Posters used for Amnesty International efforts
By: Joseph Harvie
If you walk into South Brunswick High School this week, chances are you’ll see a poster that reads "2 Million Displaced in Darfur," or something similar.
The posters are part of a larger campaign spearheaded by Amnesty International of South Brunswick High School, which is celebrating Human Rights Week by handing out information about the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan and raising money that will go to charities that help Sudanese refugees.
Julia Kaplan, president of the high school’s Amnesty International chapter, said the group wanted to make classmates aware that across the Atlantic Ocean, people are dying each day.
"We chose Darfur because it’s a real pressing issue," said Julia, 17, and a senior.
The situation in Darfur started in 2003 and more than 400,000 members of farming tribes have been targeted and killed by the Janjaweed, a militia, according to the Coalition for International Justice. In addition, about 2.5 million people have been displaced by violence and live in refugee camps.
Julia said that getting high school students involved in the Darfur discussion could lead to more discussion on the topic throughout the community. She said that it is also an education in modern history.
"A lot of kids don’t realize that a situation like the Holocaust, which happened many years ago, is happening right now," Julia said.
In addition to handing out information about the Darfur genocide, the student-group run is handing students form letters addressed to U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, a Democrat whose district includes South Brunswick, urging him to take action and give monetary and diplomatic support to the people of Sudan.
"It’s more about putting pressure on the government to do something," Julia said. "If we (send our military) over there, we’ll just make it worse."
The organization is also selling T-shirts for $12 that read "Stop Genocide in Sudan." The shirt order form also has information about the genocide.
In addition, Lauren Perrine, 16, and a junior, produced short video segments about Darfur that air each day during morning announcements in the school.
"Everyone’s real quiet while it’s on," Lauren said. "Hopefully, by the end of the week we’ll know if it helped."

