STAND looks to end genocide
Krisha Shrestha
Issue date: 2/26/09 Section: TruLife
A small group of students is taking a stand against genocide. STAND recently was formed at Truman under the STAND Genocide Intervention Network.
STAND is focused on giving students a chance to affect issues in the international sphere. Members can be a part of the group by signing a petition, calling the state department or joining in fundraisers, protests and conferences.
The group is small right now, but has big plans to combat genocide in the future. STAND's first project is collaborating with Amnesty International in its week-long International Justice campaign.
President of STAND senior Casey Millburg said during the campaign members will be manning a table to support a petition geared toward the arrest of Sudan's President Omar.
"The petition is going to say, 'I support the arrest of [the] Sudanese president or the International Criminal Court for issuing [an] arrest warrant against Sudanese president for crimes against humanity and war crimes and genocides relating to the conflict of what has been happening in Darfur,' - somewhere along those lines," Millburg said.
Millburg said she will cheer the day al-Bashir is handcuffed because no sitting president of any country has ever been arrested or prosecuted for ongoing genocide.
"Often times we hear about the problem but we do not hear there is a solution to the problem - especially with genocide," Millburg said. "The petition is to make students aware of what is happening and that there is something that is being done about the genocide. So when they sign the petition we'll be sending it off to the White House, the International Criminal Court, to our state senators as well as state representatives to let them know that the students of this school support the arrest."
STAND is taking unique approaches to the usual fundraising and awareness campaign. The group has two other projects in the planning stages: Dresses for Darfur - a fundraiser - and a traditional Sudanese dinner - an awareness program.
STAND is focused on giving students a chance to affect issues in the international sphere. Members can be a part of the group by signing a petition, calling the state department or joining in fundraisers, protests and conferences.
The group is small right now, but has big plans to combat genocide in the future. STAND's first project is collaborating with Amnesty International in its week-long International Justice campaign.
President of STAND senior Casey Millburg said during the campaign members will be manning a table to support a petition geared toward the arrest of Sudan's President Omar.
"The petition is going to say, 'I support the arrest of [the] Sudanese president or the International Criminal Court for issuing [an] arrest warrant against Sudanese president for crimes against humanity and war crimes and genocides relating to the conflict of what has been happening in Darfur,' - somewhere along those lines," Millburg said.
Millburg said she will cheer the day al-Bashir is handcuffed because no sitting president of any country has ever been arrested or prosecuted for ongoing genocide.
"Often times we hear about the problem but we do not hear there is a solution to the problem - especially with genocide," Millburg said. "The petition is to make students aware of what is happening and that there is something that is being done about the genocide. So when they sign the petition we'll be sending it off to the White House, the International Criminal Court, to our state senators as well as state representatives to let them know that the students of this school support the arrest."
STAND is taking unique approaches to the usual fundraising and awareness campaign. The group has two other projects in the planning stages: Dresses for Darfur - a fundraiser - and a traditional Sudanese dinner - an awareness program.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Robert
posted 3/02/09 @ 5:44 PM CST
Taking a "stand" against Genocide, huh? In the immortal words of Sponge Bob Squarepants: Good luck with that!
Genocide, famine, war, poverty...people are always taking stands against these things. (Continued…)
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