The Dartmouth Lawyer's Association called for immediate action by the United States government and the United Nations to alleviate the suffering of displaced persons in Darfur in a recently released study.
Copies of the study, published two weeks ago, were sent to congressional leaders, members of the Bush administration and the United Nations. None of the recipients have responded yet.
The DLA chose to address the situation in Darfur not only because of the humanitarian crisis there, but also in an effort to rally the organization around a large scale project.
"It seems like there is a need, [but also] something we can rally support around," said Albert F. Moncure, Jr. '69, who was commissioned by John Mathias '69, head of the DLA, to run the study.
Moncure emphasized though that the main reason for the association's desire to focus on the Darfur crisis was to achieve something on behalf of the public good.
The document itself will serve a dual purpose as both a means to inspire change as well as a resource for those interested in Darfur.
"Part of the motivation is to try to light a fire under people in Congress, but another part is to produce a document that can be an educational tool," said Moncure.
Much of the study focuses on the over 1.85 million internally displaced people in Sudan, which according to the World Health Organization are dying at a rate of 200 a day from various causes, including malnutrition.
The study has specific recommendations, including calls to provide food aid, to protect aid workers and to devise a peace strategy.
Although Moncure chaired the DLA Darfur Crisis committee, volunteers contributed a large part of the work. He cited the work of David Multiner '62 and Ronald P. Wiess '68.
Those volunteers also assessed the validity of a class action lawsuit brought against the government of Sudan and a Canadian oil well company in the Southern District of New York in 2001.
Dartmouth lawyers looked at the lawsuit that failed to reach trial in an attempt to see whether a stronger case can be brought on behalf of those affected by the 20-year-long civil war in Sudan.
The DLA has sought to establish support for legal education to graduates of the College and its affiliated professional schools for over 20 years.
Moncure said he hoped the congressional contacts of former Kentucky Attorney General Fred Cowan '67, including Senate majority whip Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., could be used to bring attention to the study.
A full copy of the study called can be found on the DLA website at www.dla.org.
