Human Rights Watch calls on the African Union High-Level Panel on Darfur to recommend that any peace agreement in Darfur addresses protection of civilians and the realization of human rights in Darfur, as well as real accountability for past crimes. However these issues should not wait for the signature of a peace agreement; the Panel should press the Sudan government and all parties to the conflict to urgently ensure both security and justice for the people of Darfur today.

The African Union should urge the United Nations Security Council to set up a commission of inquiry to document the worst human rights abuses in Somalia, an essential first step in creating justice and accountability.

In advance of their summit in Libya, Human Rights Watch writes to AU Heads of State to ask them to address a few of Africa's most pressing human rights concerns - security in Somalia, accountability for crimes in Chad, and support for the International Criminal Court.

The United Nations Security Council should make sure that its existing commitments to protect civilians during armed conflict are actually carried out.

Human Rights Watch urges Security Council ambassadors to use the open debate on June 26 to discuss ways in which the United Nations Security Council can more effectively ensure the protection of civilians in armed conflict.

The Southern Sudan government, the United Nations, and international donors should urgently address critical failures to protect civilians from ethnic violence. On June 23, 2009, the parties to the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended Sudan's long civil war between the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement and the National Congress Party, donors, and international supporters will meet in Washington, DC to review implementation of the agreement, including security arrangements.

The defeat on June 18 in the UN Human Rights Council of efforts led by Egypt and Sudan to end the scrutiny of Sudan was an important step.