UN Commission finds Sudanese Government responsible for War Crimes in Darfur by UN News / Financial Times / Africa Action.. 12:17pm 2nd Feb, 2005   1 February 2005 (UN News)    A report by a United Nations-appointed commission of inquiry into whether genocide has occurred in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region has found that the Government and Janjaweed militia are responsible for crimes under international law and strongly recommends referring the dossier to the International Criminal Court (ICC).    While concluding that the Government has not pursued a policy of genocide, the Commission found that Government forces and militias "conducted indiscriminate attacks, including killing of civilians, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, rape and other forms of sexual violence, pillaging and forced displacement."    Summarizing the 177-page report, Secretary General Kofi Annan called on the Security Council today to consider possible sanctions over what the Commission called "serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law amounting to crimes under international law."    The five-person Commission also found credible evidence that rebel forces were responsible for possible war crimes, including murder of civilians and pillage. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and up to 1.85 million others are internally displaced or have fled to neighbouring Chad since rebels took up arms in early 2003, partly in protest at the distribution of economic resources.    The conclusion that no genocidal policy had been pursued should not be taken in any way as detracting from the gravity of the crimes perpetrated, it said. "International offences such as the crimes against humanity and war crimes that have been committed in Darfur may be no less serious and heinous than genocide," the panel added. But the crucial element of genocidal intent appeared to missing, at least as far as the central Government authorities are concerned.    The Commission was particularly alarmed that attacks on villages, killing of civilians, rape, pillaging and forced displacement continued during the course of its mandate and considered that "action must be taken urgently to end these violations."    It rebutted Government statements that attacks were for counter-insurgency purposes and conducted on the basis of military imperatives, saying most were "deliberately and indiscriminately directed against civilians," and even where rebels may have been present, the use of force was manifestly disproportionate to the threat posed.    In a single paragraph devoted to the rebels in a five-page summary, it said that while it did not find a systematic or a widespread pattern, there was credible evidence that members of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) were also responsible for "serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law which may amount to war crimes. In particular, these violations include cases of murder of civilians and pillage," it added.    Strongly recommending that the Security Council immediately refer the situation of Darfur to the ICC, the Commission was scathing about the Sudanese Government's own ability to deal with it.    "The Sudanese justice system is unable and unwilling to address the situation in Darfur," it said. "The measures taken so far by the Government to address the crisis have been both grossly inadequate and ineffective, which has contributed to the climate of almost total impunity for human rights violations in Darfur.    "Very few victims have lodged official complaints regarding crimes committed against them or their families, due to a lack of confidence in the justice system," it added.    It also recommended the establishment of a compensation commission to grant reparation to the victims of the crimes, whether or not the perpetrators have been identified. "The Commission considers that the Security Council must act not only against the perpetrators but also on behalf of the victims," it said.    The Commission has given Mr. Annan a sealed file of names of people it believes responsible to be handed over to a competent prosecutor.    "My own support for the ICC is well known," Mr. Annan said in his statement on the report today. "But this is a decision for the Security Council, not for me. What is vital is that these people are indeed held accountable. Such grave crimes cannot be committed with impunity. That would be a terrible betrayal of the victims, and of potential future victims in Darfur and elsewhere."    Asked what specific action Mr. Annan wanted from the Security Council, spokesman Fred Eckhard told a news briefing the Secretary-General "has for a long time been asking that decisive action be taken and less than decisive action has been taken in this case. But still there are options open and he hopes the Council will give serious consideration and try to beef up the international response to this tragedy."    Tuesday, February 1, 2005 (Washington, DC)    Africa Action Rejects Conclusion of UN Report on Darfur:- Urges Immediate Action to Address Ongoing Atrocities against Civilians; Warns Against Shift of Focus to Debate over Tribunals while Genocide Continues.    Africa Action today rejected the conclusion of a United Nations (UN) Special Commission report, which this week declares that a pattern of government-sponsored killings, displacement and other forms of violence in Darfur, Sudan, does not constitute genocide. The report, which acknowledges that abuses carried out by government and militia forces in Darfur may constitute "crimes against humanity", comes just one week after UN and African Union (AU) troops confirmed new attacks against civilians by the Sudanese Air Force, killing at least 105 people, most of these women and children.    Salih Booker, Executive Director of Africa Action, said this morning, "The UN Commission Report masks the truth and contradicts itself. It concludes that the Sudanese government "has not pursued a policy of genocide", while it admits that the government and its militias are responsible for widespread and systematic crimes against civilians, which "may be no less serious and heinous than genocide." In effect, it is punting to the International Criminal Court, which it says should make a determination on genocidal intent. Just as happened in Rwanda a decade ago, the international community is splitting hairs as a genocide unfolds in Africa."    Africa Action notes that the genocidal intent of the Sudanese government is clear from extensive documentary evidence gathered by human rights groups, as well as by the U.S. government in its earlier investigation. Moreover, international legal precedent holds that genocidal intent can be inferred from the context and pattern of abuses when they are systematically directed against a group. The UN report finds that "the vast majority of the victims of these violations have been from the Fur, Zaghawa, Massalit" and other ethnic groups in Darfur.    Ann-Louise Colgan, Director of Policy Analysis and Communications at Africa Action, stated that, "The UN report confirms the gravity of crimes perpetrated by the government and militias in Darfur, and must make it all the more urgent for the international community to act immediately to stop the violence. As the government-sponsored killings, rapes, displacements and destruction of villages continues, the top priority must be to take action to provide protection to the displaced and vulnerable communities of Darfur."    As the UN Report recommends that the International Criminal Court be invited to pursue the prosecution of those suspected of war crimes in Darfur, and as the U.S. proposes the creation of a new and separate tribunal in Tanzania, Colgan warned this morning, "This debate over the location and composition of a war crimes tribunal for Darfur diverts attention from the immediate priority, which must be ending the ongoing genocide. It is certainly important to ensure that those responsible are held accountable and brought to justice for their crimes, but people are still dying in Darfur at a rate estimated to be 35,000 deaths per month, and ending this violence must be the first order of business for the international community."    Booker added, "Just one week after UN ceremonies commemorated the Holocaust, the international community must respond to the ongoing crisis in Darfur with the urgency that it requires. The U.S. declared five months ago that genocide is happening in Darfur, but it has failed to live up to the obligation this carries. The UN this week has failed to act again. This is not the first time that the U.S. and the international community have failed the victims of genocide in Africa. Nor is it the first time that the government in Khartoum has pursued genocide as a preferred method of counterinsurgency."    Africa Action notes the Security Council will this week consider the UN Commission report, and will debate possible sanctions or other punitive measures. But Booker emphasizes, "International leadership is still missing to stop a genocide that has already killed 400,000 Sudanese and that still continues."    Africa Action today reiterated its call on the U.S. to do everything necessary to secure a UN Security Council Resolution invoking Chapter 7, which would authorize a multinational intervention force to stop the genocide in Darfur. Africa Action calls on the Security Council to: (1) Provide the African Union force with a Chapter 7 mandate under the UN Charter to protect the civilians of Darfur and to enforce a cease-fire; (2) Expand this force by soliciting military personnel and logistical, communications & financial support from UN member nations to form a UN peacekeeping operation to incorporate and support the AU troops under Chapter 7; (3) Enforce the no-fly zone over Darfur; (4) Impose an immediate arms embargo on the government of Sudan    Published: February 2, 2005.    "The ICC is the right venue". (The Financial Times: Editorial)    A special United Nations commission of inquiry has found evidence of "massive atrocities on a very large scale" in Sudan's Darfur region. It stopped short of describing the violence of the Sudanese government and its militia allies against rebels and villagers as genocide because, it said, it could find no genocidal intent. But few, outside the Khartoum government, would contest that serious war crimes may have taken place and should be investigated before an international court. However, for reasons entirely extraneous to Sudan, there is a looming jurisdictional dispute, chiefly between the US and Europe, that could prevent anything happening at all.    The issue of whether what has been happening in Darfur meets the international legal definition of genocide is a bit of a distraction. US accusations that Sudan was practising genocide certainly helped raise the alarm. But the UN convention against genocide is not a very clear guide to action. It commits states to prevent and punish the crime, but does not say how. Events a decade ago in Rwanda showed that refusal by the UN and the international community to use the term at all amounted to a refusal to recognise there was any real problem. But the fact that the UN inquiry decided that events in Darfur did not meet the genocide test does not mean serious atrocities have not taken place. Indeed the UN panel says lack of apparent genocide should not detract from the gravity of crimes there.    Equally, the UN report is clear that Sudan is neither able nor willing to conduct its own trials and that the best forum for this is the International Criminal Court. The Bush administration, which fought against the establishment of the ICC on the ground that it might gratuitously arraign US personnel as war criminals, has proposed handing the Darfur dossiers to the Rwanda war crimes tribunal still at work in Tanzania. However, the UN panel rightly rejects this as expensive, cumbersome and time-consuming, compared with the quicker alternative of the ready-made ICC. Speedy investigation and trials could indeed save lives by their deterrent effect on those still committing violence in Darfur.    Moreover, in this case, the US as a Security Council member could retain some say over ICC proceedings. Because Sudan never ratified the ICC treaty, only the UN Security Council can refer Darfur to that court. In principle, all of Europe is in favour of giving the ICC jurisdiction. However, there are signs that Britain is wavering on this, out of concern for US sensibilities. Such behaviour would come oddly from the UK which, in the context of the Balkans, has been particularly adamant that suspected war criminals be brought to justice. Of course, it may be that other Security Council members such as China, which never signed or ratified the ICC, might object to putting Sudan in the ICC dock. But it should be left to Beijing, as well as to Washington, to explain any veto they might care to cast on this issue.    1 February 2005    "Take Action on Darfur Before It's Too Late". Statement from Gay McDougall, Executive Director, Global Rights.    Earlier this week, a United Nations-appointed International Commission of Inquiry released a detailed 176-page report about the ongoing crisis in Darfur, Sudan.  In it, the Commission described a litany of atrocities, citing instances of people being summarily shot and killed, of people being thrown into fires to burn to death, and of people being partially skinned and left to die.  In many villages, the homes, schools, health centers, and “all essential structures and implements for the survival of the population” have been destroyed, they found.  Women have been raped in public.  And children have been specifically targeted for abuse “sometimes in horrific circumstances such as by burning or mutilation.”    Based on these findings, the Commission concluded that the government of Sudan and the janjaweed [Arab militias] are responsible for a number of egregious abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.    For technical reasons, the Commission indicated that it did not believe genocide has been committed as state policy, but made clear that individuals—including government officials—may have acted with genocidal intent, a determination they said would have to be made by a competent court.    The Commission then stressed that “such international offenses as crimes against humanity or large scale war crimes may be no less serious or heinous than genocide.”  While Global Rights agrees that the crimes in Darfur are of the utmost gravity (whatever they are called), we believe that more evidence is needed before a final conclusion on whether the precise elements of a state policy of genocide can be identified.    In its report, the Commission went on to “strongly recommend” that the UN Security Council refer the situation in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC).  The ICC would be able to bring the perpetrators of these heinous crimes to justice, the Commission explained, whereas the Sudanese government has proved itself unwilling or unable to do so.  And the ICC could begin its work immediately, without a significant financial burden for the international community—an important factor that could contribute to halting deaths on the ground in Darfur in the short term.    Because Global Rights strongly supports the Commission’s finding on the need for accountability before the ICC, we call on the U.S. government to immediately curb its opposition to such a referral and, at a minimum, to abstain from casting a veto.  The United States’ opposition to the court stems from its fear that Americans could be prosecuted before it.  But a referral on Darfur poses no risk in this regard.  Rather, it would allow the United States to show that it is a supporter of human rights and to mend strained relations with the Europeans (who support a referral to the ICC), while maintaining control over which cases the Security Council sends to the court in the future.     The time for action on Darfur is long overdue.  The United States has been a leader on this issue, calling the events in Darfur genocide and pushing for the Commission of Inquiry’s creation.  Now that the Commission has issued its findings, making clear the scale of the horror taking place and offering its recommendations for moving forward, the United States, along with the rest of the international community, must not stand in the way of justice being done.  We do not have time to waste.  We must act now.
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