By: Priscila Néri, Posted: Apr 19 09

Regions: Sudan

Issues: Crimes against humanity, Genocide, Justice

Tags: darfur, genocide, international criminal court, International Justice, janjaweed, Omar al-Bashir, refugees, video

April is Genocide Prevention Month.   This Thursday, US President Barack Obama will deliver a speech on the theme of "Never Again: What You Do Matters", and across the US and the rest of the world, groups and citizens are mobilising to call attention to the crisis in Darfur.  Will President Obama use the occasion to call for action on Darfur as he did on December 10th, 2007?

The conflict in Darfur, Sudan, has already taken the lives of over 300,000 people and displaced more than 2.5 million since 2003.  The International Criminal Court recently indicted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for crimes against humanity.

In the run-up to President Obama's speech, we're taking a deeper look at the role that video has played in driving public awareness and international action on Darfur.  The accessibility of video forces us, and those in power, to confront the unfolding crisis in Darfur - and its impact on Darfuris and Chadians - sometimes almost in real-time.  But what difference has that made to the international response? 

As you'll see below, video has shed light on different stages of the crisis in Darfur - by breaking the news, bringing out the testimonies of victims and survivors, and allowing concerned citizens to call for action from their leaders and representatives.  If you think we've missed out an important example, you can add it in via the comment field below.

ACT 1: BREAKING THE NEWS - Some of the first images we saw of Darfur came early in 2004, when flmmaker Philip Cox smuggled himself into Darfur and, with the aid of Sudanese guide Dawd Abute, traveled through villages that had just been destroyed by the horse-riding Arab militias known as the Janjaweed.  Cox - whose images were broadcast on the UK's Channel 4 News - gathered some of the first testimonies of African families that had been violentlly removed from their native lands, and also some of the first testimonies linking the Janjaweed directly to the Sudanese government.  Darfur Destroyed - released in September of 2004 - also told some of these stories:

ACT 2: VOICES FROM THE GROUND - While the fighting continued, a wider range of testimonies started emerging, including vlogs and reports from aid workers.  PBS' Frontline launched Sudan: The Quick and the Terrible, in which Sudanese survivors shared testimonies about Sudanese army airplanes dropping bombs on their villages (contradicting the Sudanese government's repeated denials of involvement in the killings).  Meanwhile, groups like Internews began training local Sudanese refugees to become citizen reporters and tell their stories.  Here's a video about one of those projects in Chad:

ACT 3: RAPE AS A WEAPON OF WAR - As the crisis deepened, the trickle of testimonies about the Sudanese Army and Janjaweed's use of rape as a weapon of war became a flood.  My colleague Sameer Padania wrote about One Night, One Voice, which features the stories of women in eastern Chad facing the risk of sexual violence every time they need to leave the camp to get water or firewood:  

ACT 4: GLOBAL PRESSURE INCREASES - The more images of the crisis in Darfur circulated, the more advocacy and pressure groups were formed to call on citizens and governments to speak up and take action for Darfur.  Even Barack Obama - then still an outside bet for the US Presidency - recorded the video message at the top of this post urging immediate action on Darfur.  Pressure also increased on China, who had continued selling weapons to the Khartoum regime despite growing opposition around the world.  This video, by 24 hours for Darfur, called on ordinary citizens to record their videos:

ACT 5: CALLS FOR JUSTICE - In different videos, survivors and refugees called for justice and asked the international community to take action to stop President al-Bashir and the Janjaweed militias. Here's Darfurian Refugees Speak Out, by 24 hours for Darfur:

ACT 6: PERPETRATORS SPEAK OUT - Earlier this year, in anticipation of the ICC's indictment of President al-Bashir, the UK's Aegis Trust released a video in which former members of the Janjaweed and Sudanese Army spoke out.  The four men featured in the video detail the workings of the genocide, and contradict the government's claims that they have no involvement with the Janjaweed militias (more in this post by Sameer).  The footage was also translated into Arabic to aid circulation in the Middle East, where there is still widespread political support for the Sudanese government:

ACT 7: THE INDICTMENT - On March 4th 2009, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes for his alleged role in orchestrating the mass killings.  Bashir reacted by insulting the ICC and expelling 13 humanitarian organizations from Sudan.  Doctors Without Borders, one of the groups ejected from the country, later published an illuminating op-ed about the delicate balance of doing humanitarian relief work in places like Sudan.  Despite this, many in the human rights movement felt that this move by the ICC could help bring an end to the genocide.  Here's Ken Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, talking about the significance of the indictment:

ACT 8: WHAT NEXT?  One of the biggest debates after the ICC's indictment of al-Bashir has been about how practically to enforce the arrest warrant. Since the ICC has no mandates to enforce its warrants, and since only member states can implement ICC orders, al-Bashir could go free as long as he remains in friendly territory.  In recent weeks he has already traveled to Eritrea, Egypt, Libya, and Qatar without consequence - IJCentral suggests why these states have not acted against al-Bashir.  The Reckoning, a film shot in Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, and other countries that have experienced genocide and crimes against humanity, explores the role of the ICC and the challenges for international justice: 

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We will continue to follow the developments in Darfur and report back to you in the coming months. We also want to hear from you - tell us what you think by leaving a comment below or uploading a video.

To learn more about Darfur and what you can do to help end the genocide, watch these videos and visit groups like 24 hours for Darfur, Save Darfur Coalition, Aegis Trust, and Genocide Intervention Network.