Information on Loughborough

Lost Voices of Darfur: and exhibition of drawings by refugee children

Posted on 26/08/2009
University of Leicester

From 11-18 September 2009, the University of Leicester, School of Law, hosts an exhibition of drawings by Darfuri and Chadian Children to raise awareness about the crisis in Darfur.

In June and July 2007, a researcher from Article 1, a UK-based charity which investigates and exposes systematic and grave violations of human rights, 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 the researcher how their children had witnessed horrendous events when their villages were being attacked. This prompted her 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 her 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.

The five hundred drawings collected by Article 1 amount to a form of criminal evidence from silent witnesses. In November 2007, the drawings were accepted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague as contextual evidence of the crimes committed in Darfur and as such they will be used in the trials of the accused, as a graphic illustration of the atrocities.

The drawings will be exhibited in the UK, US, Canada, Italy, Czech Republic and throughout the world. They will also be submitted to the International Criminal Court which is investigating crimes taking place in Darfur.

The exhibition at the University of Leicester is free and open to all, and takes place in the David Wilson Library. It marks the Critical Legal Conference 2009, hosted by the School of Law. For further information, please contact Dr Virginia Mantouvalou, University of Leicester, School of Law (email: virginia.mantouvalou@le.ac.uk )