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A Resolution of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, recognizing and commending local activities in support of ending the genocide in Darfur, and specifically recognizing and commending the Destroyed Villages March and Rally to be held in Pittsburgh on May 18, 2008.
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WHEREAS, the violence conducted by the Armed Forces of Sudan, government-backed Janjaweed militia, and various rebel factions in Darfur, Sudan, has left nearly 2,500,000 people displaced from their homes and up to 400,000 civilians dead; and
WHEREAS, despite the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement on May 5, 2006, violence, death, and destruction in Darfur continue unabated, threatening the lives of thousands of civilians, humanitarian aid workers, United Nations officials, and African Union international peacekeepers; and
WHEREAS, on July 22, 2004, Congress declared the atrocities unfolding in Darfur as genocide, and on September 9, 2004, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, declared that `genocide has been committed in Darfur, and that, `the [G]overnment of Sudan and the Janjaweed bear responsibility'; and
WHEREAS, on April 18, 2007, President George W. Bush declared at the United States Holocaust Museum, where the Committee on Conscience has spent considerable efforts advocating to end the genocide in Darfur, that the United States has a moral obligation to help end the genocide in Darfur; and
WHEREAS, hundreds of United States faith-based, human rights, humanitarian and youth-led advocacy organizations have established Darfur-related campaigns since the United States declaration of genocide in 2004; and
WHEREAS, hundreds of State and local communities, schools, universities, and individual citizens have mobilized and organized fundraisers, campaigns, and initiatives to help end the genocide in Darfur; and
WHEREAS, over 600 chapters of anti-genocide high school, college and university student organizations have been established since 2004 to help end the genocide in Darfur; and
WHEREAS, at least 57 United States colleges and universities, 20 States, ten United States cities, and eight international and faith-based organizations have adopted divestment policies from Sudan thus far; and
WHEREAS, on April 30, 2006, thousands of people gathered at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to urge the United States and the international community to help end the genocide in Darfur; and
WHEREAS, similar public advocacy efforts in the United States to end mass human rights violations, racial discrimination, and violence in Africa have not been seen since the South African anti-apartheid movement; and
WHEREAS, the United States has led the international community's condemnation of the atrocities and violence in Darfur; and
WHEREAS, on May 18, 2008, more than 1,000 Pittsburghers will march from Freedom Corner to Market Square carrying signs of villages that have been destroyed during the three plus years of the genocide in Darfur, Sudan; and
WHEREAS, over 2,751 such villages have been certified by the U.S. Government to have been damaged or destroyed;
The Council of the County of Allegheny hereby resolves as follows:
Section 1.
Allegheny County Council hereby recognizes and commends local activities in support of ending the genocide in Darfur, and specifically recognizes and commends the Destroyed Villages March and Rally to be held in Pittsburgh on May 18, 2008. Council further:
(1) Recognizes and commends the efforts of the United States public and advocacy groups to raise awareness about and help end the worsening humanitarian crisis and genocide in Darfur, Sudan;
(2) Supports the efforts of the various local schools, communities, and faith-based, human rights, humanitarian, and youth-led advocacy organizations that have dedicated their time and energy to help end the genocide in Darfur and to promote peace, defend human rights, and improve the lives of those affected in Sudan and Chad; and
(3) Urges the United States to work with its partners in the international community to support a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Darfur, while implementing a more robust set of multilateral measures against those individuals who act as obstructionists to peace in Darfur, including by launching attacks against civilians, humanitarian operations, or peacekeeping forces, or by blocking the deployment of a credible African Union-United Nations hybrid peacekeeping force.
Section 3. Severability. If any provision of this Resolution shall be determined to be unlawful, invalid, void or unenforceable, then that provision shall be considered severable from the remaining provisions of this Resolution which shall be in full force and effect.
Section 4. Repealer. Any resolution or ordinance or part thereof conflicting with the provisions of this Resolution is hereby repealed so far as the same affects this Resolution.