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	Torture persists as standard practice in many countries by Manfred Nowak UN Special Rapporteur on Torture   24 October 2008   Torture is still a frequent or even standard practice in many nations, six decades after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a United Nations expert on the subject said today in New York.   “Today, human rights form the only universally accepted system of the world, but the implementation gap is growing,” Manfred Nowak, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, told reporters.   He pointed out that torture has decreased significantly in several parts of the world, with the practice being reduced sharply after the military dictatorships of Latin America were replaced by democratic governments.   “But on the global level, I still come to the conclusion on the basis of many fact-finding missions and other forms of evidence that torture and ill-treatment is still practised on a widespread, partly even systematic and routine level in many countries of the world, and the conditions of detention have even gotten worse in many countries of the world.”   Addressing the General Assembly today, the expert pointed out that millions of people worldwide are deprived of their liberty, living in conditions of detention amounting to inhuman and degrading treatment.   Torture occurs behind closed doors and that the lack of public scrutiny allows for the abuses of detainees to continue, he said, calling for transparency in both public and private institutions.   Mr. Nowak, an Austrian human rights lawyer who has served as Rapporteur since 2004, presented a report to the Assembly’s Third Committee on the connection between torture and the treatment of people with disabilities.   “People with mental disabilities are very often just excluded,” he told UNiFEED, a video service which covers the UN. “They are put in a single cell without any adequate health or psychological care and we have found in various prisons persons in a deplorable and appalling state from a hygienic point of view who are just neglected, forgotten by the outside world.”
	Over 30 Countries risk violating the Darfur Arms Embargo by Betsy Apple Crimes Against Humanity Program - Human Rights First Sudan   October 14, 2008   Last week, Human Rights First reported that over 30 nations may be in violation of the UN arms embargo on Darfur.   Arms Sales to Sudan, 2004-2006 uses public data to track international arms sales and clearly shows that large amounts of arms continue to enter Sudan from dozens of nations around the globe. The unrelenting flow of arms into Darfur is fueling violence that has already resulted in hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths. Countries provide arms in one of two ways, either as direct importers (Category 1) or as manufacturers of weapons that eventually end up in Sudan (Category 2).   Category 1 consists of twelve nations, including China, India, Kenya, Iran and Russia that admit to selling arms directly to Sudan. In some cases, such as Spain, countries report selling small amounts of gun parts or ammunition. Others, such as China and India, report selling tens of millions of dollars in arms, tanks and military aircraft to Sudan. Sudanese government forces have used these weapons on attacks against civilians in Darfur.   Arms sales by Category 2 countries are reported to public databases by Sudan, which reports the “country of origin” of any weapons that it imports. Twenty four countries are on Sudan’s list for 2004-2006 as the producers of weapons that entered the country, including France, Kuwait, Germany, and the United States.   Human Rights First asked all countries to explain their arms sales to Sudan, in spite of the Darfur embargo and the government’s association with atrocities in Darfur. Some of them, including the United States, denied authorizing shipments to Sudan and several have promised to launch investigations into the matter. Still others have given no reply.   The numbers don’t lie; the arms embargo against Darfur is quite simply not strong enough. Countries must take immediate action to stop all arms sales to Sudan and begin monitoring the final destination of all the weapons that they produce.   Along with the Report Card, Human Rights First has released A Three-Step Guide to Strengthening the Darfur Arms Embargo, listing three specific actions that will, if taken, drastically reduce the flood of arms into Darfur.   First, stop imports of Chinese A-5 “Fantan” attack aircraft to Sudan, including imports of any spare parts that will allow A-5s already in Sudan to remain operational.   The BBC has documented A-5 aircraft that are armed with heavy machine guns and have been used to attack civilian targets as recently as February 2008. This report and others belie Sudan’s claim that these planes are not being used in Darfur is false and the UN Security Council should take steps to see that A-5s no longer reach Sudan.   Second, stop imports of Russian Mi-24 and Mi-171 helicopters to Sudan and suspend any deal that includes maintenance or pilot training. Again, the UN Panel of Experts and other observers have shown that Sudan’s claims that the helicopters are not being used in Darfur are completely false.   The Panel of Experts has shown that the helicopters are not only active in Darfur, but also that some have been painted white in order to disguise them as UN aircraft. Those white helicopters were then used as attack helicopters. These helicopters not only violate the embargo, they put UN peacekeepers in danger by their actions.   The third step is to stop military cargo flights to Darfur. Sudan needs private air cargo companies to transport its guns and tanks to remote areas. Those companies profits will suffer if countries come together and “blacklist” any plane that flies weapons into Darfur. Once profits suffer, they will be less inclined to undertake gun-running flights. Blacklisting has proven effective in enforcing other embargoes, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and could sever a vital link in the supply chain that brings arms into Darfur.   These steps, combined with a commitment by countries to cease arms sales to Sudan, would go a long way to reducing the prevalence of weapons in Darfur, and would send a strong signal to the warring parties that continued abuses will not be tolerated. Visit the related web page
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