This is x-posted from the International Adoption Blog, where it is the second part of a longer essay on Darfur. Here's the link if you'd like to read the whole piece.

This may not appear to have much to do with older parenting, but as we are making this world for our children as we go along I feel strongly that our horizons and boundaries must stretch to encompass and embrace the bigger world. To ignore a genocide occurring in our children's childhoods seems a failure of magnificent proportions.


By the summer of 2004, 50,000 to 80,000 people had been killed and at least a million had been driven from their homes, causing a major humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

On the 18th of September 2004, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1564, which called for a Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to assess the Sudanese conflict.

On the 31st of January 2005, the UN released a 176-page report that said, among other things: ... that while there were mass murders and rapes, they could not label it as genocide because "genocidal intent appears to be missing".

At this moment, there are 7000 African Union peace keepers on the ground in Darfur. They're set to go home in fifteen days. It is predicted by some who understand the situation clearly that their exit will result in 100,000 deaths a month, starting pretty much immediately.

The government of Sudan is saying they will not allow UN troops, or any others, into the country when the AU leaves. The leaders say they are refusing to be "re-colonized".

So, what is the UN doing? NOTHING.

Well, that's not completely true. They are talking, and listening to movie stars.

I applaud George Clooney's efforts. He's doing what he can to get those useless UN-ers to do something ... anything ... and because he has name recognition, the media is even paying attention. Great.

And he didn't pussyfoot around much, either.

This genocide will be on your watch. How you deal with it will be your legacy, your Rwanda, your Cambodia, your Auschwitz.

We were brought up to believe that the U.N. was formed to ensure that the Holocaust could never happen again. We believe in you so strongly. We need you so badly. We have come so far. We're -- we're one yes away from ending this. And, if not the U.N., then who?

His father, Nick Clooney, is contributing to the conversation with articles and appearances.

Forgive my pessimism, but I suspect the UN has pretty thick skin, and is more than able to handle this and all criticism as it sits back on its useless haunches, digests its big, fancy meals and cranks up its PR machine one notch or so.

Listen to this:

In 2005, UNICEF received over $53 million in contributions for Darfur, meeting approximately 43 percent of total requirements. As of April 2006, UNICEF has received about $1.85 million in contributions from government donors, while UNICEF’s National Committees have raised approximately $966,000.

This means UNICEF has a total of just over $2.81 million in donor resources against its Darfur target of $89 million in 2006 – so its programmes in the region are just 3.1 per cent funded moving into the second quarter of the year.

That's the UN's own justification for doing squat!

Anyone want to venture just how much they spend in travel allowance? cars? lunch? Those numbers are not so easy to come by, but you can bet they make the Darfur budget look pretty puny.

So, as Mr. Clooney so elegantly put it ...

If not the UN, who?

I shudder.

There are rallies to be held all over the country and the world today in an effort to put a boot to the butt of the UN and other governments, to try to get something ... anything ... happening. People with first-hand experience with genocide will demand to be heard. In addition to other places still feeling the effects of man's inhumanity on a massive scale, there will be a big gathering in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I wish we could be there.

If you're near NYC, here's a link with info on the rally there.

For details of what's happening in other cities, see this link.

For a list of "Ten things you can do right now", check out the Genocide Intervention Network.