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 Our responsibility to Darfur
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Gordon Brown must do everything in his power to ensure that those charged with atrocities are brought to justice at the international criminal court
Open Letter
December 5, 2007 3:00 PM
The Guardian Newspaper
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/open_letter/2007/12...ility_to_darfur.html
Dear Prime Minister
We write to urge to use your influence within the United Nations Security Council to ensure that the Council publicly demands the cooperation of the government of Sudan with the International Criminal Court
As you will know, despite thehttp:// warrantsfor http:// [URL]Ahmed Haroun and Ali Kosheib's arrest being secured in April 2007, both are still at large
These men are only two amongst many who are implicated in appalling human rights abuses during the ongoing conflict in Darfur
Kosheib was the commander of thousands of Janjaweed fighters in the Wadi Saleh province in the west of Darfur and is suspected of participating in killings, rape and widespread destruction in four villages in 2003
Haroun managed the "Darfur Security Desk" for the Sudanese government during the same period. He is wanted for his alleged part in implementing the 'scorched earth' policy in the region, including one attack on a village in which civilians had gathered after previous attacks and which was subsequently bombed by the armed forces. Haroun is now state minister for Humanitarian Affairs, responsible for the ongoing welfare of those he is accused of persecuting. He is also co-chair of the Human Rights Commission, created to investigate crimes in Darfur
Through manipulating tribal disputes and directing poorly trained militias, the Sudanese government has overseen the murder, rape and brutalisation of millions of their own citizens. The ICC must be given the chance to hold to account those responsible for these terrifying attacks
The UK government already has a record of supporting international action on human rights abuses in Darfur. In 2005, the UK supported resolution 1593 which referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC. The UK government has also helped to promote resolution 1769, which allows the deployment of an international peacekeeping force http:// UNAMID , in the region. Silence from the UK government on this critical issue would call into question its long-standing commitment to securing justice for Darfur
The UK delegation must build on its work with peers on the Security Council to use the strongest possible means to demonstrate publicly to the government of Sudan that their disregard for the ICC will not be allowed to continue. The Sudanese government is one the world's worst violators of human rights and the death toll in Darfur - over 200,000 people - testifies to their utter disregard for life. The ICC was created to bring the architects of such atrocities to book - the UK Government must make sure it is able to do so
Yours sincerely
Professor Philippe Sands QC
Timothy Otty QC
Lord Anthony Lester of Herne Hill
Professor Conor Gearty
Helena Kennedy
Richard Gordon QC
Sudhanshu Swaroop
James Greenslade
Mathew Jury
H2O Law LLP
Julian Knowles
Dr. Jenny Kuper
Simon McAleese
Jason McCue
Emma Norton
Melvyn Orton
David Greenhalgh
Adrian Stearman
Mark Stephens
Jemima Stratford
Dr. Sejal Parmar
Alon Taitelman
Taitelman Law Company
Jodi Westbrook Flowers
Jonathan Cooper
John RWD Jones
Edward Fitzgerald QC
Tamsin Allen
Kavita Bassan
Sharneet Birk
Simons Muirhead and Burton
Nichola Carter
Helen Crosslan
H2O Law LLP
Jonathan Dembo
AOB Limited
Anna Dickie
Michael Ellman
Solicitors International Human Rights Group
Bronwen Fitzpatrick
Danny Friedman
Phil Shiner
Stephen Shotnes
Nicola Soloman
Rachael Robinson
(عدل بواسطة Mohamed Omer on 12-05-2007, 07:48 PM)
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Re: Our responsibility to Darfur (Re: Mohamed Omer)
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Some of the comments from the Guardian's website
(1)
The only way the UN could do anything is to leave it to the Americans. The Americans don't want to get involved and if they did the CIF boards would be full of people screaming "it's all about oil"
Face it, nothing's going to be done to protect the people of Darfur because it's simply not worth all of the Left wing flak
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Re: Our responsibility to Darfur (Re: Mohamed Omer)
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الأخ محمد عمر
لك التحية و الإحترام
لابد من زيادة الضغط علي حكومة البشير و إجبارها علي تسليم أحمد هارون و علي كوشيب .
هؤلاء ( و بالذات أحمد هارون ) مفتاح إدانة حكومة البشير و كل المتنفذين فيها الذين خططوا و نفذوا حملات إبادة أهل دارفور .
لنواصل الضغط حتي نري هذين المجرمين في قفص الإتهام بلاهاي .
و أحيي كل من في هذه القائمة من الشخصيات الفعالة ببريطانيا .
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Re: Our responsibility to Darfur (Re: Mohamed Omer)
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(3)
The liberal left seem happy for these human rights abuses to continue. The only hope is that American conservatives will stand up and demand these people are brought to justice because the UN are powerless without US backing
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Re: Our responsibility to Darfur (Re: Mohamed Omer)
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(5)
The world is a dangerous place full of unpleasant regimes. But Britain cannot, and should not try to, remake the globe in an image acceptable to the views of the Great and Good. Tony Blair tried that, and the results are not encouraging
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Re: Our responsibility to Darfur (Re: Mohamed Omer)
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Lisbon leaders accused of ignoring Darfur crisis
· African and European MPs attack summit agenda
· British boycott criticised by EC president Barroso
Julian Borger, diplomatic editor
Saturday December 8, 2007
The Guardian
European and African leaders arriving for today's summit in Lisbon were accused by parliamentarians and human rights groups on both continents of trying to sweep human rights issues under the carpet
Much of the criticism was aimed at the absence of Darfur from the main agenda of the EU-Africa meeting. Forty MPs from across Europe and Africa published an open letter saying they were "surprised and disappointed to note that at a two-day summit of the leaders of our two continents, there will be no time allotted to discuss the continuing crisis in Darfur that has claimed over 200,000 lives"
A coalition of 50 African and European human rights groups wrote a separate letter claiming that the failure to address the issue now "would be to turn our backs on the people of Darfur"
Human rights groups also staged protests in the Portuguese capital against the presence of Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean leader accused of rigging elections and suppressing opposition groups
Gordon Brown is boycotting the two-day summit because of Mugabe's attendance, provoking widespread criticism from other African leaders, and a rebuke from the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso
"If you are an international leader then you are going to have to be prepared to meet some people your mother would not like you to meet. That is what we have to do from time to time," Barroso said
However, the European Union's invitation to Mugabe came under fire itself yesterday. William Hague, Britain's shadow foreign secretary, described it as "a shameful episode", while Reed Brody, a legal expert for Human Rights Watch, argued that Mugabe would emerge from the summit with a propaganda victory unless he was taken to task for his actions
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, discussed the issue with Brown yesterday and, according to UK officials, signalled her intention to discuss Mugabe's record in a summit session on governance. Brown is also pushing for clear EU standards for Zimbabwe's elections due next year
Meanwhile the prime minister's decision to send Baroness Amos, a former secretary for international development, triggered a row in London, when a former colleague suggested the only reason she was being sent was because she was black
Clare Short, who also served as international development secretary, told BBC Radio 4's The World at One "I don't see any reason to send a kind of pseudo-minister and I think that it's not right to send her because she's black. I don't see any other reason for sending her"
The foreign secretary, David Miliband, rejected the claim, telling the BBC: "I think that is a bit insulting to Baroness Amos," adding that she had a deep knowledge of Africa and development
Miliband also defended the British boycott, saying: "It would have been absurd for the prime minister or myself to sit next to Robert Mugabe through a discussion of good governance and human rights and pretend that there wasn't absolute meltdown going on in Zimbabwe"
British officials argued that the inevitable media focus on Brown and Mugabe would have risked overshadowing the summit. Besides, the officials said, Brown remained closely involved in African issues despite his absence from Lisbon
He was due to talk to French president Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday about an Anglo-French plan to break the impasse over the deployment of international peacekeepers in Darfur. The force has been held up by Khartoum's objection to the inclusion of non-African units, and also by a lack of helicopters. The new plan would involve raising finance for helicopters. Khartoum would also be threatened with new sanctions if it continues to block the force's deployment
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Mohamed Omer
Mohamed Suleiman
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست