The American Humanist Association (AHA) has been active in addressing the alarming crisis in Darfur, Sudan. A government-backed Arab militia known as Janjaweed has been carrying out campaigns to displace and destroy tribal farming communities in this region of Sudan. The U.S. Agency for International Development reported in mid August that 2.2 million people have been affected by the crisis in Darfur and eastern Chad. But the government of Sudan continues to obstruct humanitarian aid. If relief is restricted or denied, it is estimated that up to one million people could perish.

The AHA has been engaged in multiple activities in order to raise a Humanist voice in response to this crisis. On August 25, 2004, the AHA issued a plea to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell urging an international response and stepped-up humanitarian aid (see below). This AHA statement received endorsements from Africa Action, Equal Partners in Faith, the Humanist Society, the MK Gandhi Nonviolent Institute, and the Secular Student Alliance. The AHA is also a member of the Save Darfur Coalition, and was a financial sponsor of the United Nations Sudan Genocide Rally held on September 12 in New York City.

The AHA further joined Citizens for Global Solutions in a letter to President Bush urging that the International Criminal Court examine the Darfur situation. And in a statement to the press on August 25 AHA Editorial Director Fred Edwords said, "We can't ever allow ourselves to get used to tragedies so great and so preventable."

Our shared humanity calls on all Humanists to speak out for human rights in Sudan. The Humanist magazine (September/October 1998) published an eyewitness account of human suffering in Sudan's longstanding civil war.

We call upon the United Nations and the United States to conduct and support a formal multilateral peacekeeping operation of diplomacy and humanitarian intervention. Specifically, we ask that you lead the way to enforce the ceasefire, provide security and funding, staff programs assisting the displaced, and stop the widespread killings by all means available. In addition, we believe that genocide is a crime that warrants legal punishment for those who are responsible for its implementation. We encourage you to establish an international war crimes tribunal for Sudan in order to investigate this genocide and bring those who are responsible to justice.

The genocide occurring now in Darfur warrants swift and significant attention. Legal and moral imperatives demand that the United Nations and the United States take action to stop the genocide and aid in humanitarian efforts.