One Night, One Voice: An Advocacy Night to End
Violence against Women in Darfur

Members of Defiance College STAND will host a gathering on Thursday, February 26 to press for an end to violence against Darfuri women. The group is slated to view the nationwide premier of a Save Darfur Coalition-produced short film titled Violence Against Women and the Darfur Genocide. Following the showing, participants will take part in a discussion of the crisis in Darfur and the impact on women and families. The Defiance event is one of many such events being held nationwide this month. The program will begin at 8 p.m. in the Serrick Campus Center on the DC campus. The event is free and open to the public.

The Sudanese government and its allied janjaweed militias continue to conduct a targeted campaign of sexual violence against women and girls in Darfur. International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said in his request for an arrest warrant for Sudanese President al-Bashir that “rape is an integral part of the pattern of destruction” in Darfur.

“One Night, One Voice” seeks to engage community members in advocating for specific steps that will help halt this endemic violence. These steps include securing U.S. funding for gender and sensitivity training for Darfur’s civilian protection force, and fully implementing U.N. Security Council Resolution 1820 – which works to protect civilians from the use of sexual violence in armed conflict and post-conflict situations.

In addition to these advocacy steps, participants will have an opportunity to send messages of personal support directly to the women of Darfur.

Defiance College STAND is a chapter of STAND, a Student Anti-Genocide Coalition of over 600 high school and college chapters dedicated to ending genocide, specifically in Darfur, but also in areas like Burma and the Congo.

February 11, 2009