My name is Corey Dragge and I am the founder of a grass roots organization in Nevada called ChampionDarfur.com. I have been a Darfur activist for almost two years now and I have to say that I have been going at it pretty strong the whole time, not your weekend kind of warrior type of thing. As a father of three, I can't sit back and do nothing while the children in Darfur suffer the way that they do.
I have thrown fundraisers, I have started petitions, organized rallies, called officials and even held a Darfur related movie screening but I would like to share with you something that I learned while running a Divestment Campaign in the state of Nevada.
What would you think if I told you that right now, Secretary of State Hilliary Clinton and Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner have the power to levy severe sanctions against the Government of Sudan, the kind of sanctions that would make a difference, the kind of sanctions that would turn heads and make the world take notice.
In 1997, President Clinton issued Executive Order (E.O.) #13067 against the Government of Sudan for a number of reasons, including its prevalence of human rights violations, citing that it constituted an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States”. Since the majority of the reasons cited in E.O. #13067, including Sudan’s Human Right’s violations, still exist and to my knowledge this order is still active, It would be safe to assume that the country of Sudan and its government’s actions still constitute the previously cited “unusual and extraordinary threat”.
Then in 2006, in response to United Nation Resolutions 1591 and 1672, President Bush issued E.O. 13400, in which the U.S. blocked the property and interests in property of certain persons connected with the conflict in Darfur. Because this new E.O. was a direct extension of #13067, the conflict in Darfur was officially named as a reason the government of Sudan constitutes an “unusual and extraordinary threat”. The Annex to E.O. 13400 contained the names of four individuals subject to its provisions, and E.O. #13400 gave the Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation with the Secretary of State, the authority to designate additional individuals and entities connected with the conflict in Darfur.
In October 13, 2006, President Bush, taking into account the provisions of the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act issued E.O. #13412 which excludes marginalized areas from the trade prohibitions imposed by E.O. #13067 but also continues to prohibit all transactions by U.S.persons relating to Sudan's petroleum or petrochemical industries. This order also stipulates that the Secretary of the Treasury can further block the property and interests of property of persons determined to meet certain criteria set forth in E.O. #13400. Included in this “criteria” are persons who constitute a threat to the peace process and stability of Darfur.
It is my understanding that the current sanctions that have been implemented by Treasury are against companies owned and operated by the Government of Sudan, but lets face it, that doesn't amount to much when most of the companies working within the targeted markets of oil and chemical production in Sudan are from other countries, namely China.
I understand there is great fear of apply sanctions against a company, such as PetroChina, because of the leverage held by China with its $1 Trillion in treasury bonds. But since the start of the global economic recession, the interdependency of our economies is even more evident, as we rise and fall so do they. The fear of them “cashing in” these bonds should be lessened as it would only exacerbate the recession for our economy thus further exacerbating their own economic issues.
It would seem to me that the natural progression of the implementation of the Executive Orders handed down on this topic would be to include companies that are not necessarily owned by the Government of Sudan but conduct business in Sudan within the targeted market of oil and chemical production. Based on my reading of the Executive Orders, it certainly seems the Treasury has the authority to as such.
The fact is that these companies provide substantial revenue to the government of Sudan who then uses these to continue the human rights violations in Darfur, atrocities that have already been deemed a “threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States”. Therefore, it seems that these companies that conduct business in the targeted markets already sanctioned by the Treasury should fall under the criteria as “persons who constitute a threat to the peace process and stability of Darfur”.
The international community is SCREAMING for action, for someone to step up and do something and all the while our own administration ALREADY has the authority to do something but they don't. I want to restate that for impact...they ALREADY have the authority. They don't need congress, they don't need to set up a round table meeting of experts to discuss this, they don't need to waste anymore time, they can do it NOW. But they don't and I for one don't understand why not.
But until they do, me and my friends will continue to beating down doors, ask the hard questions, and push the issue. Someone once asked me why I work so hard to help people that are thousands of miles away, people that I will never meet. I told them because when my daughters go to high school and learn about what happened in Darfur, I want them to learn that the international community stepped up and stopped a genocide instead of turning a blind eye. I want them to see that we can make a difference, I want them to say "My daddy did something about it".
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