Refugees from violence in Sudan.

Darfur Is a “Kill Box” and Sudan Is “Hell on Earth”
Genocide Alert Campaign Team / Avaaz.org

(July 2, 2024) — A genocidal army has raped and massacred thousands of people. There’s evidence of child soldiers fighting and dying, and mass graves dot the desert.

Now Darfur’s capital is under attack, with almost a million refugees trapped inside. Experts are calling it a “killbox.”

These unspeakable atrocities are happening in a near-total information blackout. Sudan has shuttered the Internet, arrested local reporters, and blocked foreign journalists — meaning very little media coverage, or pressure on governments to act.

But a small team of war-crimes investigators is breaking through, using a cutting-edge combination of satellite imagery and witness accounts to document the shocking violence. The project has already led to major news stories and government intervention, helping to trigger sanctions on the worst warlords.

With the attack in Darfur underway, however, this work is needed like never before — and it urgently needs funding to continue… this life-saving project, fund investigations and non-stop political advocacy. Together we can give journalists, governments, and prosecutors the evidence they need to galvanize urgent action. You’ll also be powering Avaaz campaigns to defend human rights around the world.

Let’s stand in solidarity with terrified families caught in the crossfire — please help end Sudan’s silent scream: The war in Sudan has created one of the worst humanitarian crises on Earth — and getting attention on it is only the first step. There’s no guarantee it will be enough.

But this strategy has worked before. In 2004, a massive public awareness campaign pushed an unfolding genocide in Darfur to the top of the world’s agenda, saving lives. But 300,000 people died then — we can’t let that happen again.

If we raise enough we can: 
Fund “eye in the sky” satellite monitoring to track troops in real time, expose the foreign actors fuelling these atrocities, and use the data to protect civilians by alerting media and governments;

• Pile pressure on governments everywhere with advocacy tours in key capitals, while galvanising urgent action at the UN, from the Security Council to humanitarian teams;
• Fund an international media operation to document the humanitarian crisis and secure coverage of genocidal violence in major news outlets; and
• Build an emergency response fund to power urgent campaigns to protect civilians caught up in war as soon as they are needed.

This is our chance to have a direct impact in the face of abject horror — funding proven action that could help prevent genocide and save lives.

Avaaz has helped break the silence around civilian slaughters in Syria, Yemen, and Ukraine. Now we must do it for Sudan, so we can truly say: “Never again.”

With endless hope and determination,
Camille, Bert, Kaitlin, Will, John, Marigona, Shayna, Mike and the whole team at Avaaz

Avaaz members have directly helped to fund some of the research and reports mentioned in this email. Coverage has appeared in the following outlets: BBC, Al Jazeera, The Economist, Reuters, Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NBC, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Foreign Policy, Refugees International, Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Human Rights Watch, The Globe and Mail, The New Humanitarian, Libération, Le Point, PassBlue, The New Arab, Sudan Tribune, Ayin, and more.