Dawn Breaker's Reflections

The conflict in Sudan’s western Darfur region "is now the world’s greatest humanitarian and human rights catastrophe", a top UN official said in Nairobi on Friday. (UNHCR file)

Words cannot describe the horrific daily acts that are taking place in this little-known region of the world; In little over a year, over ten thousand people are dead and over six hundred thousand people displaced as a result of this ethnic conflict in Sudan which is now beginning to spill into Chad and could escalate, if it remains unchecked, into a regional conflict. Hundreds of systematic rapes of mostly young schoolgirls and teachers have been reported, and over 110,000 refugees which have fled to Chad for protection risk being killed, robbed, raped and abducted by Sudanese militiamen who cross the border with little or no resistance in poverty-stricken Chad. Humanitarian aid is unable to reach these regions effectively mostly due to the overpowering presence of the Sudanese government-backed arab militia and lack of adequate funding and protection, resulting in unimaginable suffering among the displaced.

At the root of this humanitarian and human rights catastrophe is the racism and prejudice of many forms that exists between the arab and black populations of Sudan. As long as any group of people considers themselves superior in any way to another, these types of conflict will continue to mar the face of the earth. The only solution to these problems lies in these groups' mutual recognition of their equality as human beings, their essential oneness as members of the same human family, and in the local implementation and enforcement of laws against discrimination of any form. Unless and until this happens, unfortunately this fruitless strife will continue, and the devastation will only increase. In the meantime, however, it behooves the nations of the world to arise and crush the oppressors who are perpetrators of such heinous crimes against humanity, and create and enforce international legislation that will allow intervention on all levels including education and humanitarian aid to prevent future conflicts of this nature.

To close this post, a quote from The Promise of World Peace by The Universal House of Justice:

"Racism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier to peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the dignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism retards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims, corrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the oneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be universally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.

...World order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the oneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences confirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human species, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life. Recognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudice -- prejudice of every kind -- race, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material civilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves superior to others.

Acceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite for reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the home of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is essential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should therefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly asserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the structure of society which it implies..."