UNR Passes resolution against genocide in Darfur

in News Politics Uncategorized by Clarissa Leon — April 17, 2009 at 3:26 pm | 3 comments

Priscilla Acosta realized it was all or nothing in an hour and fifteen minutes. After watching a CNN special in class about the ravages of genocide in Darfur, she wrote Expressed Resolution 76-_7: Calling Action Against Darfur and Genocides Worldwide.

“I thought about doing it before,” says Acosta. “I don’t know why I didn’t do it before. And just after watching the movie I was like, no, I have to do it now. If I don’t do it now, when am I going to do it?”

The resolution asked that the Associated Students of the University of Nevada, Reno “call for an end to genocides worldwide” and that ASUN increase their “efforts to enhance consciousness about genocides.” The resolution, passed April 8, is the first of its kind to be submitted to ASUN.

Acosta, the Speaker of the Senate for ASUN, submitted the resolution the last day the 76th Session Senators would meet. After some arguments, Acosta was surprised that her “Why not?” resolution passed. But what was more surprising was that the campus anti-genocide group, STAND, didn’t know about the resolution until a day before. Some members didn’t see the resolution until an hour before it was submitted.

“We thought it was a rumor, we weren’t sure what it really was,” says Carolina Chacon, Director for Media and Press for STAND. “We just heard it in passing.”

Although STAND says they are impressed by Acosta to have taken the initiative to pass the resolution, they wished they had known earlier. They would have brought a wealth of support, expertise and knowledge to the resolution, says Jenna Fox, the West Coast college regional outreach coordinator for STAND and founder of the UNR STAND chapter.

As it was submitted to the Senators, the resolution had numerous typos and some inaccuracies including the creator of the term genocide “Rafael” Lemkin spelled “Rafal”, the title stating “Calling Action Against Darfur” (instead of Calling Action Against Genocides in Darfur) as well as “97% of theses killings”, “2 million people have been for forced from their homes.”

Acosta says the typos have been corrected in the amended version. Regardless of the typos, STAND and Acosta say they believe the resolution is step forward. Hopefully, says Acosta, this resolution could inspire other universities across the country to adopt a similar resolution. As part of the resolution’s goals, it hopes to petition the local and national government  and university students to increase their consciousness about genocide.

“It’s a good idea in theory,” says Fox. ” But I’m just wondering how it will affectively change that from being purely symbolic to actually getting people involved.”

STAND’S MISSION

UNR STAND, which began two years ago, is part of the STAND Anti-Genocide Network, which is composed of more than 800 high school and college groups nationwide. Like the national STAND, the UNR STAND is focusing their efforts to fight three major ethnic conflicts: Darfur, Democratic Republic of Congo and Eastern Burma.

According to STAND, in Darfur, “More than 400,000 have died and 2.5 million have been displaced due to government-sponsored genocide in Sudan… In the Democratic Congo, more than 1.5 million Congolese have been internally displaced, while thousands die from disease and malnutrition… In Eastern Burma, more than 650,000 people have been displaced and 3,500 villages burned.”

Knowing this, Fox began the UNR STAND chapter and the 10-15 member group has already raised roughly $2,000 which has helped women in Darfur get free fire wood as it may be dangerous to search for wood in the middle of the night and have a dangerous run-in with the militia or even providing patrols to go with them. Their efforts to raise money for their cause has included doing 24-hour call-ins to legislators and 24-hour fasts. But they were unsure that they could have a resolution passed in ASUN.

“If UNR as a whole or our representatives are asking our representatives at the state and local level to do something about this, we think that’s great,” says Chacon. “We definitely think that’s the right way to go and we are glad this is happening.”

For Acosta, she’s glad she could make a difference.

“We’re not choosing sides,” says Acosta. “It doesn’t matter to us who is right or wrong. I’m not expert on this. I don’t think anyone on campus is an expert on this. But we want it to stop.”

STAND will be holding a benefit art auction at the Governor’s Mansion on April 25. Proceeds will help STAND with civilian protection of refugees and internally displaced persons. If you’d like to get involved, visit STAND’s Facebook Page. Or, their MySpace Page. Also, read the unamended resolution here.

Tags: ASUN Darfur genocide STAND