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You are currently discussing a new resolution on the situation in the Darfur region of Sudan. We hope that this resolution will contain decisive measures to stop the ongoing human rights and humanitarian law violations in Darfur.

The government of Sudan (GoS) has promised to disarm and neutralize the Janjaweed militia on at least four different occasions:

- Agreement on Humanitarian Ceasefire on the Conflict in Darfur, April 8, 2004
- Agreement Between the Government of Sudan, The Sudan Liberation Movement, and the Justice and Equality Movement, April 25, 2004
- Joint Communiqué between the Government of Sudan and the United Nations, July 3, 2004
- Darfur Plan of Action signed by the Government of Sudan and the U.N. Special Representative of the Secretary-General Jan Pronk, August 6, 2004

In addition, in op 6 of Resolution 1556, the Security Council demanded that the GoS “disarm the Janjaweed militias and apprehend and bring to justice Janjaweed leaders and their associates who have incited and carried out human rights and international humanitarian law violations and other atrocities.” The resolution also stated that further action should be considered in the event of non-compliance.

Despite these repeated pledges, the GoS has not only failed to disarm the militia but, as our ongoing field research in Darfur has shown, its forces actually share camps with them and continue to direct and support their
activities. These camps are used as bases for Janjaweed militia, and in some cases government troops, as locations for GoS helicopters, and to store equipment, weapons, and sometimes even looted property and livestock. Many of these bases are close to internally displaced persons (IDP) camps and are located in or around villages from which the Janjaweed and government forces forcibly displaced the original inhabitants. More ominous still, we understand that the Sudanese government has incorporated members of the Janjaweed militia and its leaders into the police and the Sudanese army, including into the militia, the Popular Defense Forces (PDF), which is under army jurisdiction.

Given the obvious non-compliance by the GoS with paragraphs 1 and 6 of Resolution 1556, Human Rights Watch believes that the Security Council must now make good on its threat contained in op 6 of this resolution and impose further measures, as detailed below.

Increased International Presence

Over the past several weeks, the African Union has made offers to increase its presence on the ground to up to several thousand personnel. The Secretary-General stressed the need for such an increased presence in his report to you on 30 August 2004 (S/2004/703), although he failed to provide details. It is our understanding that the U.N. Department of Peace Keeping Operations has been working on plans that would involve some 3,000 troops and up to 1,200 civilian police. All along, the GoS has been resisting suggestions of increased deployment. Yet, at the same time, the GoS has complained that it did not have enough resources and was unable to control the militia activity in Darfur.

• The Security Council should endorse the plans for a significant increase in the presence of African Union personnel on the ground and with a mandate to protect civilians under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. It is also critically important that the Council impress upon the GoS that its failure to provide security in Darfur and its refusal to accept international assistance increases the likelihood of individual members of the government being found criminally responsible for the attrocities committed.

Expanded Arms Embargo

• In view of the GoS’s active involvement with Janjaweed abuses, we believe that the arms embargo imposed in op 7 and 8 of Resolution 1556 should be extended to also cover the GoS. To ensure the implementation of these measures, we urge you to establish a Sanctions Committee, as is customary with all sanctions you impose, to monitor the implementation of this embargo.

Establishment of an International Commission of Inquiry

We are concerned that the Secretary-General’s report failed to attribute the responsibility for the attacks against civilians to the government and that it stopped short of characterizing the abuses as violations of international human rights and humanitarian law and as crimes against humanity, even though the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, several UN agencies as well as a number of NGOs have consistently documented them and labeled them as such.

• We strongly support the inclusion of a plan for establishing an international commission of inquiry in the current draft resolution. Such a commission should:

1. examine the evidence concerning allegations of crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide, and other serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law committed by all parties in Darfur from 2003 to the present, including the nature of the crimes, the identity of the perpetrators, and the role of authorities in the commission of crimes;
2. collect and preserve evidence of the crimes; and
3. make recommendations on appropriate action to bring those most responsible for the crimes investigated and lesser offenders to justice in a manner that is consistent with international due process standards.

The commission of inquiry should be composed of international experts with expertise in conducting investigations and gathering evidence, including forensic evidence, and should be asked to produce a public report establishing key facts, describing briefly how it has fulfilled its mandate and detailing its recommendations on accountability.

We are extremely concerned about the concept of “safe areas,” to be selected and secured by the government of Sudan and agreed upon jointly by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General Jan Pronk and the GoS. The Security Council should be wary of using “safe areas” as such, following the tragic lessons of Srebrenica and other “safe” zones in Bosnia. A proposal to create “safe areas” where security is to be provided by the very forces complicit in the forcible displacement of those contained there seems particularly ill conceived.

There is a serious risk that the government may confine civilian populations to zones around the major towns, which are then likely to become permanent resettlement sites. People relocated to them are therefore likely to be less able to return to their homes and access their lands, effectively consolidating a policy of forced displacement and “ethnic cleansing.”

The Sudanese government has a well-known record of creating displaced camps known as “peace villages” in other parts of Sudan. These have undermined civilian security, rather than ensuring it. In southern Sudan and in the Nuba Mountains, for instance, these camps were typically located several kilometers outside the main towns. Particularly in the Nuba Mountains, they developed a reputation for being areas where soldiers and militia could rape displaced women and girls with impunity. According to our information, the GoS has already started establishing “safe areas” in Darfur.

• We call on the Security Council to review the plan for the establishment of the “safe areas” and to ensure that, if they are to be established, they are not controlled by the Sudanese forces.

Finally, we would like to convey our utmost concern about the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) entered into between the GoS, the United Nations, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on 21 August 2004, in relation to the voluntary return of IDPs in Darfur. Our concerns relate to the lack of important fundamental legal standards in the MOU, the failure to include a provision for the independent monitoring of the treatment of IDPs after return, the absence of provisions in relation to enforcement and accountability, and the fact that IOM does not have the mandate, expertise, experience or capacity to carry out its obligations under this MOU.

• We urge the Security Council to ensure that the Secretary-General’s Special Representative Jan Pronk addresses these concerns, in consultation with members of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee.

We trust you will take the above comments into consideration as you work on the next resolution on Darfur. We stand ready to assist you and your staff with further information.

With kind regards,

Peter Takirambudde
Executive Director
Africa Division

Joanna Weschler
U.N. Advocacy Director

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