Humanitarian Crisis in Darfur Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Humanitarian Crisis in Darfur - Essay Example Various world leaders have already declared the situation genocide, but are still slow to act. Given the slow global response to the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, the United States government needs to stop up and take action, and help the humanitarian crisis that is taking place in Darfur right now. The situation in Sudan is a complicated one, and one that will not easily be solved. Throughout the course of the years of violence, the situation has impacted the lives of millions of Darfurians. So far, "The ongoing devastation has killed an estimated 400,000 and displaced over 2.5 million Sudanese since February 2003", and the wide spread course of destruction is only going to continue unless someone steps in and takes action (Darfur, 2007). Just these facts only warrant intervention on the basis of humanitarian need, but these numbers alone are not the only reasons the United States should get involved in Darfur. In fact, the United States should have gotten involved in Darfur a long time ago, but still has decided to leave innocent people to die at the hands of a violent government. What kind of government do we have that can keep its blind eye turned for so long on the horrible actions of another government The United States needs to take immediate action to stop these atrocit ies from continuing to happen in Darfur, and stop more innocent lives from being shed for pointless reasons. The United States Department of State has given even higher numbers than the conservative estimates by the refugee agencies. The Department of States has released numbers showing that "4 million people have been displaced from Southern Sudan, with a total of 6 million displaced from the whole country, there are a estimated 220,000 refugees from Sudan currently living in Chad, 358,000 in other neighboring countries, and 170,000 refugees from other countries that are seeking home in Sudan" ( (U.S. Department of State, 2007). Many of these numbers could have been avoided if the United States has moved in to help Sudan, hypothetically speaking, instead of throwing ourselves into the quagmire that is Iraq. Or even if the United States has begun to put pressure on the Sudanese government earlier, we could see much lower death tolls coming out of the century's first genocide. Beside just the immediate effects of the genocide, if one were to look at the far reaching effects, one could find another reason the United States should step up and help Darfur. Another area of Darfur that has been affected is the education of the children. Once the warfare finally does stop, Darfur is going to need help in rebuilding and reeducating its children. Sudan has the lowest access to primary education in the world (UNICEF, 2005). Ninety-nine percent of women in Southern Sudan are illiterate and only seven percent of all teachers teaching Southern Sudan are trained to be teachers (UNICEF, 2005). As if those numbers are bad enough, only ten percent of girls ages 7-14 attend school, and fewer than one percent of girls complete primary education (UNICEF, 2005). Also, only Afghanistan under the Taliban had fewer girls graduating from primary schools than the few number of girls that are graduating from Sudanese schools today. The horrible things that are happening in Darfur are only going to have the ripple effect, and have a horrible effect on the generations to come. The United States needs to step in, not only to help the horrible things