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July 21, 2004—“Mr. Speaker, I stand with these distinguished Members tonight in support of House Concurrent Resolution 467 - declaring genocide in Darfur, Sudan. To date, an estimated 30,000 civilians have been murdered, more than 130,000 people have been forced from their homes and have fled to neighboring Chad, and more than 1,000,000 people have been internally displaced. If the international community fails to act, what awaits these people is a terrible season of prolonged suffering and painful death. Even now - mothers who have traveled miles fleeing their husbands’ murderers are watching their children starve. They are helpless to end the violence. We are not. We MUST ACT. We cannot wait until thousands more have died.
And, Mr. Speaker, the good news is that we can prevent the loss of life…our actions do matter.
We have seen the faces of women holding their emaciated babies to their chest with tears streaming down their faces . . . we have seen the photos of the burned out villages. What is reflected in the eyes of these women is both utter relief at having made it to a camp, yet unimaginable grief in the tragic and needless losses they have endured. Some bear the physical scars of beatings and branding, many bear the emotional scars of brutal rape.
But, Mr. Speaker, even in the camps, the people are not safe from harm. The people in this crisis make an impossible decision every day – whether to send the old men and boys for firewood fearing that they will be killed, or whether to send the women and girls for firewood fearing that they will be raped. Mr. Speaker, this horrifying choice is unacceptable and America and the world must demand that humanitarian aid workers have access to these suffering souls in order to bring them the food they need, and further that credible peacekeepers enter Sudan in order to provide the critical and desperately needed security -- so that their lives - their future - is not marred by the horrible choices they were forced to make in order to survive. Mr. Speaker, the people of Darfur should have a future.
We must pass House Concurrent Resolution 467, anything less would be a disgraceful failure before the eyes of God and humanity.”
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