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Bianca Jagger's Appeal

Ljubljana, 01/19/2006 | press release

"The President of the Republic of Slovenia Janez Drnovšek has asked me to join Slovenia's endeavours to organise an urgent campaign to stop the Genocide in Darfur. I along with many distinguished personalities who have joined under the slogan "The World for Darfur", will appeal to the conscience of the international community to take effective actions to avoid the “next Rwanda” and come to the rescue of Darfur. We will sign the appeal made by the President which will be publish in the international media. Some of us will also join the President at tomorrow's meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan.

President Janez Drnovšek has brought the genocide in Darfur to the attention of the Secretary General of the United Nations and the world's leading politicians. He has demanded urgent action by the Security Council, the UN and other international organisations. In addition, the president has proposed that a major international conference be organised next February to address the unfolding Genocide in Darfur. He has invited the UN Secretary General, the President and Secretary-General of the African Union, the President of the Council of the European Union, the President of the Commission, the Secretary-General of NATO, along with representatives of all G 8 countries, at the level of foreign ministers. He also hopes to include government representatives from China, Japan, Australia and Germany, as well as Norway which has been very active in Sudan. He has requested that the Presidents of Sudan and Chad attend. The Slovene President has been invited by the President of Sudan to visit Khartoum in mid-February, and in this time he has also proposed a meeting to the President of Chad.

More than ten years have elapsed since the Rwandan Genocide and the leaders of the international community are ignoring the “lessons learned”. We can remember the apologies made by many prominent leaders conscious of their own culpability and betrayal to the Rwanda people; we can also remember their pledges of “never again”. I had hoped that the recognition of their past mistakes was going to make it easier to prevent future genocides. However, once again leaders of the international community are ignoring the “lessons learned” in Rwanda and have turned their back on Darfur.

I join my voice to the appeal of President Janez Drnovšek, urging leaders of the international community to prevent “the next Rwanda” and take immediate and effective actions to stop the senseless killings, rapes and suffering of thousands of innocent civilians."

Bianca Jagger,
Is a member of the Executives Director’s Leadership Council of Amnesty International and the Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador.

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