His Excellency Hon. Idriss Deby
President of the Republic of Chad
Your Excellency,
We, the undersigned organizations, are seriously concerned over reports of a possible visit to Chad by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir—wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes to attend the Community of Sahel-Saharan summit to be held on February 16, 2013 in Ndjamena.
President al-Bashir is the subject of two arrest warrants issued by the ICC. Permitting President al-Bashir to visit Chad without executing these warrants would run counter to Chad’s obligations as a state party to the Rome Statute of the ICC, in particular Articles 86 and 89(1). It would also send damaging signals to victims of mass atrocities in Darfur and globally, and undermine Chad’s credibility on issues of justice and accountability.
The Chadian government participated in the eleventh session of the ICC Assembly of States Parties (ASP) held in The Hague, during which states discussed the importance of strengthening efforts to ensure full and effective cooperation with the Court and expressed their political and diplomatic support. Avoiding situations of non-cooperation was a topic featured prominently in official statements at the tenth and eleventh sessions of the ASP.
Recent events point to a readiness on the part of states to uphold their obligations under the ICC treaty and to avoid situations of non-cooperation with the Court. Most recently, Malawi pulled out of hosting a recent African Union (AU) summit in light of the AU’s insistence that al-Bashir attend the meeting. In the past years, President al-Bashir cancelled a scheduled trip to the Central African Republic for independence celebrations in Bangui in December 2010 amid calls for his arrest, and his anticipated travel to Kenya was forestalled in October 2010 with the relocation of a meeting of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development from Nairobi to Addis Ababa. President al-Bashir’s curtailed travel sends a strong signal that, as a suspected perpetrator of the worst crimes known to humankind, he is not a welcome guest and should be arrested to face justice before the ICC.
Already on December 13, 2011, following the visit of President Al-Bashir to Chad, ICC judges concluded that Chad failed to cooperate with the court and referred the matter to the UN Security Council.
For all of these reasons, we urge the Chadian government to clearly affirm its commitment to cooperate with the ICC, as states such as South Africa, Uganda and Botswana, and Malawi have already done, and clarify that should President al-Bashir
enter Chad, he will be arrested. This would be an important way to demonstrate respect for victims of the crimes committed, along with Chad’s commitment to end impunity.
Sincerely,
c.c. H.E. Ambassador Ahmad Allam-mi, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Chad to the United Nations
Signature list
1. ACADHOSHA asbl (Action des Chrétiens Activistes des Droits de l'Homme à Shabunda), Democratic Republic of the Congo
2. Actions Humanitaires Justice pour les Victimes (AHJV), Democratic Republic of the Congo
3. Advocates for Public International Law Uganda (APILU), Uganda
4. African Center for Justice & Peace Studies, Sudan
5. Africa Centre for Open Governance (AfriCOG), Kenya
6. Arry Organization, Sudan
7. Avocats Sans Frontieres, Belgium
8. Carrefour Juridique Culturel (CAJUC), Democratic Republic of the Congo
9. Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies, Serbia
10. Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR), Malawi
11. Center for Media Studies and Peacebuilding (CEMESP-Liberia), Liberia
12. Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre (CIRDDOC), Nigeria
13. Coalition Nationale pour la Cour penale internationale (CN-CPI/RDC), Democratic Republic of the Congo
14. Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW), Kenya
15. Collectif des Auxiliaires Liberaux de la Justice (CALIJ), Democratic Republic of the Congo
16. Collectif des ONG pour la Promotion de la Justice (COPJ), Democratic Republic of the Congo
17. Coalition for the International Criminal Court, with offices in Benin and the DRC
18. Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), Republic of South Sudan
19. Darfur Solidarity Group, South Africa
20. Fondation Congolaise pour la Promotion des Droits humains et la Paix (FOCDP), Democratic Republic of the Congo
21. Forum des Femmes pour l'Appropriation de la Resolution 1325 (FOFAP-1325), Democratic Republic of the Congo
22. International Center Policy and Conflict in Africa (ICPC) Kenya
23. Kenya Human Rights Commission, Kenya
24. Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice (KPTJ), Kenya
25. Kituo cha Sheria: The Centre for Legal Empowerment, Kenya
26. Ligue pour la Promotion et le Developpement Integral de la Femme et de
l'Enfant (LIPRODIFE), Democratic Republic of the Congo
27. Lira NGO Forum, Uganda
28. Le Mouvement pour la Defense des Droits de L'Homme et D'Action Humanitaire (MDDH), France
29. La Rencontre africaine pour la défense des droits de l'homme (RADDHO), Senegal
30. Sierra Leone Coalition for the ICC, Sierra Leone
31. South Sudan Human Rights Defenders Network (SSHRDN), Republic of South Sudan
32. Southern Africa Litigation Centre, South Africa
33. Synergie pour la Protection des Defenseurs des Droits Humains (SYPRODH), Democratic Republic of the Congo
34. Use Your Voice to Stop Genocide, USA
35. Cameroon Coalition for the ICC, Cameroon
36. World Federation of United Nations Associations, USA
37. Amuria District Development Agency – ADDA, Uganda
38. United to End Genocide, USA
39. The Kenyan section of the International Commission of Jurists, Kenya
40. Uganda Victims Foundation, Uganda
41. L'Association pour les Droits de l'Homme et l'Univers Carcéral (ADHUC), Democratic Republic of the Congo
42. Lira NGO Forum, Uganda
43. The South Sudan Law Society (SSLS), South Sudan
44. Human Rights Watch, with offices in the DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, and South Africa
45. Humanity Is Us, USA
46. Kumi Human Rights Initiative (KHRI), Uganda
47. Human Rights Network Uganda (HURINET), Uganda
48. Ugandan Coalition for the ICC, Uganda
49. Arry Organization for Human Rights and Development, USA/Egypt
50. Fédération Internationale des Droits de l’Homme, with offices in Kenya
51. Amnesty International USA
52. Human Rights & Advocacy Network for Democracy (HAND)
53. Operation Broken Silence, USA
54. Coalition Nationale pour la Cour Pénale Internationale-RDC (CN-CPI/RDC), Democratic Republic of the Congo
55. International Crime in Africa Programme, Institute for Security Studies, Afrique du Sud
56. STAND Canada
57. The Institute on Religion and Democracy, USA
58. Fondation Congolaise pour la Promotion des Droits humains et la Paix (FOCDP), Democratic Republic of the Congo
59. GlobalSolutions.org, USA
60. NYC Genocide Prevention Coalition, USA
61. Genocide Alert, Germany
62. World Federalist Movement – Canada
63. Asuntos del Sur, Argentina
64. African Freedom Coalition, USA
65. Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
66. Ligue pour la Promotion et le Developpement Integral de la Femme et de l'Enfant (LIPRODIFE), Democratic Republic of the Congo
67. Darfur Reconciliation and Development Organization (DRDO), Uganda
68. Darfur Alert Coalition, USA
69. Voices for Sudan, USA
70. International Justice Darfur Association in the USA
71. COVERCONGO, Democratic Republic of the Congo
72. San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition, USA
73. Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy, USA
74. The International Justice Project, Inc., USA
75. Genocide Watch, USA
76. Coalition Ivoirienne pour la CPI, Cote d’Ivoire
77. Act for Sudan, USA
78. Investors Against Genocide, USA
79. Use Your Voice to Stop Genocide, USA
80. Darfur Women Action Group, USA
81. Darfur Solidarity of North America, USA
82. Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Egypt
83. Coalition of Eastern NGOs (CENGOS), Nigeria
84. National Coalition on Affirmative Action (NCAA), Nigeria
85. Coalition Centrafricaine pour la Cour Pénale Internationale, CAR
86. Avocats Sans Frontieres-Uganda
87. Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice with offices in Cairo, Egypt, Kampala and Kitgum, Uganda, and The Hague, the Netherlands.
88. l'Association LEAD-CENTRAFRIQUE, CAR
89. Connecting Gender for development (COGEN), Nigeria
90. Darfur Union, The Netherlands
91. Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Australia
92. Darfur Call, The Netherlands
93. Darfur Reporters & Journalists, The Netherlands
94. Open Society Justice Initiative
95. Global Justice Center, USA
96. Center for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL, Sierra Leone
97. Human Rights First Rwanda, Rwanda
