peacekeeping forces in Darfur, which included Sabina Blay, an police woman from Ghana. Blay, organized a forum for rape victims at an IDP camp in Chad, seeing that many sought treatment for the sexual assaults that had been inflicted upon them. “What those children saw is something that human beings should never see”, Blay said with sadness in her eyes.

Burned bodies, utter carnage, terror and despair…that is the description of Darfur…the lives of millions of displaced children, many now without fathers, others the reminders of their mother violent attackers. But their suffering is far from over as those called to protect them are rendered helpless, only able to watch, video and document the horrors that continue to unfold before their very eyes. The innocent civilians of Darfur are far from safe, as under their watchful eyes the camps burn, and innocence continues to die.

Who will end the terror and sorrow in the sand? The US has condemned the acts in Sudan as genocide, yet still we sit sill, and no policies have yet been made. As South African President Mbeki said, “The solution doesn’t lie in making radical statements.” We can not condemn the crisis and then sit back and hope it will fix itself, for five years later we are only facing a new enemy of disease and hunger. Death and violence is common in every day life in Sudan, as IDP’s spend endless days in unknowing anguish, in fear and in hope, and day after day they wait alone and in silence.

“Human lives are heavy or light depending on where they are!” -John Pendergast

Following the film there was a Q&A discussion featuring John Prendergast, co-chair of the ENOUGH Project, and Director Paul Freedman, who also produced and directed “Rwanda—Do Scars Ever Fade?”. The discussion was moderated by Erica Williams the Issue Campaigns Manager at Campus Progress.

What do we do, well John Pendergast made a great statement which says it simply;

“There has to be a cost for committing Genocide…they want to be accepted internationaly . These guys change their behavior if pressured hard enough, lets pressure them!”

Campus Progress and Enough are encouraging people to have a Party with a Purpose . Gather your friends, family, students and classmates, then register your party and get discussion materials. Following the film you will have the opportunity to participate in ‘Join a Call’ with John Prendergast, Samantha Power and Nick Kristof after the film.

Related Articles and Links:
HBO buys Darfur docu ‘Sand and Sorrow’
Save Darfur
Smallest Witnesses

 

The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial 2007 Human Rights Award laureate was presented this morning to Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Abdallah, of Sudan. The event was opened by Kerry Kennedy, founder The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights.

“…champions of justice are imbued with moral courage. The cause is compelling, the enemies dangerous and powerful. But we are blessed by a handful of Davids, who, with little more than the slingshots of their hearts and nerve and sinew to support them, stand up against a world full of Goliaths. And the angels prevail.”

Dr. Mohammed Ahmed was among hundreds of human rights advocates nominated from across the globe, and he was chosen for his unwaivering dedication to help those in Darfur who need him the most. Dr. Ahmed’s helps those in his country that so many others have turned a blind eye to, the victims so many have been too cowardly to stand and fight for. He protects and heals those survivors of rape, torture, and violence in Darfur, who’s lives have been ripped apart by genocide. By working to see that their lives are restored, that they know the whole world didn’t turn it’s back on them, Dr. Ahmed, not only tirelessly administers medical assistance, he also prescribes hope to a nation.

Ms. Kennedy took a moment to avert the crowds attention to another RFK Human Rights laureate, who also stood fearlessly for the people of his own country. The room stood in applause as Ren Wanding, the 1994 award winner was introduced as a member of the audience. Ding was imprisoned in China for promoting a democratic government and the release of political prisoners, he was unable to accept the RFK award when it was presented to him.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, then took the stand to introduce this years laureate, speaking on how we must demand as an international community, that attacks on IDP camps and the people of Darfur end now, and that all parties held accountable for their safety and security. Senator Kennedy added that Congress must pass the Sudan Divestment Act. He then commented heavily on Dr. Ahmed’s selfless acts, giving light to the power of individual activism.

“As my brother Bobby so eloquently stated, ‘Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of those acts will be written the history of our generation.’”

Senator Kennedy, with the support and assistance of Ethel Kennedy, Robert Kennedy’s wife, presented the award.
With his arms raised high, his face awash in hope and peace, Dr. Ahmed took the award and stood strong for all of Sudan…he stood strong for all of mankind.

“…I never thought I’d come here today, not just as an individual RFK award winner, but as a citizen of Darfur…I also talk to you on behalf of my patients. The situation on the ground now is critical. The government of Sudan, who is my government, is really now targeting civilians.”

Dr. Ahmed asking for all of Sudan, placed the following plea before us today;

“I urge the United States and the international community to understand these camp liquidations for what they are: the final phase of the Sudanese government’s plan to exterminate the African tribes of Darfur. The fate of the people expelled from the camps is clear: they are left vulnerable to attacks by militias and left without access to the humanitarian aid they rely upon. Because of this situation, they will soon die of preventable disease, malnutrition, starvation or violence – unless they are protected!”

Dr. Ahmed serves as the Medical Treatment Director for the The Amel Center for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture in Sudan. The word Amel, means hope, which is exactly what the center gives all whom it treats, and to the country from which has given them both life and death. The center provides much needed treatment for women and young girls, who are often raped in front of their own families. “Females are systematically targeted…rape is used as a systematic weapon of war.”, but at the Amel clinic “we make them whole again…make society accept them. We cannot forget them!”, Dr. Ahmed stated. The clinic is a rarity in a country with little to no infrastructure, a country in desperate need of specialized services for widows, rape victims and children born of rape.

“We people in Darfur are badly in need of peace…we have started peace processes…the problem is that the government of Darfur, Sudan hates peace.” “We have to be consulted as the people of Darfur. Libya negotiation table failed as the people of Darfur where not consolidated.”

Kerry Kennedy once again took the stage, and with even more passion in her voice she took the microphone; “President Bashir thinks if there is no witnesses then it didn’t happen. He can only do this as long as we do not act.”, she said.
Ms. Kennedy then introduced Mia Farrow UN Goodwill Ambassador, mother of 14, actress, and activist, to speak on the situation in Sudan. Farrow has taken seven missions to Darfur in the last five years, and will take her eighth mission this coming January, her work and her words where nothing less then heart provoking. Showing photos from here previous journeys’ to Sudan, Farrow gave a face to the human suffering that has gone ignored for far too long by so many.

Farrow wasted no time, and did not begin her speech with a light and fluffy introduction, she simply aimed to bring the suffering of the people of Sudan to light, and her words hit hard;

“After the Nazi Holocaust, the world vowed “never again.” How obscenely disingenuous those fine words sound today. As we look at Rwanda, Darfur and eastern Chad, are we to conclude that “never again” applies only to white people?”

Farrow continued to speak strong, her words coming from her heart and from those who’s suffering she has witnessed first hand. “Almost five years of this suffering is five years too long! …what are we saying to the people of Darfur, only that they are completely dispensable.” Referring to “responsibility to protect”, the UN Security Council’s unanimous adoption of Resolution 1769 on Sudan, words which Farrow stated, “are proving to be as hollow as ‘never again’.” “we have failed Rwanda and we are failing Sudan…collectively and individually we have failed them.” Her voice full of passion, her eyes overwhelmed and verging on tears, as Farrow spoke on what she has seen, what she has heard, and most of all on what has failed to be done.

In closing Kerry Kennedy appeared to be speaking words broken by emotion, as she called the audience to do a traditional call for rain…the room filled with snaps, taps, stomps…and hope as the prayed for rain in Darfur. “With the hope of Dr. Ahmed, let us hope that in Darfur justice rains!”

The room was left in awe, and incited with passion, a passion one can only hope will lead one to stand-up and speak out for those who’s cries have long since fallen on deaf ears. Let us not turn our backs for one more day on the innocent woman, children and men of Darfur. To Dr. Ahmed the answer is simple, “Either protect the people of Darfur, or see Rwanda again. No one wants to see Rwanda again!”

Resources and Documents:

See all the RFK Human Rights Award Laureates here.
Release: Darfuri Doctor and Rights Defender to Receive 2007 RFK Human Rights Award
Speech: Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Abdallah at 2007 RFK Human Rights Award Ceremony
Speech: Kerry Kennedy at 2007 RFK Human Rights Award Ceremony
Speech: Senator Edward Kennedy at 2007 RFK Human Rights Award Ceremony
Speech: Mia Farrow at 2007 RFK Human Rights Award Ceremony
Washington Post article: Physician Honored For Work In Darfur
Voices of Genocide Prevention Podcast: Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Abdallah
AP Article: Doctor warns of Darfur camp expulsions
AP Article: Darfur Doctor Wins RFK Award
Voice of America, Webchat Transcript: Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Abdallah
Video from C-SPAN: Dr. Mohammed Ahmed at National Press Club Briefing
Interpress News Service article: Sudan: Civilians Driven Into Camps, Then the Bush
Washington Times article: Embassy Row (featuring Dr. Mohammed Ahmed)
Sudan Divestment Task Force
Mia Farrow’s Blog and photos on Darfur
Save Darfur

*please note some quoted statements, may differ slightly from they typed speeches in the links, as they where submitted prior to the event, and some quotes are taken at the event it’s self.

Imagine one who is the “only doctor for nearly half a million people”, and who also teaches, runs a clinic, and still manages to be on the counsel of his tribe. No, this is not a character in a movie, nor an action hero, but a simple doctor and gentle man who only wants to serve his people in their time of need in any way he can.

This evening the American Center for Progress hosted, “What’s Really Happening on the Ground” with Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Abdullah. On Friday, November 16th, Dr. Ahmed will be awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, and this week in DC he is taking time to share the situation and suffering in Darfur. The event began with Dr. Karen Hirschfeld, the Sudan Coordinator of Physicians for Human Rights, who nominated Dr. Ahmed for the Award. PFH was the first NGO to call Darfur a genocide and have been promoting Darfur since 2004.

 

“Without dedication you have nothing, without motivation you can do nothing.”

The first in his village to become a doctor, graduating from Khartoum University Medical School in 1976, Dr. Ahmed now sees no less than a 100 patents a day in his home, he is a mentor to aspiring physicians and healthcare workers…he is a man who will never be found without a smile upon his face and hope in his heart. He spoke how he had now been able to see his own mother for some five years, but that was just the way it was to be he said, for he had to do what he could and had to do….his sacrifice to him seems small, as he looks daily at the greater picture of life, death and suffering.

Dr. Ahmed asked, “So are we going to see Rwanda again?”, a question so many find themselves fearing the answer is ‘yes’, as we have already acted too late. Despite our blind eyes over the last five years, the people of Sudan are sill crying out for our help. Dr. Ahmed said the priorities which need to be taken, are number one is the protection of the Sudanese civilians, two the international community must take a stand, three the people of the US must start to support Sudan, four the people of Africa and Asia too must commit their support.

Dr. Ahmed once walked days to reach school and now people often walk days to see him. Receiving medical treatment in Sudan is no small feat, as the country only has two teaching hospitals, and in order to receive treatment one must go to the police to get a form 8, which must then be filled out with a full doctors report to get any aid. “If you are African there is no way you will get this.” Under the mandate a doctor can only treat those with this form, and thus many doctors have been arrested and harassed. The government doesn’t want this type of work to continue, and Dr. Ahmed is no stranger to these harassments, yet in his eyes one sees he is a stranger to fear. His work is enough to burden even the strongest team, he carries the weight alone and on his shoulders the load looks light. When asked by an audience member, “Where did you get your courage?”, Dr. Ahmed replied,

“If you are always suffering you will learn something…this will not abide me from doing the right thing.”

Dr. Mohammed spoke with warmth and openness, his frankness was both refreshing and heartbreaking. Though he spoke of endless suffering and tragedy, he also spoke of hope and optimism, he told not the stories of victims, but the stories of survivors. Though he stated that currently the Sudanese face “really miserable conditions and a lot of challenges, but with optimism and desire we can accomplish!.” Peace is the only option for Sudan, “To continue war will not help any!” The answer to him is simple; “You must protect civilians first or tomorrow, you will not find them. If you don’t protect the civilians, who is going to tell you what is happening…who will you unite without civilians?”

Related news articles on Dr. Mohammed:
Doctor warns of Darfur camp expulsions
African Doctor Wins RFK Award
Sudan: Civilians Driven Into Camps, Then the Bush
Sudanese Physician and PHR Partner, Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Abdallah, Receives 2007 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award Today in Washington, D.C.
RFK Memorial Foundation Press Release
The Amel Center for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture in Sudan
Sudan Journal, by PHR Deputy Director Susannah Sirkin
PHP Durfar Survival Campaign
Interview: Dr. Mohammed-Ahmed Abdallah, medical director of the Amel Center for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture in Darfur, speaks with Jerry Fowler, at the Holocaust Museums, Voices on Genocide Prevention, about the current situation on the ground in Darfur.

Many eyes and ears have been on Chad as the child trafficking case gets underway. The children, most of which proved to have family, the majority of which contained at least one parent, have been left in limbo. The children who have all been placed in protective custody of the Chadian Social Services, may have to wait months before they are returned to their families. Many of the ‘Kidnap’ children may not get home ever, as it is too difficult to determine their backgrounds.

Legal framework a hindrance in ‘child-trafficking’ case in Sudan and the Congo. Chadian and UN officials say the absence of a child trafficking law in Chad will hamper efforts to prosecute members of the French charity Zoe’s Ark, who were arrested in the country while trying to take 103 children to reported host families in France. The lack of a law may pose many issues in prosecuting this case, the largest being trying the case under a lower offence. The case which is to be tried as an abduction case, will be much harder to prove, than that of human trafficking.

“There are no other penalties in the abduction chapter [of the criminal code] stronger than the one we chose. Our penal code is limited. It doesn’t cover [many] infractions. There is a gap”, said Ahmad Daoud Chari, state prosecutor in Abéché, the eastern Chadian town where the members of the association were arrested.

The failure of the law in this case only highlights the need of so many states and countries to put into place specific laws against human trafficking and slavery. Four Chadian nationals have appeared in court in Ndjamena, charged in connection with the attempted airlift of 103 children to France. The four, officials from the border town of Tine, were charged with “fraud and complicity to kidnap minors.” Six French members of the charity Zoe’s Ark, three Spaniards and a Belgian are in jail awaiting trail. A French lawyer, Gilbert Collard, arrived in Ndjamena Nov. 6 to take charge of the charity workers’ defense (BBC). While release was given to the three French journalists and four Spanish airline stewardesses detained under suspected implication in the illegal evacuation of the 103 children.

The case has had the world watching and debating the question of international adoption, especially from Africa, which many have already been left with speculation of too loose of adoption laws. The case has now promoted many other countries to look at the situation in their own country. The Chad arrests prompt suspension of international child adoption, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). “I have taken this decision as a precautionary measure,” Aimé Emmanuel Yoka, the Congolese minister in charge of justice and human rights, said on 1 November. A 2006 study, showed that approximately 2,000 children where victims of cross-border trafficking, conducted by the Congolese government, the justice and peace commission and the UN Children’s Fund.

While the children of this debacle sit in wait, the debate rages on, and we sit in astonishment and anticipation for the outcome of this case. What the outcome will be for the those accused of trafficking is still a long ways off, and one can only hope that this case will bring much needed attention to lack of laws against human trafficking and slavery.

The ‘cycle of abuse’, we’ve all heard the phrase a million times, yet I often think we forget what it means. It does not only mean the cycle, or stages, in which abuses are carried out. A child who grows up in an abusive home, is sexually abused, is a victim of trafficking, a child soldier…unfortunately the list of grave injustices against children goes on and on, is never able to escape the cycle of abuse. Therefore a child of abuse is at an increased risk to become an abuser, victim of sexual assault, become socially isolated, turn to drugs and alcohol, and various other form of self destructive behavior or susceptible to varying forms of continued abuse. We, as an international community must work to ensure that all children have been given their right to protection, both to prevent such abuses, and to assist the abused in their recovery. Therefore substantial physical and psychological care must be given to victims.

No matter what you say, or what you do, it all leaves a mark on the children around you. A child who witnesses violence and war, is forever scared by what they see. A child who hears nothing but negative, cannot erase the voice that says, “you can’t”. But the child who witnesses peace and love, will carry that with them forever and continue to share hope for the future.

We cannot erase the mistakes of the past, but we can leave a bigger impression on a child with hope, than with despair.

The war in Bosnia began in March 1992 and did not end until November 1995, the worst tragedy of the Bosnian war was the three day massacre in the city of Srebrinca, in eastern Bosnia, from July 11 -14, 1995. In April 1993, the United Nations declared Srebrenica a UN safe area, and it was guarded by a small unit operating under the mandate of United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), the soldiers were Dutch and at the time of the massacre only numbered around 30, however the town was captured by the Army of Republika Srpska. The Srebrinca Genocide still haunts many, as the bodies of the estimated 8,000 men and boys that where killed, are still continuing to be identified. The Srebrinca genocide was also the largest single genocide in Europe, or ethnic cleansing, since World War II, and one more tragedy which the world turned a blind eye to. The main target of the massacre was Bosniak (Muslim Bosnian’s) boys and men, who’s ages ranged from 16-60 years old, however a number of younger boys, women, elderly and children, where also murdered during the bloody three day siege.

The story of the war in Bosnia, and the pursuing genocide in Srebrinca, is both complex and simple, for the town once bore little evidence of Serb nationalism, ethnic or religious tensions. With a Muslim majority at the time of the war, around 70%, the 1991 census has it at almost 64%, the town soon became almost entirely Serb following the massacre.

The marking of the 12th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide began on Sunday, July 8, with a three-day march from Nezuk in Sapna Municipality to Potocari, over the same route Srebrenica citizens used to escape to Tuzla in 1995. On July 11, a mass burial of approximately 450 identified bodies will take place.

BBC Coverage of the March on July 8, 2007

Many Srebrenica citizens who temporarily moved to Sarajevo in April have made the decission to evacuate their tent settlement by the end of the week, most are planning to return to Srebrenica.  Entity governments will take part in financing Fund for Support to Missing Persons’ Families. The Bosnia Herzegovina (BiH) Missing Persons Institute (MPI) hopes that identifying missing persons’ remains will continue to increase, will now go much faster.  The BiH Council of Ministers has also adopted some proposals that will assist in implementing programs regarding abusive police officers, the list was sent by the United Nations Security Council President, and the BiH Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees, has been asked to forward the statement to all relevant institutions.

Genocide is a crime against humanity, and no one can escape its effects, but the ones who suffer the most from genocide are the children. Remember the fatherless children, the mother’s still morning their sons, many who where only young children.

As this article does not delve deep into the history of the war in Bosnia, or the Srebrinca Genocide, the following BBC in depth report, which aired on #, is well worth watching and will give you most of the background information you need. Unfortunately a full clip was unable to be obtained and it is in 5 parts, each running around 9 minutes.

Links:
Dutch commander says U.N., NATO abandoned peacekeepers
Srebrinca Genocide Blog
‘Srebrenica’– Code Word to Silence Critics of US Policy in the Balkans
The Real Srebrinca Genocide Blogspot
Lessons of the Srebrinca Genocide
Human Rights Watch - Bosnia-Hercegovina Genocide Conviction for Srebrenica
Srebrenica Genocide Mass Graves

The Soviet Propaganda poster above, translates to say, “Keep your tongue behind your teeth” or Keep quiet, which to me has always summed up what we have done about communism and the victims to whom it befell. Since it’s Bolshevik infancy, the world has watched with silent eyes and still tongues, as it took hold of countless victims.

Today, June 12, 2007, marked a poignant day in our collective histories, as for the first time the victims of communism around the world have received an international memorial of their own. 16 years after the fall of the USSR, 18 years after the collapse of the Berlin wall, 48 years since Castro took Power, 31 years since the death of Mao…communism is just history to many.  However for some it is the nightmare that still haunts them long after its last breath, and for so many others it is still part of their daily lives, as they can not escape it’s hold.

Associated Press Photo

Excitement was in the air for so many when it was announced that the memorial would be completed and placed in the nations capital, the center of world political influence to many, but the unveiling, though groundbreaking, was for some only a small step in the right direction. The statue stood before you, and regardless of its beauty one could not escape noticing its size was not at all grand, its placement was not prominent, and its effect was still unnoticed to the masses. As before the victims of communism still go unnoticed by the general populous, just ask most anyone walking down the street how many victims of communism there where, or if Stalin purged more than Hitler, and you will see instantly that there is much work to do to honor the victims of communism, and to aid those who continue to fight against its relentless grasp.

The memorial dedicated was opened by President George W. Bush, the date chosen was the 20th anniversary of President Ronald Reagen’s speech to tear down the Berlin wall. The Victims of Communism Memorial dedication service included Represenatives Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.). Other events later in the day include a roundtable discussion with Richard Pipes, Paul Hollander, and Harry Wu; and a dinner with William F. Buckley and Elena Bonner (Andrei Sakharov’s wife).

Joseph Stalin once said, “The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.”, ironically true and we humans by nature pay little attention to large numbers, with the exception of the Holocaust, but are often moved by the story of one man.  And thus for Stalin little attention was paid to the massive number of his victims, and to this very day the statistics on his killings are nothing more than a number, a number that most don’t know exist, or a number that in their minds is seriously deflated.

Please note the memorial is not the only memorial to victims of communism, but the only international memorial to all victims of communism. One objective of the memorial is to educate children of the realities of communism, both past and present. Children suffered, and continue to suffer a great deal under totalitarian regimes, as communism effects all aspects of children’s rights. A child may receive an education under communism, but an education under an isolated regime is not a true education. Millions of children under communism were ripped away from their families, endured forced famines, forced into harsh child labor, denied use of their native languages, and where removed from their homes.

Links and Related Articles:
Victims of Communism Memorial
White House: President Bush Attends Dedication of Victims of Communism Memorial
Memorial Day: Honoring the Victims of Communism
Bush opens victims-of-communism memorial: Reagan anniversary
Bush Pays Tribute to Victims of Communism