Genocide Awareness And Prevention (GAAP) New York Medical College

Overview  Brief overview of Darfur, Sudan  History of Darfur genocide  Current situations  Current international effort  Education Committee  Skills  Possible professions

Location and general demographics  West Africa  Surrounding countries  Population: ~ 6.5 million  Main ethnic groups: Fur, Zaghwa, Masaalit, and various Arab Tribes

Broad distinction between two major groups  African Darfurians including Fur, Zaghwa, and Masaalit (farmers)  Arabs (herders) [although, historically, this distinction wasn’t always clear up until now]

International responses (in the beginning)  Genocide or civil war?  International community has declared that Janjaweed sponsored by Sudanese Government is committing genocide by targeted violence against a particular race and ethnic groups killing innocent civilians

Some proposed underlining causes  In 1980s, farmers and herders begin to clash  Herders migrating south earlier in the season every year.  Due to lack of arid land, the tension between herders and farmers has increased.  Darfur is not only geographically isolated but also has been neglected by the government with no economic support  With this continuing tension between two major groups and Darfur’s dire economic situation with lack of political power to defend themselves, rebel groups (composed mainly of ethnically African) rose against Sudanese Government.

Immediate causes of the conflict  2003 : two rebel groups, Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), rose against Sudanese Government  Janjaweed militia sponsored by Sudanese Government were sent to suppress these rebel groups. Despite of Sudanese Government's claim, Janjaweed has rooted villages, killed innocent civillians, raped women, and displaced many from their homes.

Current situations  400,000 deaths  200,000 refugees in Chad  2.5 million internally displaced persons(IDPs)  Ethinic group affected: Black African Darfurians like Fur, Masaalit, Zaghawa  Approx. 10,000 civilians die each month due to violence, malnutrion, and disease

Ongoing international efforts  For past four years, 7000 African Union(AU) troops have been stationed. These troops lack resources and experience.  In June, 2007, Sudanese Government accepted a proposal for 23,000 UN-AU “hybrid” forces.  However, they are not expected to be deployed until 2008

Challenges: Public Health  water and sanitation  Malaria  providing immunizations to children (ex. Polio/Measles)  malnutrition/starvation  lack of medical professionals/ too much workload on existing aid workers

Challenges: Political  Lack of President Omar Al-Bashir’s cooperation  Only 7000 African Union(AU) troops stationed  Thus far no military intervention is allowed to end this conflict  Pressuring Sudanese government  Urging Chinese government to get involve

Challenges: Financial  Lack of funding  All our resources and donations are not properly allocated

What is GAAP?  The Genocide Awareness And Prevention (GAAP) club is an organization that was created by a group of concerned students at NYMC who wanted to do something to help resolve the situation in Darfur.  It is the first club in the history of NYMC that contains students from all the different schools at NYMC!

Committees within GAAP  Education Committee  Advocacy Committee  Fundraising Committee

Education committee: what we do  Research (websites of different reliable organizations, newspaper searches, book searches)  Educate NYMC community and peers  Provide updates on current situation in Darfur

Building professional skills:  Organizational skills- organizing information to effectively deliver the information to others  Communication skills  Researching information  Public speaking/ presentation  Problem solving  Time management skills  Planning  Leaderships skills  Team Work

Possible career choices:  Clinical health professions (ex. medical doctors and nurses)  Public health officials ( ex. Epidemiologist and hospital/health facility administrator)  Humanitarian aid workers (ex. Red Cross and Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs))  International affairs personnel (ex. UN and governmental organization)  Educator (ex. Primary and secondary teacher, professor)

Reference df/darfur.pdf ontents/04-statistics/