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Call to hand over suspects at AU summit; new report about gender crimes; Angelina Jolie interview

01 July 2007

Dear all,

Please find below excerpts from media articles relating to the African Union summit in Accra during which a call was made to hand over ICC suspects in Darfur to The Hague; a new report detailing gender crimes in Sudan and excerpts of CNN's interview with U.S. actress Angelina Jolie, goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees who spoke about the importance of the International Criminal Court.

Please take note of the Coalition's policy on situations before the ICC (below), which explicitly states that the CICC will not take a position on potential or pending situations before the court. The Coalition, however, will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC.

With regards,
Mariana Rodriguez Pareja
CICC Spanish Information Services Coordinator and Latin America Analyst
[email protected]

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I. AFRICA UNION SUMMIT IN ACCRA

"More Petitions to AU," Accra Mail (Ghana), 27 June 2007,
http://allafrica.com/stories/200706280259.html

"The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and its member organizations in Chad and Sudan have called on the Heads of States of the Africa Union (AU) meeting in Accra to take the necessary measures to enable the establishment of an effective cease-fire and inclusive peace agreement in accordance with international human rights and humanitarian standards.

The President of FIDH Mr. Sidikki Kaba, at a press briefing in Accra yesterday expressed the organization's disappointment at the inability of the U.N. High - Level human rights mission on Dafur to carry out its investigation in the region. He urged the Human Rights Council to condemn the serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law by the belligerents in Dafur and the government's failure to protect its own citizens. Mr Kaba said: 'For a proper assessment of the ongoing human rights violations, it is essential that, the Sudanese Government allow the mission to enter the country.' 'Attacks carried out against Sudanese villages and civilians on the border with Chad by the Janjaweed militias continue with complete impunity and the complicity of the security forces in Sudan,' a release issued by the FIDH stated.

President of the Inter Africa Union for Human Rights, Mr. Brahima Kone said the perpetrators of evil should be brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the atrocities caused....."

II. GENDER CRIMES

"US rights group: Sudan must reform law to help end rape crisis in Darfur," Associated Press, 28 June 2007, reprinted at http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/28/africa/AF-GEN-Sudan-Darfur-Rapes.php

"Sudan must urgently reform its legal system if it wants to halt the mass rapes of women and girls in the war-torn region of Darfur, a U.S. rights group said in a report released Thursday. Harassment and rape of women, especially ethnic African refugees caught in Darfur's violence, are a major feature of the conflict in this western Sudanese region, where over 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million fled their homes since 2003, when local rebels took up arms against the central government. But Khartoum has protected Darfur rapists, often because they belong to government forces, and has made it extremely difficult for victims to access medical treatment or seek justice, said the U.S. rights group Refugees International in a new report. The Sudanese government must acknowledge 'the extent of the problem, including the high incidence of rape being perpetrated by members of the armed forces and affiliated militias,' said the study, entitled 'Laws without justice.' .... The International Criminal Court in The Hague listed mass rape as one of its main charges against a Sudanese Cabinet minister and an alleged janjaweed chief against whom arrest warrants were recently issued on 51 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. Khartoum created a government task force to combat rape in 2005. Its head, women's rights activist Attayet Mustapha, told The Associated Press the government had 'decided to enforce a zero tolerance policy toward rape in Darfur.' But she acknowledged that only eight offenders were sentenced by Sudanese courts for Darfur rape crimes in 2006. ....Refugees International's team researching the report was barred from traveling to Darfur and then expelled from the country in March."

III. ANGELINA JOLIE WELCOMES LEGAL REDRESS ON DARFUR CRISIS

"Without a Home: Refugees in Crisis," CNN Transcript, 22 June 2007, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0706/22/acd.02.html

"Angelina Jolie made a two-day trip to a camp in eastern Chad this week, where she visited refugees from neighboring Sudan's Darfur region.

'It's always hard to see decent people, families, living in such difficult conditions,' said Jolie, who reached the 26,000-person Oure-Cassoni camp after crossing a Saharan sandstorm....

Jolie said it is about time that those responsible for crimes against humanity in Darfur face international justice.

'Today, many refugees seemed to have a new sense of hope and they want to see those guilty brought to trial,' said Jolie, who welcomed the first accusations by the International Criminal Court's prosecutor against individuals for war crimes in the four-year-old Darfur conflict....

'In order to feel safe enough to return home, these people said they would need to know that the men who attacked them had been stripped of their weapons,' Jolie, 31, said. 'This is a very important day for international justice. The decisions of the ICC could make a big difference in the lives of these women and their children....

I think we have a problem with not being able to hold people accountable who commit [grave] crimes. And until we are able to do that as an international community, until we are able to back up the steps we take towards justice in a very, very strong way, I don't see what it is that we are doing.

And we -- the security council referred the case of Darfur to the International Criminal Court. The International Criminal Court had two indictments and two arrest warrants have now been issued for two men inside Darfur.

And it is the most important thing I think that can happen is to press Basheer (ph) to hand over these two men. And if we don't, I think it is saying and sending a message through Darfur that the guy holding a gun on a little girl right now and raping her, he's going to think, I'm not going to be held accountable because these men are not being pulled in. They are being protected.

Even the security council and the International Criminal Court can't get them. They are protected. So how are we going to send a message to all these people doing all these terrible things to say you cannot do this and you cannot get away with it?

...I support sanctions. I support no fly zone. I support troops coming in -- peacekeeper troops coming in, I'll be clear. But at the same time, I think you do all of that and you don't follow through on these arrest warrants and you're not -- and the future does not look good for international justice.'"

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CICC's policy on the referral and prosecution of situations before the ICC:

The Coalition for the ICC is not an organ of the court. The CICC is an independent NGO movement dedicated to the establishment of the International criminal court as a fair, effective, and independent International organization. The Coalition will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC and to help coordinate global Action to effectively implement the Rome statute of the ICC. The Coalition will also endeavor to respond to basic queries and to raise Awareness about the ICC's trigger mechanisms and procedures, as they Develop. The Coalition as a whole, and its secretariat, do not endorse or promote specific investigations or prosecutions or take a position on Situations before the ICC. However, individual CICC members May endorse Referrals, provide legal and other support on investigations, or develop Partnerships with local and other organizations in the course of their Efforts.

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