UNITED NATIONS A General Assembly Distr. GENERAL A/HRC/7/NGO/55 25 February 2008 ENGLISH ONLY HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Seventh session Agenda item 4 HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATIONS THAT REQUIRE THE COUNCIL’S ATTENTION Written statement* submitted by Society for Threatened Peoples, a non-governmental organization in special consultative status The Secretary-General has received the following written statement which is circulated in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31. [20 February 2008] • This written statement is issued, unedited, in the language(s) received from the submitting non-governmental organization(s). GE.08-10914 A/HRC/7/NGO/55 page 2 Sudan No end to impunity for crimes against humanity in Darfur The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo, urged the international community on September 20, 2007 to ensure that Sudan turns over two Darfur war crimes suspects. “World leaders must understand that if the justice component process is ignored crimes will continue and affect the humanitarian and security operation in Darfur”, declared Moreno-Ocampo. On April 27, 2007 the ICC had issued arrest warrants for Ahmed Haroun, the deputy Interior Minister of Sudan in 2003 and 2004, and the Janjaweed-Commander Ali Kushayb for 51 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. But no concrete action of the Sudanese authorities followed. In September 2007 the Government appointed the then State Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Ahmed Haroun despite the arrest warrants to co-chair a committee which should analyze the human rights situation in western Sudan. Haroun still has not been transferred to The Hague to face criminal investigation by the ICC. In his position as the government’s liaison with UNAMID he maintains a prominent position in Sudanese politics. Haroun was quoted as saying that he had been given the authority to either kill or forgive in Darfur for the sake of peace and security. According to the ICC he was responsible for organizing and funding the Janjaweed. Ali Kushayb who commanded thousands of Janjaweed allegedly stood by and promoted rape and torture as part of the war strategy. He was one of the key militia leaders responsible for attacks on villages in West Darfur in 2003 / 2004. ICC judges are convinced that he bears responsibility for rapes, destruction of property, perpetrating inhumane acts as well as attacking and killing civilians in at least four villages. He was imprisoned in Sudan from November 2006 to October 2007 on unrelated charges, but then released without being transferred to the ICC. In April 2006 the UN Security Council imposed financial sanctions and a travel ban against Janjaweed-Commander Musa Hilal for obstructing peace in Darfur. After being convicted in 1998 for armed robbery against the Central Bank of Nyala he was released from prison by the Government of Sudan in 2003 to help crush the rebellion in Darfur. In 2005 Hilal admitted in interviews that he recruited Arab tribesmen on behalf of the Government of Sudan to fight against rebels in Darfur. Numerous eyewitnesses named Hilal as responsible for brutal attacks on the civilian population, rape, destruction of villages and ethnic cleansing. Despite his prominent role in the crimes against humanity, Hilal on January 18, 2008 was appointed special advisor for the Ministry of Federal Affairs in Sudan. The three cases are clear evidence that the Government of Sudan is not committed to end impunity in Darfur. Unfortunately the UN Security Council failed to agree on a presidential statement supporting the arrest of Darfur war crime suspects and their extradition to the ICC on December 9, 2007 due to blocking votes of China and Qatar. Desperate human rights situation in Darfur In March 2007 a UN fact-finding mission led by U.S. Nobel laureate Jody Williams concluded that the Government of Sudan had orchestrated militia attacks on civilians in Darfur. The U.N. Human Rights Council rejected the recommendations of Williams’ team, voting instead to create an expert group. A week after this group of seven rights experts had A/HRC/7/NGO/55 page 3 accused Sudan of failing to protect civilians in Darfur from rape, torture and other forms of violence, the Human Rights Council dissolved this committee on December 14, 2007 due to demands from African countries to ease the political pressure on Sudan. The situation in Darfur has evolved from an armed conflict between liberation movements and the government into a violent scramble for power and resources involving government forces, Janjaweed militias, liberation movements and bandits. But this complex situation should not divert attention from Khartoum’s responsibility for crimes against humanity. Sudan’s government is responsible for indiscriminate aerial bombing, ground attacks on the civilian population, complicity in Janjaweed attacks on villages and for its failure to protect the civilian population. Monitors of the African Union, U.N. rights experts, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, U.N. agencies, Sudanese and international human rights organisations and humanitarian organizations have been documenting crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and other gross human rights violations in Darfur in dozens of reports. Thousands of pages with testimonies from victims or their family members have been published. Recent satellite photos documented the widespread destruction of villages and the entire ethnic and social system in western Sudan. According to estimates 2.066 villages in Darfur have been destroyed in Darfur since February 2003, a further 685 villages have been partly destroyed. At least 2.4 million persons became Internal Displaced People. More than 400,000 were seeking refuge in neighbouring Chad. In February 2008 around 50,000 people in Darfur fled their villages due to a military offensive of the Sudanese army. Nearly every month tens of thousands of civilians had to flee to protect their lives from attacks by militias, rebels, bandits or the regular army. There is no efficient protection for the civilian population in western Sudan. Not even in the larger towns or in IDP camps, civilians are protected and safe. In 2007 once again hundreds of women and girls were raped, especially near IDP camps. Sometimes Sudanese officials have been pressurised IDP’s to leave refugee camps. In October 2007, U.N. officials accused Sudanese authorities to chase refugees out of the refugee camp Otash. The camp is situated near South Darfur’s capital Nyala and houses 60,000 refugees. U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, declared that these involuntary relocations are violating U.N. agreements with Sudan. Inside the camps, guns are cheap, tensions and violence are mounting. Most of the IDPs are women, children and youth. Since April 2006 there have been 120,000 newly displaced children. Many of the youth feel desperate, because they harbour no hope to return in their destroyed villages. Escalation of violence in Darfur threatens aid operation An upsurge of banditry further complicated all humanitarian aid operations in western Sudan. Chaos is looming as violence increases and public order collapses. 4.2 million civilians in Darfur are currently relying on humanitarian aid. Since the end of September 2007 the dangers and obstacles relief agencies in Darfur are facing have continued to increase. Aid agencies were only able to provide minimal assistance to major IDP camps in North and South Darfur due to ongoing insecurity. Between January and November 2007 at least 74 humanitarian transports were attacked and 128 vehicles hijacked. Some 131 humanitarian staff was kidnapped and 12 aid workers were killed. Many trucking A/HRC/7/NGO/55 page 4 companies refuse to send in more vehicles because of the upsurge in violence and kidnappings. In the first two months of the year 2008 this alarming trend worsened sharply, endangering the activities of many aid agencies. Some humanitarian organisations have meanwhile left western Sudan due to the issue of insecurity and the lack of access to those in need. UNAMID deployment has been obstructed On July 31, 2007, the UN Security Council authorised a hybrid United Nations / African Union peacekeeping operation (UNAMID) in western Sudan. Six months later, little, if any, additional capacity has been deployed or is on the horizon to ensure an effective protection of the civilian population. The government of Sudan has systematically obstructed the deployment of UNAMID in at least five ways. Khartoum failed for more than two months to formally approve the list of UNAMID troop contributions. Troop proposals from Nepal, the Scandinavian countries and Thailand were rejected, insisting that only African troops were welcome. The land allocation for new bases has taken months. Furthermore, the government refused to grant permissions for new troops to fly at night and imposed curfews near some bases. Several times Khartoum tried to impose restrictions on the communication network of UNAMID. Society for Threatened Peoples calls on the Human Rights Council to: • condemn the crimes against humanity committed by the Sudanese army and its allied militia, the abuses of the civilian population as well as the violations of the humanitarian ceasefire agreement, • urge the Sudanese government to ensure free access and protection for aid agencies, • insist on an immediate end of the persecutions, slaughter and “ethnic cleansing”, • urge the Sudanese government to refrain from any obstruction of the UNAMID deployment to ensure the protection of the civilian population, • call on the Sudanese government to end impunity for crimes committed in Darfur and to fully cooperate with the International Criminal Court in The Hague, • urge the international community to enhance a new negotiation of the Darfur Peace Agreement involving all conflict parties, • call on the international community to strengthen its political pressure on the Sudanese government in order to stop crimes against humanity in Darfur.