Press Release

March 8, 2007

In the 30th Anniversary of International Women’s Day:
SHRO demands immediate measures to empower the women of Darfur

In the 30th anniversary of the International Women’s Day, SHRO-Cairo acknowledge with deep appreciation the huge sacrifices Sudanese women have been generously offering for the optional unity, just peace, and social advancement of our Nation.

We, the SHRO women’s activists, dedicate the Women’s Day to the women of Darfur: their decency, perseverance, and persistent struggle to maintain the spiritual and cultural values of our society.

We dedicate the 30th anniversary to the martyrs of Darfur: the women and men killed or buried alive; the girls orphaned; the wives widowed or raped; and the million other victimized families and communities of the region.

We urge the international, African, Arab, and all regional and national women’s organizations, as well as the United Nations organs, including UNIFEM, UNDP, UNEP, and the Human Rights Council, to support both materially and morally the Cause of Women in Darfur.

We condemn, in the strongest terms possible, the acts of genocide and the other crimes against humanity committed by the State’s regular troops or guerilla groups.

We condemn, in solidarity with our sisters the women of Darfur, the shameless aggression by the government’s aerial bombing over impoverished towns, Bedouin camps, and villages inhabited only by innocent women and children, handicapped men, and disabled elderly.

We condemn the non-principled stands of the Government of Sudan with respect to the Abuja Agreement and the elusive policies the President and his assistants adopted to fail the international efforts that aimed to end the crisis with political consensus.

Highly appreciative of the principled stand of the country’s democratic parties, civil society groups, and honest leaderships by the side of the women, families, and people of Darfur, We urge the competent political, legislative, and executive bodies of the Government of National Unity to live up to the national responsibilities conferred upon them by the Interim Constitution of Sudan and the Naivasha Comprehensive Peace Agreement:

1. Ensure immediate implementation of the State’s commitment to the AU-UN forces in Darfur;
2. Return the internally displaced women and families to their homelands fully compensated for all lives lost or properties damaged or dispossessed;
3. Surrender to the International Criminal Court all state managers or collaborators accused of crimes committed against the women, girls, families, and communities of Darfur; and
4. Empower the productive life Darfur women have been reputed for throughout the history of the region by enabled funds, social welfare, and comprehensive development programs for the needy population under women’s control.