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Security Council: Request Briefing on Human Rights Crisis

Letter to Security Council members concerning the situtation in Darfur, western Sudan

Human Rights Watch urges the Security Council, in addition to addressing the Darfur conflict's humanitarian dimension, focus on its human rights abuses, including by taking advantage of the findings of a United Nations human rights investigative mission as soon as it returns from the region.

United Nations human rights investigators, after being unable to enter Darfur during an earlier mission, have now been given access by the Sudanese government. A humanitarian mission headed by Under-Secretary-General James Morris, after weeks of delays, has now also been promised access.

In addition to being an acute human rights and humanitarian crisis, the situation in Darfur, with the influx of tens of thousands of refugees into Chad, may constitute a threat to international peace and security. We understand that the Council will soon be focusing on Darfur. We write to urge that the Security Council, in addition to addressing the conflict’s humanitarian dimension, focus on its parallel and acute human rights abuses, including by taking full advantage of the findings of the human rights mission as soon as the team returns and is able to prepare its preliminary analysis. That is, the Council should be briefed on both missions as soon as possible. Time is of the essence because not only are more lives lost with every passing day, but the rapidly approaching rainy season will render humanitarian assistance impossible or extremely difficult in large parts of Darfur.

In his April 7 speech to the Commission on Human Rights, coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the onset of the genocide in Rwanda, Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that “the risk of genocide remains frighteningly real" in Darfur: “It is vital that international humanitarian workers and human rights experts be given full access to the region, and to the victims, without further delay. If that is denied, the international community must be prepared to take swift and appropriate action. By action in such situations, I mean a continuum of steps which may include military action."

The Secretary-General pointed out that ten years ago, the international community had been forewarned about the possibility of genocide in Rwanda. One such warning, he noted, came nearly a year in advance, in the form of a report by the UN Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions. You may be aware that the special rapporteur in question was Mr. Bacre Waly N’diaye, today the Director of the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the man who is currently leading the human rights fact-finding team in Darfur and who earlier this month led the human rights mission to Chad. The Council has therefore an outstanding resource at its disposal. We trust it will make use of this resource at the earliest possible moment and that it will determine its next steps without further delay.

Human Rights Watch stands ready to provide you with extensive information on the situation in Darfur or to assist your Mission in any other way you might find useful.

Thank you for your kind attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Kenneth Roth
Executive Director

Joanna Weschler
U.N. Advocacy Director

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