February 2, 2005
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.
Please click here to take action. Send a letter to President Bush asking him to refer the case of Darfur to the ICC.
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