Call for Action -- Congo

Before your weekend, take a minute to support efforts to make a difference in Congo.  Your action now WILL make a difference. The link to the petition is at the bottom of the post.

From the Change.org call for action:

Civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo is the planet’s deadliest conflict since World War II. Four million people have died in the last thirteen years. Rape is so frequent, it’s been called the “worst place in the world to be a woman.” 

You can help. The first step to ending the mass killing, widespread rape, and child trafficking in Congo is ensuring free and fair elections this Fall. That’s why a coalition of student, religious, and human rights organizations is using Change.org to ask President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton to immediately appoint a Special Envoy to the Congo. 

(The groups are Africa Faith & Justice Network, A Thousand Sisters, Enough! Project, Falling Whistles, Free the Slaves, Friends of the Congo, Jewish World Watch, STAND)

If the envoy isn’t appointed in the next few weeks, he or she will likely arrive too late to help ensure the elections go smoothly, so we have just a short time to act. 

With 5.4 million dead, 1.9 million people in displacement camps, elections fast-approaching, and armed groups committing mass atrocities every day - like rape, slavery, child-soldiers, & conflict mining - we want President Obama and Secretary Clinton to fulfill the mandate of their own law and finally show that they are serious about ending violence in Congo.

Ask the President to appoint a Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region now.  Sign the petition here!