Global Campaigns

In early 2006, it became clear that the engagement of the U.S. government alone would not suffice to find a solution to the crisis in Darfur. The coalition determined that an effective response would only come with widespread international participation. Just after the April 30th rally in Washington, D.C., the coalition launched an aggressive effort to work with like-minded organizations around the world to coordinate and encourage global advocacy on behalf of Darfur.

Global Days for Darfur

On September 17, 2006, the coalition hosted a rally in New York City's Central Park as part of a ‘Global Day for Darfur,' at the opening of the sixty-first United Nations General Assembly. As part of the Global Day for Darfur, the coalition helped inspire and mobilize citizens to hold events in forty-one locales, including Khartoum, Darfur, South Sudan, Cairo, Kigali, Paris, and London. This global effort marked the first major collaboration between Darfur advocacy communities around the world.

With the coalition's involvement and leadership, organizations participating in the Global Day for Darfur continued to coordinate their efforts through the Globe for Darfur network (http://www.globefordarfur.org). Since last September, the Globe for Darfur network has organized three more ‘Global Days for Darfur.' The coalition provided leadership and funding for each of these efforts, and significantly contributed to the success of these coordinated global actions.

The second Global Day for Darfur was organized on December 10, 2006 to highlight the issues of rape and sexual violence in Darfur. Participants gathered outside Sudanese embassies around the world, where they set off rape alarms and blew whistles. In addition, the Globe for Darfur network published a letter from leading international stateswomen declaring that rape and sexual violence were "being used on a daily basis as weapons of war" in Darfur. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright, former first lady of Mozambique Graca Machel, former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, and Palestinian legislator and scholar Hanan Ashrawi all signed the letter, among others. The coalition supported events by providing more than $130,000 in one-time grants to twelve foreign organizations. The third Global Day for Darfur on April 29, 2007 emphasized the need for the urgent deployment of an effective peacekeeping force. Events around the world aimed to maintain pressure on world leaders, and declared that "Time is Up" for action on Darfur. The fourth Global Day for Darfur took place on September 16, 2007, when activists around the world demanded that their leaders make Darfur a priority while attending the United Nations General Assembly.

Supporting International Partners 

Since launching international outreach and advocacy efforts in May 2006, the coalition has formed significant and valuable partnerships with a number of NGOs in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, as well as those in the U.S. Through encouragement and in some cases financial support from the coalition, partners have hired full-time European Union lobbyists; developed a Globe for Darfur website; supported the attendance of Darfuri lawyers and human rights defenders at the U.N. Human Rights Council Special Session on Darfur; organized effective lobbying efforts that have strengthened the final U.N. resolution to authorize the appointment of a special investigative mission to Darfur; conducted capacity-building training for Darfuri lawyers and human rights defenders; lobbied member states at the fortieth and forty-first sessions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights in The Gambia and Ghana, respectively; coordinated two continent-wide strategy meetings for engaged NGOs in Kampala and Brussels; participated in a forum and led panel discussions with major broadcast outlets in the Arab world; hosted a conference for Arab journalists covering the conflict in Darfur; lobbied during the 8th and 9th African Union summits; coordinated a Solidarity Day for Darfur with the participation of renowned South African musician Hugh Masekela; and supported efforts by Darfuri Diaspora communities, specifically the Darfuri Leaders Network, to coordinate their efforts.

By working with our international partners to make these efforts possible, the coalition has helped to ensure that Darfur remains a priority for the international community. World leaders are being confronted with the issue of Darfur not only in their own countries, but also nearly every time they travel to attend a conference or summit, creating a nearly constant drumbeat of activity on Darfur.