Sudan must let victims speak out, says Amnesty
In its report, Intimidation And Denial, Amnesty International documents how, far from protecting community leaders and human rights activists, the government of Sudan has been arresting and torturing any who speak out.
Amnesty International is calling on the Irish Government and its partners in the international community to keep up the pressure to ensure the protection of the civilian population.
The government of Sudan must take immediate steps to create security zones around the camps, to ensure access and resources for the human rights and ceasefire monitors and to suspend all exports of military and dual-use goods to both the Janjaweed militia and the government of Sudan.
As a starting point, the government of Sudan must release all prisoners of conscience held for the peaceful expression of their views and establish a National Commission of Enquiry to investigate allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The ongoing attacks in Darfur have led to the displacement of at least 1.2 million people.
Massive human rights violations committed in the region include extra-judicial executions, unlawful killings of civilians, torture, rapes, abductions, destruction of villages and property, looting of cattle and property, and the destruction of the means of livelihood of the population.
The militias, known as the Janjaweed, are usually accompanied during their attacks on villages by the Sudanese army and have been increasingly incorporated into the Sudanese armed forces as paramilitaries. The Sudanese air force also use Antonovs, helicopter gunships and MiG planes to bomb villages and kill civilians.
Human rights violations have also reportedly been committed by the armed opposition groups, but reports of killing of civilians and rape by the SLA or the JEM appear to be few.
On July 30, the UNSecurity Council adopted a resolution which provided for a suspension of arms transfers to “non-governmental entities and individuals including the Janjaweed” and set August 30 as the deadline for the secretary general to report on progress to the UN on its commitments, including the commitments to disarm and remove the Janjaweed from the camps.
Commitments have been made by the government of Sudan, including in the April 8 Humanitarian Ceasefire and the agreement between the government of Sudan and the UN of July 3, 2004. Monitors from the African Union and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights are now,after long delays, in place.
For the sake of the people of Darfur it is important that these commitments are kept. Human rights violations cannot be ended if they are not recorded and organisations such as Amnesty International must be granted immediate access to the Darfur region.
Instead, the Sudanese authorities have often taken action against those who report human rights violations rather than against the alleged perpetrators.
Sudanese newspapers mention the crisis in Darfur only with very great discretion. Even now, when media throughout the world are talking about the crisis, a Sudanese from Khartoum or other areas outside the western regions of Darfur and Kordofan will not know what is happening in Darfur.
Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based independent Arabic-language channel, remains one of the main independent sources of information about Darfur for Arabic speakers in Sudan but its Khartoum office was closed in December 2003.
The night before UN Secretary General Kofi Annan visited Meshtel camp on July 1, the government of Sudan moved all 680 families living in the camp to Abu Shouk. This appeared to be simply to prevent Kofi Annan from seeing and hearing from the most destitute.
On June 30, 2004, when US Secretary of State Colin Powell visited Abu Shouk camp near al-Fasher the people spoke out. But after his visit to the camp, 15 people were arrested.
Five displaced people were arrested at Abu Shouk camp after a visit by the French Foreign Minister, Michel Barnier, on July 27.
The international community must stress the importance of the right to free expression and guarantees of safety for people in Darfur who speak to others, including those who speak to international delegations, journalists, and monitors. They must ensure that restrictions on the right to free expression are monitored, and support efforts to increase the capacity of the African Union and the OHCHR monitors to report human rights violations in Darfur.
Colm Ó Cuanacháin is secretary general of Amnesty International’s Irish section.
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