Defending Defenders: Update: Deteriorating Situation in Sudan

WELCOME

In line with my work here with the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP) and in line with my passion and studies, I will visit a different theme or area of relevance to try and tie together our weekly blogs with relevant issues in Human Rights and Human Rights defence. I hope you will find them interesting, insightful and inspiring. I encourage you to visit the various links, books, documentaries and sub-sections posted as I will change them periodically to bring new news on current issues around the world as well as give tribute to those who are engaged in the fight to defend human Rights.
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter" Martin Luther King Jr. US black civil rights leader (1929-1968)

Sunday 22 May 2011

Update: Deteriorating Situation in Sudan

I post this update with regret and heartfelt grief over the deteriorating situation in the Abyei region of Sudan. This comes at a critical time as Peace talks and efforts for a peaceful secession scheduled for July 9th is only weeks away. The secession that is to take place comes after civil war has plagued Sudan for decades. As a result of the new turmoil in Abyei, an oil rich region which is being fought over due to its resource wealth, another 20,000 civilians have been displaced just over the past few days. PLEASE, I urge you to learn more about this situation. Knowledge is power and the more the international community is aware of this situation, the more attention it has, perhaps the more constrained those who are resisting a peaceful opportunity for an Independent South Sudan will be discouraged.
LINKS:
VOANews.com: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Sudan-Government-Cancels-UN-Meetings-Captures-Disputed-Abyei-Town-122425029.html
AlJazeera: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/05/201152121531778931.html
BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13487864

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UNHCR - Forced Displacement

"While Africans consitute only 12 per cent of the global population, at the beginning of 2005, more than a third (i.e. 2.7 million) of the world's 9.5 million refugees and around hald of the world's internally displaced persons are to be found in Africa. The total number of displaced people in Africa thus stands in the region of 15 million" Research Paper No. 126 by Jeff Crisp http://www.unhcr.org/44b7b758f.html

"In 2010, IDMC monitored internal displacement in 21 African countries... In these 21 countries, 11.1 million people were internally displaced by conflict and violence at the end of 2010..." http://www.internal-displacement.org/8025708F004CE90B/(httpRegionPages)/B3BA6119B705C145802570A600546F85?OpenDocument

"As at April 2010, there were 4,345,275 internally dis-placed persons (IDPs) in the 7 out of 10 countries in Eastern Africa. [...] UNHCR estimates that more than 100,000 people were displaced from their residences in Mogadishu during the first quarter of 2010." Relief Web (2010) Report by UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs http://reliefweb.int/node/353363

The Giving Heart

Thank you to those who have inquired about donating to Pasha and her family in Lake Bunyonyi.

I am in the process of setting up a "trust account" for the family and an online site so you can communicate directly with the children. I am new to this and want to make it comprehensive and transparent but also want to ensure that there is a measure in place to ensure the money goes where it is required (school fees etc.) So I am doing a bit of liasioning and will keep in touch.

You kindess and generosity is endlessly appreciated and I will ensure to maintain communication.

These children and Pasha are beautiful people. And I think with just the slightest charity, they could go on to be strong adults.

Kindest Regards,

Lynsey

The Giving Heart

Thank you to those who have inquired about donating to Pasha and her family in Lake Bunyonyi.
I am in the process of setting up a "trust account" for the family and an online site so you can communicate directly with the children. I am new to this and want to make it comprehensive and transparent but also want to ensure that there is a measure in place to ensure the money goes where it is required (school fees etc.) So I am doing a bit of liasioning and will keep in touch.
You kindess and generosity is endlessly appreciated and I will ensure to maintain communication.
These children and Pasha are beautiful people. And I think with just the slightest charity, they could go on to be strong adults.
Kindest Regards,
Lynsey

Books and Documentaries

SOLD. A Child Trafficked http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi503749913/
Invisible Children http://freedocumentaries.org/int.php?filmID=114
http://freedocumentaries.org (Site for FREE Documentaries)
Shake Hands with the Devil http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaHAXnOGj9k
Architects of Poverty by Moeletsi Mbeki (Book)
Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo (Book)
The Masque of Africa by V.S. Naipaul (Book)
Why Africa is Poor: and what Africans can do about it by Greg Mills (Book)
Half the Sky by Nicholas Kirstof and Sheryl Wudunn (Book)