Thursday
Jun042009
Coalition for the International Criminal Court says we can no longer wait on justice for Darfur
Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 12:45PM
The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo, is this week providing an update to the Security Council regarding the recent ICC's investigation in Darfur, Sudan. This is the first briefing following the ICC judges' issuance of an arrest warrant for the President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir, in response to allegations of attacks and human rights violations on civilians in Darfur.
The Coalition's for the ICC's (CICC's) Omar Ismail, Advisor of the ENOUGH project based in El-Fashir, Sudan said "The Prosecutor is right. Al-Bashir should be brought to justice. We must end this --it has been six years. It is the government of Sudan against its own people with the intention to do harm. I know the women who were raped. The marching orders were given by Sudan, dismembered bodies were thrown in water resources."
Ismail urged President Obama and the government of the United States to support the Darfurians and to "ensure Darfurians will see their day in court." He added the government of Sudan is doing everything in their power to cause suffering in Darfur and the world should say "no this cannot happen. "
The Enough Project, the Save Darfur Coalition, and the Genocide Intervention Network today issued a statement in response to President Barack Obama's remarks in Cairo:
"If the Cairo speech was intended to outline shared challenges that America and the Muslim world should confront together, President Obama’s failure to call for a joint push for peace in Sudan is a glaring omission. A passing reference to suffering in Darfur is insufficient.
"The President rightly called the situation in Darfur 'a stain on our collective conscience,'” said Enough Project Executive Director John Norris, "but that is not enough. The president needs to articulate a clear vision of how a lasting peace is going to be achieved for all of Sudan, and demonstrate through his actions rather than just his words that this is a political priority. The situation in Darfur deserves more than a single sentence of the president's attention."
The ICC Coalition claims there are strong public indications that following the ICC's March 4 2009 arrest warrant for Al-Bashir, the Sudanese government has "grown increasingly more uncooperative." Members believe that in response, the government has stepped-up attacks on innocent civilians ignoring United Nations Security Council Resolution 1593 was approved in March 2005 which states:
"The Council decided also that the Government of the Sudan and all other parties to the conflict in Darfur would cooperate fully with the Court and Prosecutor, providing them with any necessary assistance.
The Council decided further that nationals, current or former officials or personnel from a contributing State outside the Sudan which was not a party to the Rome Statute would be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of that contributing State for all alleged acts or omissions arising out of or related to operations in the Sudan authorized by the Council or the African Union, unless such exclusive jurisdiction had been expressly waived by that contributing State."
Richard Dicker from Human Rights Watch added "There are these charges approved by the judges, that Al-Bashir is wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity-but it is essential to scrap away diplomatic double speak. There are over 700,000 dead in Darfur. Several hundred thousand have been forced into a miserable exile as refugees in Chad."
He added when the Security Council meets, the expectation should be to make clear that Sudan is obligated to cooperate with the court on a legal basis -- Resolution 1593. Sudan must surrender Al-Bashir, Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb and support an end to impunity and justice for victims. Dickers said the closed door discussions are unfortunate and should be merited by the specific constructive nature of the discussion to support Security Council Resolution 1593.
Dickers emphasized the efforts to suspend proceedings against Al-Bashir have failed. He also said the efforts of Libya and Algeria to label the ICC as biased against Africa are invalid and are causing a delay in prosecuting these war criminals.
When prompted by TRNS with a question on the recent debate by critics that the ICC is a colonial system set up as racist against African countries, Dickers replied that it is this precise ideological agenda that is being used as the reference to past crimes under colonial rule by a number of European regimes which were horrific, "but hardly provide justification for the crimes being committed today."
He also said that serious crimes against humanity have been committed in Gaza and Southern Lebanon in recent months by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), which has yet to be properly held accountable.
The Coalition's for the ICC's (CICC's) Omar Ismail, Advisor of the ENOUGH project based in El-Fashir, Sudan said "The Prosecutor is right. Al-Bashir should be brought to justice. We must end this --it has been six years. It is the government of Sudan against its own people with the intention to do harm. I know the women who were raped. The marching orders were given by Sudan, dismembered bodies were thrown in water resources."
Ismail urged President Obama and the government of the United States to support the Darfurians and to "ensure Darfurians will see their day in court." He added the government of Sudan is doing everything in their power to cause suffering in Darfur and the world should say "no this cannot happen. "
The Enough Project, the Save Darfur Coalition, and the Genocide Intervention Network today issued a statement in response to President Barack Obama's remarks in Cairo:
"If the Cairo speech was intended to outline shared challenges that America and the Muslim world should confront together, President Obama’s failure to call for a joint push for peace in Sudan is a glaring omission. A passing reference to suffering in Darfur is insufficient.
"The President rightly called the situation in Darfur 'a stain on our collective conscience,'” said Enough Project Executive Director John Norris, "but that is not enough. The president needs to articulate a clear vision of how a lasting peace is going to be achieved for all of Sudan, and demonstrate through his actions rather than just his words that this is a political priority. The situation in Darfur deserves more than a single sentence of the president's attention."
The ICC Coalition claims there are strong public indications that following the ICC's March 4 2009 arrest warrant for Al-Bashir, the Sudanese government has "grown increasingly more uncooperative." Members believe that in response, the government has stepped-up attacks on innocent civilians ignoring United Nations Security Council Resolution 1593 was approved in March 2005 which states:
"The Council decided also that the Government of the Sudan and all other parties to the conflict in Darfur would cooperate fully with the Court and Prosecutor, providing them with any necessary assistance.
The Council decided further that nationals, current or former officials or personnel from a contributing State outside the Sudan which was not a party to the Rome Statute would be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of that contributing State for all alleged acts or omissions arising out of or related to operations in the Sudan authorized by the Council or the African Union, unless such exclusive jurisdiction had been expressly waived by that contributing State."
Richard Dicker from Human Rights Watch added "There are these charges approved by the judges, that Al-Bashir is wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity-but it is essential to scrap away diplomatic double speak. There are over 700,000 dead in Darfur. Several hundred thousand have been forced into a miserable exile as refugees in Chad."
He added when the Security Council meets, the expectation should be to make clear that Sudan is obligated to cooperate with the court on a legal basis -- Resolution 1593. Sudan must surrender Al-Bashir, Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb and support an end to impunity and justice for victims. Dickers said the closed door discussions are unfortunate and should be merited by the specific constructive nature of the discussion to support Security Council Resolution 1593.
Dickers emphasized the efforts to suspend proceedings against Al-Bashir have failed. He also said the efforts of Libya and Algeria to label the ICC as biased against Africa are invalid and are causing a delay in prosecuting these war criminals.
When prompted by TRNS with a question on the recent debate by critics that the ICC is a colonial system set up as racist against African countries, Dickers replied that it is this precise ideological agenda that is being used as the reference to past crimes under colonial rule by a number of European regimes which were horrific, "but hardly provide justification for the crimes being committed today."
He also said that serious crimes against humanity have been committed in Gaza and Southern Lebanon in recent months by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), which has yet to be properly held accountable.
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