Before and after Thanksgiving...

Hello and welcome back from your holiday.

In my last blog before the break, I asked you to rejoice in your time with family and friends and appreciate how very fortunate we all are.  And then I asked you to be ready to get back to work today.

And here's why:

Dear Friends, As you are reading this, mass violence continues unabated in Syria, with over 30,000 killed since March 2011 and atrocity crimes committed by both sides in an ever-deteriorating civil war. Just yesterday, ten children were killed while playing outdoors, following a government air raid in a rebel-held village near Damascus. In the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, armed rebels notorious for murder, rape and the recruitment of child soldiers, seized the city of Goma and the neighboring villages of Sake and Minova, threatening further violence, mass displacement and potential destabilization of the entire region. In Burma/Myanmar, widespread ethnic clashes in Rakhine State, spurred by decades of marginalization and discrimination of the Rohingya minority, has destroyed more than one thousand homes and forced tens of thousands to flee.   The brutality doesn’t stop there; populations around the world remain at risk. Despite committing to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing with the unanimous endorsement of the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP, R2P) norm in 2005, world leaders have failed to keep their promise.   What can you do? How can we ensure governments uphold their commitment to prevent and stop this terrifying cruelty?   It is up to individuals like you, as well as non-governmental organizations, academics, and the media, to join together and call on world leaders to act. A rich, active, and growing network of civil society can strengthen states’ resolve to save lives by advocating for rapid responses to dire situations and long-term measures to stave off conflicts in the future. Make a donation today in support of our work to make sure that the international community takes the necessary action to end this mass violence.   The International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect (ICRtoP) is dedicated to building this global community of committed and engaged civil society. Uphold your own responsibility to protect by supporting the ICRtoP and amplifying the voice of civil society around the world. With your help, we can make “never again” a reality.

I received the email above from the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect this afternoon. Support them, support One Million Bones, support CARE or the Enough Project, United to End Genocide, Women to Women International or any of the many, many amazing groups working to end this kind of violence. The organization you choose is much less important to us than that you choose one.  Do something; it is the only way we will ever make this horror stop.