Updated Template!: Send a Letter to Congress Expressing Your Support For Our Cause

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Stand With the People of Sudan

[Your Name]

[City], [State] [Postal Code]

Phone: [Your Phone] Fax: [Your Fax]

E-Mail: [Your E-Mail]

Date: [Insert date here]

The Honorable [Name of Elected Representative/Senator]

[Address of Elected Representative/Senator’s Office]

**You can find the contact information for your elected representative at Congress.org.(Please ensure to remove this message from your finalized letter)**

Dear [Representative or Senator xxxxx],

As [a] member[s] of your constituency, [I am\We are] gravely concerned about the suffering of the people of Sudan as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis continues to worsen with each passing day. We appreciate that you and many members of Congress spoke out against the genocide in Darfur and called for accountability in Sudan, however, today Sudan and more specifically Darfur is going through another genocide yet the world remains silent. Therefore, I am reaching out with urgency to ask you to be a voice for the people of Sudan, particularly Darfur, as atrocities continue to increase. [I/We] need you to stand with the people of Sudan by asking the Trump Administration to take serious measures and lead the U.N. Security Council to immediately deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid and authorize civilian protection forces to protect the vulnerable and hold perpetrators of atrocities accountable.

It has been more than two years since the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) began the vicious war, with death and destruction devastating the entire country resulting in a catastrophic crisis that has killed over 150,000 civilians and forcibly displaced 12 million people. The war is now entering its third year with violence and systemic attacks on innocent civilians escalating at an alarming rate with no end insight. The violence, which began in Khartoum, rapidly spread across the country, with Darfur experiencing the most devastating atrocities, including the ethnic slaughter of the Masalit people and other indigenous African communities. The RSF continues to occupy, indiscriminately shell, and loot civilians’ homes, using rape, sexual, and gender-based violence, and blockage of aid as tactics of war. The SAF consistently employs heavy artillery shelling, air strikes, and indiscriminate attacks; predominantly targeting civilians’ homes, markets, essential public services, and evacuation routes. The U.N. fact-finding mission has reported that serious international crimes have continued to be perpetrated by both the RSF and SAF, destroying essential public services. Moreover, the report confirmed the occurrence of widespread conflict-related sexual violence, including mass rape and sexual slavery.

Darfur has experienced the most horrific bloodshed, with 15,000 people having been slaughtered in El Geneina, a city in West Darfur, alone. Ethnically motivated massacres of the Masalit and other indigenous African communities in Darfur have left a trail of death and devastation. Recent attacks in Zamzam Camps and Elfasher, located in North Darfur, killed over 500 people in just two days and permanently impacted the lives of over 600,000 of the most vulnerable internally
displaced. Women and girls as young as 10 years of age have been abducted and raped countless times by RSF forces on ethnic bases, sometimes, in front of their families in an attempt to break the families’ will and destroy their dignity. Both the RSF and SAF have systematically used starvation as a weapon of war against civilian populations, leaving countless to die in silence and nearly 26 million to contend with the spreading famine. Recent attacks in Port Sudan on the International Airport and fuel facilities have created an unprecedented challenge to the survival of millions. As a result of this devastating crisis, more than two million people, most of whom are women and children, have been forced to cross the borders into neighboring countries and live in deplorable and dangerous conditions. Today, Sudan is in the midst of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis yet the world watches in silence.

Given the ongoing and escalating atrocities, [I/We] urge you to stand with the people of Sudan, both in ending the longest genocide in our history and in securing a safe, just, democratic future for the people of Sudan. [I/We] urge you to be our voice in Congress to advocate for the administration to adopt the following priorities and to encourage your colleagues to do the same. We appreciate your kind consideration of the following recommendations:

Urge the Trump administration to make Sudan a priority focus and take an atrocities prevention approach in Sudan.
Call for urgent action to deliver humanitarian aid for all in need, including aid airdrops in Darfur.
Lead the UNSC to authorize civilian protection, especially those in areas under siege in North Darfur; and to enable humanitarian agencies to operate.
Pressure the warring parties, RSF and SAF, for immediate, unconditional ceasefires and call for an end to the attacks on civilians, humanitarian workers, and vital infrastructure, including hospitals and aid convoys.
Impose immediate targeted sanctions with travel bans on parties obstructing humanitarian efforts and perpetuating violence.
Call for the expansion of the existing arms embargo in Darfur to the entirety of Sudan to stop the supply of weapons, ammunition, and other support to the warring parties and prevent the further escalation of violence.
Impose accountability measures to hold warring parties accountable for past and present crimes committed in Darfur and Sudan.
Stop U.S. arms sales to the U.A.E. and hold the U.A.E. accountable for aiding and abetting the genocide in Sudan.

The people of Sudan, Sudanese Americans, and all members of your constituency look to you in their time of desperation to be their voice. Your support saves lives and gives us confidence that the U.S. will not ignore its obligation under international law to condemn genocide and hold perpetrators accountable. [I/We] look up to you and kindly urge you to be [my/our] voice and the voice for those voiceless in Sudan by supporting these immediate actions.

Thank you for your kind consideration.

Sincerely,

The undersigned

In partnership with Darfur Women Action Group

www.darfurwomenaction.org