Rights violations are contining with impunity in Darfur – UN

September 17, 2007 (GENEVA) — The United Nations top human rights official warned on Monday that rights violations are contining in Darfur and that the Sudanese government has yet to make serious progress on tackling impunity for offenders.

“Darfur continues to be a matter of serious preoccupation,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour told journalists.

“Human rights violations continue to be of the same nature and largely on the same scale,” she said.

People forced into camps after fleeing their homes continue to be targeted, with women in particular vulnerable to sexual attacks, she said.

Arbour warned that there was “very little progress on national efforts to combat the culture of impunity.”

“There is very little indication of a change of attitude for the better on the part of the government of Sudan to respond to the warrants issued by the International Criminal Court,” she added.

In May, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Ahmed Haroun, the secretary of state for humanitarian affairs, and pro-government Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kosheib, but Sudan has refused to hand them over.

However, Arbour did say that the “slightly more energised peace process” and the prospect of a joint UN-African Union “hybrid” peacekeeping force give some hope of new momentum towards a peaceful settlement.

“These two initiatives certainly give cause for some optimism that the human rights situation could improve,” she said.

Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir met with Italian prime minister Romano Prodi last week and reportedly promised “total cooperation” with a hybrid peacekeeping force.

According to UN estimates, more than 200,000 people have died and some two million have been displaced in Darfur as a result of the combined effect of war and famine since the conflict erupted more than four years ago.

Khartoum disputes the figures and says only 9,000 people died.

(AFP)