Joint Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Carine Umuhumuza, [email protected], 202-478-5314
Human Rights Groups Urge NYC Hotels to Deny Sudanese President Bashir Accomodations
Six major human rights groups representing hundreds of thousands of supporters released a letter today to the Hotel Association of New York City, urging all of their 260 member hotels in the greater metro region to deny Sudanese President Bashir accommodations.
At a news conference on Sunday, September 22, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir announced that he reserved his flights and booked a hotel in New York City for his visit to the United Nations General Assembly. President Bashir is sought by International Criminal Court on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his actions in Darfur.
The groups strongly urge the Hotel Association and all of its members to deny any request for accommodations for President Bashir. Allowing Bashir into any hotel sends the wrong message to the guests, staff and neighbors and most importantly, would be a huge disgrace to the victims of the genocide in Darfur.
John Prendergast, Enough Project Co-Founder said:
"If Bashir does come to New York, at a minimum businesses that profit from his stay should pay a price. Whatever hotel decides to let him stay will face reputational damage and voluntary boycotts from conscientious people from all over the United States. For someone implicated in genocide, there should be no room at the inn."
Read the full letter: https://enoughproject.org/files/Human-Rights-Coalition-Letter-Hotel-Association-NYC-Bashir.pdf