Drafter
Clerk 11/16/2006
Title
A MOTION supporting efforts to end the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan and urging the United States and the United Nations to implement U.N. Resolution 1706, which would authorize an international peacekeeping force in Darfur to stop the killing, rape and destruction of villages while assuring that humanitarian relief reaches those in need.
Body
WHEREAS, in Darfur, Sudan, an estimated four hundred thousand innocent civilians have been murdered, and more than two and one-half million people have been forced from their homes and now live in refugee camps or abroad, and
WHEREAS on June 24, 2004, the Committee on Conscience of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum declared a "genocide emergency" in Sudan, and
WHEREAS, on July 22, 2004, the United States Congress passed resolutions declaring genocide in Darfur, Sudan, and
WHEREAS, on January 25, 2005, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry declared that, "government forces and militias conducted indiscriminate attacks, including killing of civilians, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, rape and other forms of sexual violence, pillaging and forced displacement, throughout Darfur. These acts were conducted on a widespread and systematic basis . . . The vast majority of the victims of all of these violations have been from the Fur, Zaghawa, Massalit, Jebel, Aranga and other so-called 'African' tribes," and
WHEREAS, on March 2, 2005, Senator Sam Brownback and Senator (now Governor) Jon Corzine introduced the Darfur Accountability Act, reiterating "that the atrocities taking place in Darfur are genocide" and calling for various measures that would serve as vital steps in bringing an end to the genocide, and
WHEREAS, relief workers from our region are risking their lives to provide aid to the millions who have been displaced in Darfur, and
WHEREAS, as representatives of the nearly two million people of King County, many of whose families came to this country to escape war and oppression, we have a particular responsibility to speak out against injustice on behalf of vulnerable and disenfranchised people whether within King County or across the globe;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT MOVED by the Council of King County:
The King County council calls upon the United States and the United Nations as leaders of the international community to immediately implement U.N. Resolution 1706
authorizing an international peacekeeping force in Darfur to stop the killing, rape and destruction of villages while assuring that humanitarian relief reaches those in need.