ABSTRACT
The Darfur Atrocities Documentation Project (ADP) was both a great success and a disturbing failure. The project and the report, “Documenting Atrocities in Darfur,” had great value in at least three respects. First, the Project played a pivotal role in the U.S. Government's declaration of genocide in Darfur. Second, Secretary of State Colin Powell's and President George W. Bush's evocations of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (UNCG) in response to the report helped to keep Darfur on Washington's political agenda. Third, the field interviews and timely analysis of data in mid-2004 showed that a determination of genocide can be made before it is too late to respond. Despite all this, the Darfur Atrocities Documentation Project led to virtually no action to stop the genocide. The combination of high-level attention and near complete lack of action bodes poorly for future efforts to respond effectively to ongoing mass killing.
