New Zealand urges urgent UN action to end Darfur crimes against humanity

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Feb 8, 2005 (AP) — New Zealand on Tuesday urged the United Nations’ Security Council to swiftly end crimes against humanity being committed in the Darfur region of Sudan.

A 14- year-old Sudanese girl holds her wounded baby brother, hit by shrapnel from an aerial attack in North Darfur, October 2004. Their mother was killed in the bombing attack. (HRW).

New Zealand last week joined Canada and Australia in a letter demanding immediate action by the council to send suspected perpetrators of atrocities in the Darfur region to the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

A referral from the council is the only way the court can consider such cases as Sudan, which is not a party to the treaty establishing the court.

“The perpetrators must be held individually responsible for their actions and brought to justice,” Foreign Minister Phil Goff said in a statement. “Unless this happens, we can add Darfur to the long list of unpunished international crimes.”

Goff also called on the council to urgently renew its efforts to address the “appalling situation on the ground in Darfur.”

Goff’s call followed the Jan. 31 release of a U.N.-backed report that concluded Sudan’s government and allied militias had likely committed crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur, but not genocide as the United States claims.

The conflict has left at least 70,000 people dead and forced more than 2 million from their homes.

The report recommended 51 Sudanese — including high-ranking government officials, rebels and Arabs who served in the militia known as the Janjaweed — stand trial at the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges related to the two-year Darfur conflict.

The Sudanese government, which denies backing the Janjaweed, has ruled out handing over any Sudanese official or citizen to face criminal charges in an international court.