New softer statement on Sudan to go before UN rights commission
GENEVA, April 22 (AFP) — A strongly worded proposal before the UN’s top human rights forum on claims of atrocities by government-backed militias in Sudan’s western Darfur region may be altered to a “more conciliatory” text, a UN spokesman said, drawing condemnation from advocacy groups.
If accepted by the 53 members of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, chairman Mike Smith would read the new document instead of holding a vote on the EU draft resolution, said Jose Diaz, a spokesman for the UN’s human rights office.
But if any country rejects the statement the Commission would return to voting on the previous proposal, Diaz explained.
“It is done by consensus, with input from consultations with the African Group and Sudan,” he said, describing the new statement.
“It is seen as more conciliatory,” Diaz told AFP.
The text expressed the “deep concern” about the situation in Sudan, which is being called the world’s current worst humanitarian crisis and is thought to have killed an estimated 10,000 people in little more than a year.
It voiced worry “concerning the scale of reported human rights abuses and the humanitarian situation in Darfur-Western Sudan,” while welcoming a decision by the government to allow a UN team to visit the region.
In contrast, the EU draft referred to “the grave violation of human rights and international humanitarian law in Darfur, in particular, reports of systematic attacks on civilians, targeting of villages and centres for internally displaced persons.”
It criticized a lack of government help during the unrest and referred to “the widespread recourse to rape and other forms of sexual violence, including against children, as a means of warfare.”
The document gave the government a long list of challenges to stop the attacks against civilians which have led to “the forced depopulation” of entire areas.
The new statement merely encouraged the government “to actively promote and protect human rights and international humanitarian law.”
Both texts urge the international community to continue providing relief assistance to the affected population in Darfur and to enhance the efforts of the Sudanese government, supported by the African Union, in a peace process mediated by Chad.
The new statement requests the appointment of a special human rights envoy to Sudan who would submit a report to the Commission the following year, whereas the previous text stated such a person would be employed and called on the UN’s human rights office to increase its presence in the capital Khartoum.
The Khartoum government has denied arming the Arab militias accused of looting and burning African villages, forcing some one million people to flee their homes and become displaced in Darfur.
Around 10,000 people are believed to have died in 15 months of fighting in Darfur, which started with a rebellion against the government amid allegations it had backed the marauding militias and was neglecting the region in the far west of Sudan.
The new statement triggered a bitter response from advocacy groups.
“People are dying in Darfur now. The Commission is failing these people,” said Peter Splinter from Amnesty International.
Beatrice Quadranti a spokesperson for the International Federation on Human Rights, remarked: “Will (UN Secretary General) Kofi Annan come back here in 10 years time to commemorate the genocide in Sudan?”
Annan visited the Commission earlier in the month on the 10th anniversary of the Rwanda genocide.