Darfur Argumentative Essay

Brian Steidle, a former Marine Corps captain, states that “Darfur is more than an occasional headline in the newspaper or 20 seconds on a forgotten nightly newscast. It is where genocide continues to happen while the rest of the world goes through the motions of concern but does nothing of substance to stop it. Will the world ever wake up?” (Witness to the Genocide in Darfur). Steidle’s position on the genocide needs to be accepted so that the people in Darfur and Sudan can receive help. In the quote, Steidle states that Americans only think about Darfur when it hits the front page of the news. Many people might feel concerned for Darfur when they see its name on the headlines but no one is willing to stand up and fight against the ongoing

According to World Without Genocide, “over 480,000 people have been killed, and over 2.8 million people are displaced.”(1) These statistics show that not only have many people gotten killed but the genocide has caused 2.8 million people to abandon their home. The conflict in Darfur is clearly a genocide because it falls under the definition of genocide which includes killing or targeting a specific group of people because of racial or social difference. A quote from Human Rights Watch states how women have to face the genocide every day, “at least 221 women and girls were raped in Tabit over 36 hours…” (1) 221 women in 36 hours means about 6 women were raped an hour. The mass rape of women and girls in Darfur have lead to more people with AIDS and is clearly a method of genocidal torture towards women and girls. In the Darfur conflict, only Darfurian women are being raped therefore it falls under the category of “causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group”(Prevent genocide international, 1) which is one of the categories that classifies a genocide according to the United Nations. Overall, the conflict in Darfur is a genocide because of the mass killings and bodily harm done to the