Activists criticise UN human rights verdict on Darfur

Activists say that although they welcome the top UN human-rights body’s condemnation of the abuses taking place in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, it could have held Sudan’s government more accountable. In a resolution passed on Thursday, the UN Commission on Human Rights said it condemned "the continued, widespread and systematic violations of human rights and international humanitarian law" by parties involved in the conflict. A statement released by Human Rights First on Thursday quoted John Stompor of its International Justice Programme as saying: "The commission lets Sudan off easily with this resolution." "It backs away from the findings by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Commission of Inquiry that crimes against humanity were committed in Darfur and the Sudanese government bears responsibility," Stompor added. Human Rights First also said it felt another shortcoming of the resolution was the absence of any mention of Sudan's obligation to cooperate with the International Criminal Court. However, "Amnesty is quite satisfied with the resolution, as the language is stronger than what we saw in earlier drafts," Erwin Van der Borght, Amnesty International's deputy programme director for Africa told IRIN on Friday from Kampala, Uganda. "We would have preferred some stronger language on the role and responsibilities of the Sudanese government in Darfur, but we feel this is an acceptable outcome, given the commission’s limitations and the politicisation of human rights within this UN body," he added. Sudan’s permanent envoy to the UN in Geneva, Muhammad al-Hasan Ahmad al-Haj, told the Sudanese News Agency on Thursday that a "compromise formula" had been reached, after "intensive discussions" between African and European groups had led to the withdrawal of a proposal for stronger language. "The commission adopted what we see as a compromise text," Loubna Freih, Geneva director of the international advocacy organisation, Human Rights Watch, told IRIN on Friday. "It doesn’t squarely put the responsibility for the atrocities and ethnic cleansing in Darfur on the Sudanese government," she added. However, the organisations welcomed the commission's appointment of a special rapporteur to monitor the human-rights situation in Sudan. On 7 April, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the commission in Geneva that, unless the UN reformed its human-rights machinery, "we may be unable to renew public confidence in the United Nations itself." Van der Borght said he felt the commission’s main problem was that member countries used it to pursue their own political agendas, rather than a human-rights agenda. Freih noted that "there are no follow-up or pressure mechanisms, apart from peer pressure by commission members," and added "it depends on the willingness of the parties to ensure the implementation of the resolution." The UN Commission on Human Rights, composed of representatives from 53 states, meets once a year in March and April - for six weeks - in Geneva. Over 3,000 delegates from member and observer states, as well as NGOs, participate. Conflict in Darfur pits Sudanese government troops and militias - allegedly allied to the government - against rebels fighting to end what they have called marginalisation and discrimination of the region's inhabitants by the state. Over 2.4 million people continue to be affected by the conflict, 1.85 million of which are internally displaced or have been forced to flee to neighbouring Chad.