Victory! UN Security Council Unanimously Voted to Renew UNAMID

Dear Supporters, Darfur Women Action Group (DWAG) would like to thank you all for joining us in demanding that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) extend UNAMID’s mandate. Monday’s vote was extremely monumental because it was unanimous (15-0). While all the UNSC members have agreed with us on our position and expressed grave concern about the dire situation and escalating violence in Darfur, they also recognized the fact that the international community has the responsibility to pursue protection, lasting peace, and justice in Darfur. Furthermore, the unanimity of the vote will send a strong message to al-Bashir that he will not be allowed to dictate troops that have been put in place by the international community and under the authority of the UNSC. As we all stood together and collectively demanded the UNSC to take action, they responded to our call because we spoke in masses. This would not have been realized without your tireless effort. We could not thank you enough for your help and for strengthening the voices of the victims to impact Monday’s important decision. We still have a long way to go to ensure that UNAMID is able to protect civilians and that the perpetrators who place restrictions on UNAMID are held accountable. 
We greatly appreciate the council members’ vigilant stand with the people of Darfur and their decision to extend the UNAMID for one year; however, the mandate renewal is only the first step. We urge the UNSC to seize this momentum and leverage its authority. We must keep the momentum going and continue the fight to ensure that the following demands are completely met: - Ensure that UNAMID has the ability to use its civilian’s protection mandate to effectively protect civilians and adequately report and verify incidents on the ground in Darfur, including accurate statistic of deaths and rapes. - Ensure that UNAMID not be subordinate to Khartoum’s restrictions and that it’s able to exercise its authority in accordance with UNSC’s resolution to feasibly execute their stated mandates. - Investigate the peacekeeping mission’s history of irregularities, make the findings public, and provide a thorough oversight mechanism that keeps UNAMID accountable to both this Council and the people of Darfur. - Strengthen UNAMID in order to facilitate unhindered humanitarian access. -Take necessary measures to ensure that should UNAMID fail to protect civilians, an alternate international force is deployed to Darfur to put an end to the long-standing attacks against civilians in Darfur.