PrintWashington — In a full-page Manchester Union Leader advertisement, five hundred New Hampshire primary voters pressed both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates to outline a clear policy to end the suffering in Darfur and to make preventing future atrocities a priority in campaigns. The advertisement is the latest phase of a multi-faceted campaign by Darfur advocates — including the Save Darfur Coalition, the Genocide Intervention Network, American Jewish World Service, the ENOUGH Project, and STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition — that includes on-the-ground advocacy, billboard advertisements and grassroots outreach.
The advertisement can be viewed here: http://www.savedarfur.org/page/-/adpdfs/SignOnAdNH.pdf.
"We, the undersigned New Hampshire primary voters, call on you to: commit to outlining and implementing a clear policy to address the crisis in Darfur during your first 100 days in office; make ending the genocide in Darfur — and the prevention of future mass atrocities — a priority of your campaign; and insist that President Bush engage in full-time, active diplomacy to end the genocide," reads the advertisement.
Today's advertisement is a part of a larger effort to engage candidates on Darfur in early primary states. Ask the Candidates (www.AskTheCandidates.org) is providing local activists in Iowa and elsewhere with the tools necessary to ensure that Darfur is a political priority in the 2008 election and that the next president is committed to stopping and preventing genocide. Additionally, Save Darfur's Voter Education Project (www.savedarfur.org/candidates) urged declared presidential candidates to articulate their plans to help the people of Darfur by filming a YouTube op-ed and including a Darfur platform on their websites. To date, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.; former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.; Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.; and Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M. have completed the YouTube op-eds.
"New Hampshire primary voters — along with activists across the country — are making crystal clear to the presidential candidates that having a plan to bring peace and security to the people of Darfur is a precondition to taking the office of president," said Allyn Brooks-LaSure, spokesperson for the Save Darfur Coalition.
In addition to the asks outlined in the advertisement, voters are demanding that the next president work with the international community to impose targeted sanctions on the Sudanese government; commit to upholding our financial obligations to a U.N. peacekeeping force; deploy a high-level diplomatic team to work full-time in the region. They are also asking the next president to divest personal holdings from companies bankrolling the genocide in Darfur; support the International Criminal Court by providing declassified intelligence on those who have been indicted for committing genocide or crimes against humanity; and ensure that the fragile peace agreement in Southern Sudan does not unravel and extend to the rest of the country.
Ask the Candidates is a non-partisan campaign to make Darfur a priority in the 2008 presidential elections. Accessible online at www.AskTheCandidates.org, ATC provides citizens with the tools to foster a serious discussion on Darfur with the 2008 presidential candidates. ATC is a joint initiative of the ENOUGH Project, Genocide Intervention Network, STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition and the Save Darfur Coalition.
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