UK Holocaust Centre (Nottingham)
25 June 2004
press release
Today the UK Holocaust Centre near Nottingham came to a halt to make a statement about the threat of genocide in Darfur, western Sudan, where a million people are predicted to perish if there is not an intervention to save them. Staff and visitors gathered in the centres memorial hall to hear a statement from a survivor of the Holocaust, a survivor of the genocide in Rwanda and an exile from Darfur.
It is the first time since the Holocaust Centre opened in 1995 that such an action has been taken. It was created as a memorial to the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis between 1939 and 1945. The museum and gardens are open to the public and five hundred students visit the centre each week.
Following the lead of the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, which also came to a standstill today, the UK centre, known as Beth Shalom, has said that it must make a clear statement about the killing in Darfur.
Speaking out
The centres founder, Stephen Smith, said that the memorial exists to remind us that every life counts. No-one deserves to be killed because of who they are. We learn from the Holocaust that when people are under threat of genocide we cannot stand by and say nothing. The world was silent about the murder of six million Jews in Europe under the Nazis. We did not save people in Rwanda, when we could have. Now we must speak out, and act, for the people in Darfur.
Sue Pearson escaped from Nazi-occupied Prague as a child, and settled in Sheffield. Most of her family were murdered in the Holocaust. Six million Jews were put to death in six years. Why not me? Because one man realised he could make a difference, stated Sue Pearson, whose rescue was organised along with that of hundreds of other children by stockbroker Nicholas Winton. Its not too late to make a difference in Darfur today, if we choose to. But if we dont, then just like my family and my childhood friends, many more will die.
Beatha Uwazaninka, now in her early twenties, survived a hundred days of bloodshed in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. Now living in the UK, she said, I saw family and friends being murdered. The United Nations saw also. I saw their blue helmets and the journalists, but they saved so few. Everybody came after it was all over to do their projects. Nations around the world did not care enough to stop it.
Abdellatife Ismail had to flee Darfur in 1999 after he was imprisoned for speaking out about discrimination. Now he is Director of the Darfur Centre for Human Rights and Development in London. His brother has been killed in the ethnic cleansing in Darfur; some of his family are refugees in Egypt, and the fate of others, he simply does not know. They are among the million internally displaced in the region, now at risk of starvation. In one day in my village, the militias killed 68 people, he said. Now they have destroyed over 3000 villages. The Government arms the militias, and they come to kill and to rape. Those who are displaced sometimes turn away food aid, because those who receive food are attacked again. Hundreds of thousands more lives will be lost unless security and full access for aid are provided fast. When I speak of this, and hear the words of those who survived the Holocaust and Rwandas genocide, I am overcome with emotion because I know that my people too are dying.
Killing and rape
A spokesman for the Aegis Trust, the UK based genocide prevention organisation, stated This was an important statement from the Holocaust Centre. In the West people get used to hearing of war and famine in Africa. But the scale of the threat to people in Darfur has reached a level not witnessed in the past decade, not since the genocide in Rwanda.
IN Western Sudan for the past six months, Arab militia have burned villages down, raped women and killed civilians. So far a million people have been driven into the desert to perish from starvation and disease. The government of Sudan has supported the militia with aerial bombing of the villages.
The militia, the Sudanese government and the Darfurians are all Muslims, but religion does not play a strong a role in this conflict; it is driven by racism. All the victims are black Africans. The leaders controlling Western Sudan maintain they are inferior to the Arabs.
United Nations must do more
The British Government has supported Oxfam and Doctors without Borders to assist the refugees that can be reached, but Aegis Trust say this is not enough.
This is not a natural disaster, said Dr James Smith, Director of the Aegis Trust. It is a humanitarian crisis that has been engineered. The perpetrators must be brought to account. They should be deterred. Instead they continue their destruction, content in the knowledge that someone will mop up the dreadful mess and suffering. At best this is a crime against humanity. At worst it is a threat of genocide, according to international law.
Smith told the staff and members of the public in the Holocaust Centre: The UN Security Council was created after the Second World War and the Holocaust, just for a time such as this, to protect people like this. It has the means to make a big difference fast, with a new resolution on Darfur. It is all matter of political will from member states such as the United Kingdom.
A military intervention does not need to happen first. There are other steps to take, but no government in the 21st century should expect to commit a crime on this scale and get away with it.
It can demand a no-fly zone, which could be easily monitored. It should refer Darfur to the International Criminal Court to deny the perpetrators impunity. It should demand disarmament of the militias and full access for aid. Finally, it should reserve the right of intervention under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. Should an intervention need to take place, it would be better if it were led by African nations.
Neither we nor our governments can afford to keep our fingers crossed that everything will just work out alright in the end in Darfur. Too many people are facing the threat of death and we need to be prepared to act.
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