Hundreds of people sounded rape alarms outside the British Prime Minister's office in London on Sunday to protest mass rape of women in Darfur.
A coalition of groups, including Amnesty International (AI), the Aegis Trust, the National Union of Students, the Mother's Union and the Women's Institute, staged the event to fall on the United Nations Human Rights Day.
It is said that between a quarter of a million and 400,000 people have lost their lives in Darfur. Four million more have been displaced from their homes and villages.
AI spokesperson Sarah Green said that women were among the victims of the violence.
"Women and girls have been, and continue to be raped on a massive scale in order that their whole communities are terrorised," she said.
Green said that the purpose of the protest was to pressure the British government to ensure that a U.N. Security Council resolution to allow more peacekeepers into Sudan is enforced.
"The UK government has taken a positive stance in terms of a U.N. force in Darfur," Policy Director of Aegis Trust, Stephen Twigg. "But we need those good words translated into urgent action."
Britain played a crucial role in getting the U.N. resolution passed, but China abstained from the vote.
A former resident of Darfur, known only as Aisha, said that the people there have been stripped of their livelihood and live in constant fear of violence.
She described how migrants had fled to her village after their camp had been burned down in a night of violence and rape.
The residents in her area had to accommodate the refugees, and in some instances more than fifty people shared a house.
She said that she had lost "too many" friends and relatives since the conflict began.
Sunday's Darfur protest was echoed in capitals across the world from Mali to Mauritius, the United States to Australia.
The event in London began at the Sudanese Embassy, Cleveland Row, and ended with the handing of a petition to 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister's office and residence.
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