CALIFORNIA LEADING THE HUMAN RIGHTS CHARGE – AGAIN
California Progress Report, California
Aug 3, 2006
By Assemblymember Jerome Horton
The United Nations has called it the greatest humanitarian crisis in
the world. The United States calls it genocide. For the first time
in world history, the term “genocide” is being applied to an ongoing
tragedy rather than an event in our history books.
More than two and a half years into the crisis, the western Sudanese
region of Darfur is acknowledged to be a humanitarian and human rights
crisis of the first order with as many as 500 people – overwhelmingly
civilians – dying every month. The situation continues to deteriorate
as the international community fails to protect innocent civilians
or influence the Sudanese government to do so themselves.
The need for action has never been greater. It is estimated that since
the beginning of the conflict up to 400,000 people have been killed
and 2.5 million have been displaced from their homes by the government
militia, the “janjaweed”. Currently, 25% of Sudanese children do not
live past the age of five.
Since being placed on the “Terror Watch” list by the Clinton
Administration, the Sudanese government has been supplying us with
information on terrorist activity within their own country, despite
the fact that this information is often outdated and “cherry-picked”
for minimal importance. It is because of these ties that we continue
to avoid confronting Sudan on the issue of genocide. How can President
Bush say that “we cannot ignore” their suffering and then feed the
very beast responsible for their destruction? How can he allow these
fruitless ties to the Sudan take precedent over the lives of the
millions suffering in Darfur? Because steps are not being taken on
the federal level, California must take a lead to prevent this tragedy
from escalating any further.
This year, I, along with Assemblymember Paul Koretz, have introduced
a bill in the State Assembly, AB 2941 (Koretz), to address this
atrocity. This bill would require two of the nation’s biggest pension
systems, CalPERS and CalSTRS, to begin a targeted divestment of
holdings in companies that continue to do business with a government
that slaughters, rapes, starves and displaces their own people. One
would think that after the Holocaust and the genocides in Armenia,
Rwanda, and that of California’s Indian population, we would not
stand idly by while people suffer from such inhumane treatment.
AB 2941 will affect the revenue that the Khartoum government
receives. The Khartoum government has used the funds it receives to
purchase Russian MIGs which have been used in the attacks in Darfur
and to arm the brutal Janjaweed militia. The Darfurians receive no
benefits from the central government, but more significantly, their
destruction is enabled by the wealth of the Khartoum government.
AB 2941 will be heard on Tuesday, August 8th in the Senate Judiciary
Committee. That same day the Sacramento Committee on Conscience
will be holding its 2nd Annual Call to Conscience: Darfur, a rally
in support of the bill. Speakers will include myself, Assemblyman
Jerome Horton, and Assemblymembers Paul Koretz and Joe Coto, as well
as representatives from groups sponsoring the bill, including the
California State Conference of the NAACP.
We in California are in a unique position to affect the direction of
the entire country on yet another important social goal. Although other
states have chosen to divest, none of these states have the holdings
in Sudan that we do, and consequently none of these states could
have an impact as powerful as ours could be. The federal government
is wrestling with the question of how to act, but they have been
reluctant to act due to foreign policy allegiances. It is up to the
states themselves to lead the charge, and while it may be too late
to begin the divestment charge, it is not too late for us to lead it.
Assemblyman Jerome E. Horton was elected in November 2000 to represent
the 51st District. He is the Chair of the Assembly Governmental
Organization Committee.