Waging peace: Darfur children's drawings and other material

Waging Peace is a human rights organisation which campaigns against genocide and systematic human rights violations in Sudan. The organisation produces regular in-depth research reports which enable it to support the call for urgent, effective and measurable action from the UK government and the international community. It works closely with decision-makers and the public to raise awareness of the human rights situation in Sudan.

In June and July 2007, Waging Peace researcher Anna Schmitt conducted a three week fact-finding mission to Eastern Chad. The aim of the mission was to assess the humanitarian, human rights and security situation in the region and to collect testimonies from Darfuri refugees and displaced Chadians.

While collecting testimonies from adults, women told Anna how their children had witnessed horrendous events when their villages were being attacked. This prompted Anna to talk to the children. She gave the children aged 6 to 18 paper and pencils and asked them what their dreams were for the future and what their strongest memory was.

When the children handed Anna their drawings, she was shocked to see the details of their memories of the attacks. While a handful of children had submitted drawings of daily life in the village or in the refugee camp, the majority of the drawings described the attacks on their village by Sudanese Government forces and their allied Janjaweed militia. Many of the drawings depict adult men being killed, women being shot, beaten and taken prisoner, babies being thrown on fires and Government of Sudan helicopters and planes bombing civilians.

The five hundred drawings collected by Waging Peace amount to a form of criminal evidence from silent witnesses. The killings, bombing and looting shown in the drawings directly contradict the Government of Sudan's version of events over the last four years of bloodshed. The pattern that emerges from these drawings corroborates what is known to have been taking place in Darfur and depicts a similar pattern of attacks developing in Eastern Chad.

In November 2007, the drawings were accepted by the International Criminal Court as contextual evidence of the crimes committed in Darfur. They are also being exhibited throughout the world to raise awareness about the crisis in Darfur.