CHRISTIAN SOLIDARITY INTERNATIONAL

DANA BENJAMIN, JOANNA MAYHEW,
ALEXANDRA MAYER-HOHDAHL AND PETER MYERS
BOSTON UNIVERSITY

October 11, 2002

Christian Solidarity International
870 Hampshire Road, Suite T
Westlake Village, CA 91361

Dear Sir or Madam:

While researching non-profit organizations, we came across Christian Solidarity International and your cause immediately sparked our interest. We feel that our campaign will raise awareness for the problem of slavery in Sudan.

In the following proposal, we have put together both a print and television public service campaign. We hope that this will be helpful to your organization.

Sincerely,

Dana, Joanna, Alexandra and Peter.

***

1. Problem

The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, “No one shall be held in slavery.” However, it is still an everyday threat for a number of people around the world. Sudan, Africa’s largest country, cannot provide complete protection for its inhabitants. A war-torn nation for decades, Sudan has become a scene of ethnic and religious discrimination.

The mainly black and Christian South regularly faces the Islamic North in bloody battles. Civilians are the ones who suffer the most. Amnesty International estimates that more than two million people have died so far in the South alone. According to the United Nations, 700,000 are considered to be under a threat of death and 4.5 million have been driven away from their homes.

In addition to these overwhelming statistics, a new trend in warfare has appeared in the North’s strategy. Soldiers, equipped with the most modern arms supplied by the Northern government, regularly raid villages in the South. They are not only looking for loot – they are also searching for slaves.

Tens of thousands of children and women are abducted, forced to walk several days to the North and then sold into bondage under conditions that go against all human rights. These slaves are mistreated physically and psychologically. Severe beatings, rape, female genital mutilation, death threats, torture and forced conversion to Islam are the norm. The stories and testimonies they bring back, along with the bruises and scars, are proof enough.

Unfortunately, the international community has turned a blind eye to what is happening in Sudan. Their intervention is needed to stop the Northern regime, based in Khartoum, from leading a so-called Jihad against the South. A sanction against companies doing business with or in Sudan had been considered by the United States, but this sanction has been forgotten in the midst of the anti-terrorist work it is now involved in. In September 2001, the United Nations Security Council lifted its sanctions; Sudan is now to become part of the “civilized” world, even though such barbaric actions are still taking place.

Slavery and the actions of the Sudanese government remain a crucial violation of human rights. It is essential for the international community to react to this and apply pressure on the Khartoum regime to make sure they stop their inhuman warfare strategies. In addition, it is important to lend our support to non-profit and non-governmental organizations that fight slavery, CSI being one of the only ones to do so in Sudan.

CONTEXT

It is impossible to determine exactly how many people have been enslaved since the beginning of the civil war in Sudan. Yet the slave trade has been documented over and over again by journalists – from Newsweek, Time, ZDF and 3-SAT, to name but a few –especially over the last years, when the organizations involved in Sudan have brought them into the country.

Today, CSI is one of the few non-governmental organizations that remain in Sudan. A similar American organization, Christian Freedom International, was recently forced to discontinue its practice of buying back the slaves’ freedom because of international pressure and criticism. Indeed, it has been said that organizations such as CSI only end up helping the slave traders to make more money. Still, CSI continues its work and is thinking of expanding its program.

Actions at a more global international level include the proposed Sudan Peace Act, which would stop companies that do business with Sudan from receiving any U.S. capital. However, this treaty now faces an uncertain future, as the U.S. is looking for allies among Islamic states to strengthen their fight against terrorism.

RESEARCH

Since 1995, over 78,000 black Sudanese slaves have been liberated through the CSI-sponsored “Underground Railroad.” In this slave redemption program, CSI pays networks of Arab retrievers a fixed rate of 50,000 Sudanese pounds — currently the purchase price of two goats or $35 — for every slave freed and returned. Once returned, CSI provides food, medical aid, and education to the former slaves (www.csi-int.ch).

According to CSI, over 200,000 Sudanese are believed to currently be in bondage. Slavery is clearly defined in international law as a “crime against humanity.” The U.S. State Department, several U.N. Special Rapporteurs, and many human rights organizations have implicated the Government of Sudan in the revival of black slavery in Sudan. CSI’s ultimate goal is nothing less than the abolition of slavery in Sudan.

Recently, CSI joined forces with The American Anti-Slavery Group and the National Black Leadership Roundtable to begin a project for documenting liberated and missing Sudanese slaves. The new documentation project aims to enable governments, human rights organizations, and the general public to better understand the extent of Sudan’s revived slave trade. Sound documentation of this scourge of Sudanese slavery is essential for its complete abolition and the reunion of slaves with their families.

The documentation project is underway and, according to CSI, preliminary analysis of interviews with over 1,200 liberated slaves reveals that more than 70% of females over the age of twelve were raped while in bondage and over 15% of boy slaves older than six years were sexually abused by their captors or members of their masters’ households. Over 80% reported they had witnessed the execution of at least one slave by their mujahadeen captors or by their domestic masters. The same percentage said that they were forced to convert to Islam.

This documentation process, while extremely important, is also very costly. We believe that our new campaign proposals will effectively result in a significant increase in monetary support. This support can then be directed to the documentation program and other areas, but it will be aimed at aiding CSI reach its ultimate goal: to end slavery in Sudan.

The opponents to CSI have only one complaint — by buying back slaves in Sudan, CSI is funding slave traders to buy more ammunition to perform further raids, and thus increase the slave trade. However, this argument is easily refuted. CSI argues that all available research suggests that the number of slave raids has decreased since CSI began its slave redemption program in 1995.

SOLUTION & ANALYSIS

Our campaign is targeted at the middle-aged American workforce. Usually, this segment of the population has expendable income to give to charity. Though the ads that we will be presenting may not seem target-based, their placement has been strategically planned for the middle-aged American business-person.

In order to reach this target group effectively, we plan on putting our public service announcement in Newsweek magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Time, and the Sunday editions of various newspapers. In addition to publications, these advertisements will be placed on subway, buses and other similar modes of commuter transportation.

Although appealing to both intellect and logic, our campaign focuses predominantly on an emotional appeal, using testimonials and pictures of Sudanese slaves. The more personal and truthful the ads are, the more likely the audience is to identify with the cause and invariably contribute to freeing the very people they see.

Our campaign consists of both print ads and television commercials. In the latter, the use of testimonials will bring people closer to the cause CSI is advocating. In both facets, we use emotion-evoking pictures and the slogan “How much is your freedom worth?” These common aspects of the ads help create an image of the company and a sense of urgency for the cause. The dark backgrounds of both ads aid in creating the serious mood that accompanies CSI’s cause. If we were to use twenty different slogans with catchy words and bright colors, the message would not be communicated nearly as urgently or effectively.

We also predict that our ads will create publicity for CSI, resulting in discussion around the business community. Once CSI has established itself, we plan to integrate a cause marketing campaign, which would consist of a letter of appeal sent to large companies and their employees. Cause marketing links a non-profit organization and a large company, forming a symbiotic relationship that results in publicity for both. There is a lot of potential for the bright future of CSI, and with our campaign, we feel that this potential will be reached and surpassed.

***

“Piling Up”
TV Spot
:60 seconds

Fade in to a shot from above a table, looking straight down. A Polaroid photo of a slave woman comes into the frame and is held above the table in front of the camera.

VOICE 1 (the story of 18-year-old Nhomacot Mawien Yaac): I was enslaved four years ago. I was sleeping when they came. All of a sudden, I heard shooting and ran outside. As soon as I got outside, I saw my two brothers shot dead.

The photo is dropped as the story finishes. The photo falls onto the table and another comes into the frame.

VOICE 2 (Ayak Thiep Dau): Some of the soldiers came and beat me with bamboo sticks and other things. The whole time I screamed and cried. They tied my hands to a long rope. There were about 20 people tied with me.

The photo is dropped as the story finishes. The photo falls onto the table and another comes into the frame.

VOICE 3 (Akiir Kuol Kuol): We were quick-marched, beaten and brutalized night and day. On the very first night I was raped by several people.

The photo is dropped as the story finishes. The photo falls onto the table and another comes into the frame.

VOICE 4 (Awut Arol Diing): I was taken by a certain man called Mohammed Eissa. I became his slave and for five long years have known nothing but hunger, beating and ill treatment.

The photo is dropped. Now photo after photo comes into frame and falls to the table as American woman’s voice begins.

ANNOUNCER: These stories are too common among the 78,000 slaves that Christian Solidarity International has already freed in Sudan. Your donation of thirty-five dollars will provide a new life of freedom for one of these victims.