Human Rights: IFSW and others urge for a strong resolution on Darfur

In a joint statement from UN Watch, the International Federation of Social Workers and a number of other NGO's, to be delivered to the UN Human Rights Council December 12, the Council is asked to deliver a strong resolution on the Human Rights situation in Darfur:

We welcome this special session and its support by so many Council members. The human rights and humanitarian situation in Darfur is dire, and it merits this body’s serious and sustained attention.

We urge the Council to adopt a strong resolution. This Council cannot send peacekeepers, but it can, and should, encourage the Sudanese Government to cooperate with the force the Security Council has authorized. This Council also should remind the Government of Sudan that, although not the only party to the conflict, it has the primary responsibility to protect its population.

Since 2003, Darfur has been rife with death, destruction, and suffering. Hundreds of thousands of victims have been raped, tortured, murdered. Villages and livelihoods have been destroyed. Millions are displaced. Despite the signing of an agreement in May, these atrocities have not only continued, but escalated.

These facts have been amply documented by the Special Rapporteur on Sudan, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, and many others. Nevertheless, Sudan and several other delegations have told this Council that these reports are based on misinformation.

In light of these claims, the draft resolutions rightly emphasize the Council’s need for “clear, accurate, and substantiated information” on the situation in Darfur. We therefore support the immediate dispatch of an assessment mission by the Special Rapporteur, and we urge the Government of Sudan to cooperate fully with that mission.

We thank Secretary-General Annan for his leadership in urging the Council to convene this special session and to begin to address gross violations around the globe. We hope that this session is just the beginning of the Council’s active engagement, not only on Darfur, but on all major human rights crises worldwide.

Photo: WHO
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page last updated on 11.12.2006