Darfur law

Joe Mazur - Whitefish

I am writing today to express my strong support for Montana House Bill 619, the Sudan Divestment Act.

The ongoing genocide in the Darfur region represents the greatest human-rights abuse of our time. Since early 2003, ethnic Darfurians have been tortured, raped and slaughtered en masse by the Sudanese government and its associated militias, and since 2003 almost nothing has been done to stop this holocaust.

We are content to let those responsible run amok, and we dole out no further punishment than passively frowning upon their actions. It is unrealistic and counter-productive to think that our stern disapproval and nothing more will cause those responsible to cease murdering civilians.

If we are going to get Omar al-Bashir (the president of Sudan, who is recognized as a war criminal by the International Criminal Court) to disarm the responsible militias and halt the genocide, we will need to hit him where it hurts, namely in the economic sphere.

I support House Bill 619 because it will keep Montana state funds out of the hands of war criminals and mass murderers and thus send a strong message of disapproval.

If the state of Montana divests its funds from companies identified as responsible for prolonging or indirectly funding the genocide by working closely with the Sudanese government, we can back up our disapproval with economic action.

Already, 27 states have divested their funds from offending companies in Sudan, and these companies have taken serious hits as a result. Montana should not be in the minority of states which allow their assets to be used by those who perpetrate or condone genocide and war crimes.

So far, very little has been done and so we have seen the genocide continue, unabated. To turn a blind eye for any longer would be to reject the philosophy that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are fundamental rights of all human beings and such a callous display of apathy has never been the American way.