About us
The Darfur Centre for Human Rights and
Development has been in existence since April 2002 when first
reports of ethnic cleansing were starting to emerge in Darfur.
Through the contacts of one of the directors, (Abdellatife
Ismail), we have worked extensively with Amnesty International
to report atrocities that have taken place; also to advise where
activists and other human rights personnel were imprisoned or
harassed in the course of doing their job. In addition to this
we have provided translation facilities for the BBC; actively
campaigned within the U.N and elsewhere, and organized many
protests against the human rights abuses of civilians.
Our goal in the short to medium term is to continue monitoring
the situation in Darfur and to provide much needed
infrastructure in the refugee camps. In the long term we will
focus on development projects that contribute to the re-building
of this region. We are committed to using local networks and
people in the projects we undertake; we are also equally
committed to the furtherance of an ethnically diverse and
tolerant Darfur.
The Directors of The Darfur Centre for
Human Rights and Development are:
Abdellatife
Ismail
is the Executive Director of Darfur Centre for Human Rights and
Development. He is a member of the Fur Tribe and has been a
human rights activist for more than 20 years. He was the first
person in the U.K to bring news to the West about the atrocities
occurring in Darfur. He has actively pursued a human rights
agenda by reporting atrocities to NGOs such as Amnesty, SOAT and
others. He has also provided information to many media sources
in the U.K and has spoken on the BBC World Service. He recently
attended two sets of peace negotiations for Darfur in Abuja,
Nigeria.
Ahmed Elzobier
is Director of Communications and Media at Darfur
Centre for Human Rights and Development. He left Sudan following
the crackdown of the National Islamic Front in 1989 and has
worked since this time to foster a democratic opposition. He is
a human rights activist and member of Amnesty International who
has worked extensively in refugee issues including work with
Southern Voices Manchester and Refugee Voice. He has been
actively involved in the Darfur campaign since 2002, writing
articles appeals and collecting signatures. He has also
organized vigils to highlight the plight of people of
Darfur and has worked with
news agencies such as the BBC. Most recently he has been
involved in a feasibility study regarding Insight Conflict
mapping and the role of Sudanese civil society in
peace-building in Sudan.
Anne Bartlett
is Director of Research and Programs at Darfur Centre for Human
Rights and Development. She is a sociologist who has also been
involved in rights based issues for over 20 years. She has
worked with the Fur Diaspora in London as part of a research
project since January 2003 and has been actively involved in the
campaign to protect Darfur. She travelled with the Darfur
delegation to the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva where
she chaired a session and spoke on the crisis in 2004 & 2005.
She has also been instrumental in organizing grassroots protests
and other activities to highlight the plight of the people of
Darfur. She is currently working on a book project which focuses
on the politics of the Darfur crisis.
The Darfur Centre for Human Rights and Development has been
instrumental in campaigning to end this crisis since 2002. We
are active in the following areas:
-
Issuing press releases and
articles, both in English and Arabic with up-to date
information about what is happening on the ground in Darfur.
Reporting of human rights violations to UK and USA based
NGOs.
-
Organising grassroots
campaigns with Sudanese groups to highlight the crisis in
Darfur; Organising numerous vigils outside the UN, London,
including a hunger strike in August 2003. We also organised
a successful Darfur Vigil for 24 Hours in front of UNHCR in
London on 17 & 18 of June/2004. Here we collected a petition
which was sent UN Secretary General requesting a fast
intervention for a resolution of the situation in Darfur
-
Working in tandem with the U.K
and other governments to draw attention to the crisis. In
September 2003, the group wrote an appeal to the British
Government and met with Foreign Office officials.
-
Trying to prevent the
Arab/African dichotomy being used as a rationale for
slaughter. We wrote an appeal in August/2003 to the Arab
tribes of Darfur imploring them not to be used by the
Government of Sudan against other indigenous tribes such as
the Fur, Massalit and Zaghawa.
-
Organising petitions. A
Darfur Crisis petition on 14 Feb/2004, was sent to UN,
IGAD, Human Rights Organizations, USA Government, UK
Government, EU. It requested the following from the
international community:
Call for
International protection of civilians in Darfur.
Urgent call for unrestricted
humanitarian access to Darfur.
Release of all political detainees from Darfur.
Call for formation of impartial International
Fact-Finding Mission into
human rights abuses in Darfur
-
Lobbying at the UN, Geneva at
the Human Rights Commission, April 2004, 2005. One of the
Directors (Anne Bartlett) chaired a session on Darfur
at the UN in April 2004. She also addressed a session of the
61st Human Rights Commission in 2005 entitled
“the Human Rights and Humanitarian Crisis in Darfur:
Challenges to the International Community.
-
.With collaboration with
African groups in London we have organised and participated
in demonstration in London to Sudanese Embassy and 10
Downing Street in June and July 2004.
-
The instigation of a
documentary project regarding the situation in Darfur since
25/July/2003. The BBC Panorama Programme responded to our
appeal on 11/August/2004, and, following the supply of
information and contacts, the
BBC Documentary was shown on BBC 1 on 14/11/2004. Darfur
Centre for Human Rights (Ahmed Elzobier and Abdellatife
Ismail) were responsible for the translation services for
the BBC
-
Abdellatife
Ismail spoke in 2004 on the World Service about the crisis
and has been involved in the negotiations for peace in
Abuja, Nigeria
