A panel sponsored by the Committee on Global Thought called on the general public to continue putting pressure on political leaders to help end human rights abuses in Darfur.

Moderated by University Professor and Chair of the Committee Joseph Stiglitz, the panel, called "The Global Response to Darfur: Lessons for the Future," discussed the perceived failure of the international community to impose its will in the region.

"What went wrong, why, when, and who is responsible? Everything went wrong" said Jan Pronk, former special representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations in Sudan, who ran peacekeeping and humanitarian operations in the region until 2004.

"There is a humanitarian situation that has improved due to people from this country [the United States]," he said, referring to work by non-governmental organizations to increase the political will of more powerful nations to intervene in the crisis. "The present situation is extremely bleak."

Also on the panel were judge Antonio Cassese, professor of international law at the University of Florence, who led a U.N. team that determined genocide was not committed in Sudan, and Alastair Ager, Columbia professor of clinical population and family health, who addressed how the crisis is affecting the children of the region.

Cassese spoke of his experience in the region, inspecting prisons and gathering evidence, then explaining his decision not to call the humanitarian crisis genocide.

"We spent three months working very hard," Cassese said. He went on to say that his team consisted of five commissioners and 20 experienced investigators, none of whom found enough evidence of genocide, based on the narrow definition set by the U.N.

The "special intent" required for genocide was not present, he said.

"I think U.N. action has been totally deficient," Cassese said, saying that the Security Council's move to place four members of the Sudanese government on an international terrorist watch list-preventing them from travel and freezing their assets abroad-was a token gesture.

"This man's [one of the government members of the Sudanese government placed on the watch list] assets are in camels, cows, and wives," he said.

Cassese also predicted a grim future. "Arrest warrants [in the case of Darfur] will not be executed. ... To my regret, the [U.N.] prosecutor has only issued orders of appearance for second-rate people," he said.

Cassese and Pronk also spoke of the fact that-according to Cassese-the United States has "lost credibility" in the region, a statement that Pronk vehemently agreed with.