Sudanese authorities are failing to uphold many of the commitments made last year under an accord to end a decades-old civil war, according to a UN human rights report issued Tuesday.
In a review of the situation in Sudan from December 2005 to April of this year, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in cooperation with the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), lists among major shortcomings
– the ill-treatment, detention and harassment of people who voice their concerns about human rights throughout Sudan,
– failure to reform National Security and laws guarding State officials from criminal prosecution and
– the obstruction of the work of UNMIS human rights workers.
Regarding Darfur, the report says the conflict in the western Sudanese region has reached a new level of violence, both in intensity and frequency. Human rights violations in Darfur continued as the conflict escalated, there was a failure to protect civilians from attacks that included sexual and gender-based violence in the region, as well as a failure to hold people accountable for conflict-related crimes.
“Almost a year and a half after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA)”, says the report, “the Government is falling far short of many of the human rights commitments it made under the CPA and Interim National Constitution”.
The report documents incidents of violence throughout Darfur, including attacks on over 20 villages in the Gereida area of South Darfur between January and April by armed militia and/or Government forces.
The report says it was particularly alarming that the Government had reverted to the use of helicopter gunships, and lists the reported use of an airplane to drop bombs on a village in Gereida as recently as 24 April.
New to the violence in Darfur was fighting between different factions of the Sudanese Liberation Army, also to the detriment of (skade for) the civilian population, according to the OHCHR report.
Renewed fighting also worsened the humanitarian crisis. Access for humanitarian workers and aid was seriously limited due to insecurity and real or de facto blockades on civilian populations.
In its analysis, the report looks at steps to be taken to end Sudans “history of gross human rights violations”, and focuses particularly on Darfur.
“As the killing of civilians, raping of women and girls, and pillaging (plyndring) of entire villages continued in Darfur, so did a culture of impunity (straffrihed)”, the report says, adding that domestic mechanisms purporting to address gross violations of human rights and international humanitarian law were “superficial and inadequate”.
“It appears that the International Criminal Court has a critical role to play in Darfur in bringing to justice State officials, and militia and rebel members alike”.
There are over 75 UNMIS human rights officers in Sudan, mostly in Darfur. The report also covers the situation in eastern and southern Sudan.
Se rapporten på
www.ohchr.org/english/countries/sd/docs/3rdOHCHRApril06.pdf
Kilde: FNs nyhedstjeneste
