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UK's Independent coverage on gender crimes, role of NGO evidence in legal process, Darfur demonstrations against Arusha talks and memo from displaced Darfurians calling for the UN to hand over perpetrators to the ICC

15 Aug 2007

Dear all,

Please find below excerpts from media articles and statements on recent
developments related to the ICC's investigation in Darfur. This digest
includes coverage in UK's Independent of gender crimes as a weapon of war in
Darfur; an article examining the role of NGO evidence in the legal process,
raised by the recent submission of Darfuri childrens' images to the Court;
more reporting on Darfur demonstrations against Arusha talks and a memo from
displaced Darfurians calling for the UN to hand over perpetrators to the
ICC; and various op-eds presenting contrasting views of the conflict in
Sudan.

Please also 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 Communications
[email protected]
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I. CAN IMAGES BY DARFURI CHILDREN BE USED AS EVIDENCE IN TRIAL?

i. "Drawn in Darfur: Pictures Don't Lie," by Rebekah Heil and Katy
Glassborow (IWPW), 15 August 2007
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=337864&apc_state=henh

".IWPR approached ICC prosecutors to ask whether such pictures [500 drawings
showing civilians under attack gathered by the NGO Waging Peace] might be
admissible as evidence in a criminal investigation and subsequent trial, but
they refused to comment.

Chief Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo has consistently encouraged NGOs working in
relevant countries to share evidence with his team of investigators. In
September 2006, he called on NGOs to help raise awareness about the court
across Africa, support witnesses and victims, and collect evidence from the
field.

'I want to increase your participation so that you help me to get
gender-based evidence, as we cannot present a case without evidence,' he
told NGOs at a conference. 'To enlarge victim participation, we encourage
your help.'

If the Darfur children's pictures were to be brought as evidence, the
possibility that the organisation that gathered the evidence exerted some
influence on them would have to be dealt with. In general, the onus is on
NGOs to prove that the verbal and other testimony they gather - in this case
the drawings - were not affected by interviewers with an agenda.

Lawyer Jean Flamme [formerly represented Thomas Lubanga Dyilo]told IWPR he
was concerned about the power NGOs could exercise over victims, and
questioned their legitimacy in the legal process...Flamme said that the
prosecutor's file against Lubanga contains many reports from NGOs, a fact
which he finds 'questionable', since the court is required to be completely
independent - from NGOs, the countries which support and fund it, and even
from the UN Security Council. 'This is a big problem,' he stressed.

.Karine Bonneau, director of international justice at FIDH, told IWPR that
should ICC prosecutors decide to use such drawings in court, NGOs will have
to describe the precise circumstances under which they were created.

[Anton Nikiforov, advisor to the chief prosecutor at the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia] told IWPR that in general
terms, using evidence provided by children is never easy. 'If an
international criminal tribunal accepts evidence from NGOs and human rights
groups - including drawings - it is obliged to verify its authenticity and
corroborate it with other evidence and testimony."

To view examples of these drawings, see
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/portfolio/0,12-0@2-3212,31-941704@51-861134,0.html

II. RAPE AS A WAR CRIME

i. "International court works to bring Darfur rapists to trial," by Anne
Penketh, Diplomatic Editor (The Independent-London), 13 August 2007,
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10457523

"..Hundreds of rape cases, including against girls as young as seven or
nine, were documented by human rights workers at the height of the ethnic
cleansing in Darfur in 2004.

To allow the victims of mass rape to give birth is arguably tantamount to
complicity in genocide. Because the most horrible conclusion of rape as a
weapon of war is that it can change the ethnic makeup of a country. In the
case of Darfur, it could mean the steady Arabisation of the next generation.

In 2005, about 100 countries took a landmark decision agreeing that rape
should be a crime against humanity, which could be prosecuted by the
International Criminal Court (ICC).

.Today, the former Sudanese former interior minister, Ahmad Harun, and Ali
Kushayb, have been accused by the court of acting together to commit war
crimes, including mass rape, against Darfur's civilians.

According to ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Ali Kushayb - known as
'colonel of colonels' in west Darfur - victimised the local population
'through mass rape and other sexual offences'. Mr Harun was quoted as
saying: 'Since the children of the Fur had become rebels, all the Fur and
what they had, had become booty' of the Janjaweed.

Last May, the court issued arrest warrants for the pair. However, although
Mr Kushayb is reportedly in custody in Sudan, the Sudanese authorities have
refused to hand over the men for trial. The loophole for Sudan, which the
government has exploited by saying that its own judicial process is under
way, is that the ICC can only come into play when a state is unwilling or
unable to prosecute the crimes in national courts.."

III. DISPLACED DARFURIANS PETITION UN TO DELIVER PERPETRATORS TO ICC

i. "Sudan Darfuris Stage Demo, Condemn Arusha Peace Talks," BBC Monitoring
International Reports, 11 August 2007
http://www.industrywatch.com/pages/iw2/Story.nsp?story_id=109309104&ID=iw&scategory=Aerospace:Hardware&P=&F=&R=&VNC=hnall

[Taken from report by Sudanese independent newspaper Al-Ayyam]

"Tens of thousands in displaced people's camps in northern and southern
Darfur states demonstrated yesterday upon the arrival of the United Nations
special envoy Jan Eliasson.

The demonstrators condemned the [recent] Arusha meeting, affirming that
Darfur peace would not be realized through Abuja or Arusha negotiations but
through [the] participation of all of Darfurians.

In a memorandum submitted to Eliasson, the displaced asked for the necessity
of implementing the UN Security Council resolution (1769) and deployment of
the [hybrid] forces on the ground as soon as possible in order to ease the
delivery of relief, return of the displaced to their villages and to present
Darfur perpetrators to the International Criminal Court [ICC].

The official spokesman of the refugees and displaced people in Darfur,
Husayn Abu Shartay, told Al-Ayyam that the displaced people staged
demonstrations in states of northern and southern Darfur. He added that the
demonstrators handed Eliasson a memorandum asking for the deployment of the
UN forces and handing over of the perpetrators of crimes against humanity in
Darfur to the ICC.

.Darfur could not be solved through Abuja or Arusha meetings but through
participation of all people of Darfur and all movements' leaders including
Abd-al-Wahid Muhammad Nur.."

ii. "Darfur IDPs protest in support of SLM leader position," The Sudan
Tribune , 12 August 2007, http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article23240

"Thousands of Darfur people demonstrated yesterday in Darfur to protest
against the outcome of Arusha meeting. The protesters affirmed their support
of the demand of a rebel leader requesting deployment of international
peacekeepers before talks.

.In a memorandum submitted to Eliasson, the displaced asked for the
necessity of implementing the UN Security Council resolution (1769) related
to the Hybrid Operation. They demanded the deployment of the peacekeeping
force on the ground as soon as possible in order to ease the delivery of
relief, return of the displaced to their villages. Also they urged to
present responsible of Darfur war crimes to the International Criminal Court
(ICC).

The IDPs told the UN envoy that no peace in Darfur without the leader of the
rebel Sudan Liberation Movement, Abdelwahid al-Nur, Al-Ayam news paper
reported.

Al-Nur refsued to take part in the rebel meeting organized in northern
Tanzania city of Arusha. He demands that Khartoum commits itself to a
ceasefire signed in 2004 and the deployment of international peacekeepers in
Darfur .."

IV. EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS

i. "Darfur - On the Margins of the AU Summit," Analysis by Is'haq Modibbo
Kawu (Africa News), 13 August 2007,


".[A]t the conference Hall of the Paloma Hotel, journalists from local and
foreign media were converging for a press briefing on one of the most
topical events in Africa today, the conflict in the western Sudanese region
of Darfur.. To add poignancy to the occasion, Honourable Salim Mahmud Usman
[Member of Parliament from Darfur] was introduced, as a member of parliament
in Khartoum, but from Darfur. A lawyer and Human Rights activist, Usman said
that he belonged to the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the
Sudanese parliament. Honourable Salim said he belongs to the Fur Ethnic
group in Darfur. Furthermore, he said that members of his own family have
been detained and killed in Darfur. According to the Member of Parliament,
"Darfur is the worst human suffering of its kind in the world today"; this,
he said, was according to the United Nations. He said that 5million Africans
are being targeted in Darfur; 2.5million live in camps; 2.5million are in
exile; 600,000 have been killed, while more than 3, 000 villages have been
destroyed. He said that the Government of Sudan (GOS) uses Antonov planes
and helicopter gunship, for aerial bombing of villages in Darfur, after
which the Janjaweed militia come to destroy, kill and burn.

Honourable Salim Mahmud Usman then outlined what he called the demands of
Darfur. These are a) to be protected b) to show solidarity with its people
c) to put pressure on the GOS to allow the introduction of the joint AU/UN
forces, because, according to him, the AU forces on the ground in Darfur do
not have effective power to stop the atrocities going on in Darfur. The
human rights lawyer and politician went on to state that rape is a weapon of
the war in Darfur, and so far, the perpetrators have not been brought to
justice, because they are beyond the law. He said that justice must become
the only basis of deterrence to stop the war, arguing further, that the ICC
system needed to be invoked in respect of the atrocities being perpetrated
against the people of Darfur. ."

ii. "Other views of the conflict in Darfur," Op-ed by Dr James M Smith,
Chief executive, Aegis Trust (The Guardian-London), 13 August 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sudan/story/0,,2147556,00.html

"The recent International Criminal Court arrest warrants provide a useful to
corrective to Jonathan Steele's article (Unseen by western hysteria, Darfur
edges closer to peace, August 10). The ICC names the Sudanese government
minister Ahmed Harun for his role in a long and bloody list of war crimes
and crimes against humanity. However, he was not a rogue official acting
alone but reported upwards to the defence minister, the internal security
chief, Saleh Ghosh, Vice President Taha and President Bashir. Any future
trials will reveal these men as involved in a criminal conspiracy to commit
over 200,000 murders. Yes, the rebels have a responsibility to engage in
peace negotiations, and yes, any rebels suspected of war crimes should be
brought to justice. But analysis of the attacks reveals that over 90% of
them were carried out by either the Janjaweed or Sudanese government forces,
or jointly. This is the background that must be borne in mind when reporting
on Darfur. Yes, other countries have authoritarian governments, and, yes,
there are other crises in the world - but that does not remove the need to
speak the truth about the Sudanese regime."

iii. "Hellish good intentions: The injection of politics into
humanitarianism has proved a failure. Aid should never be partial," by Conor
Foley, The Guardian, 15 August 2007,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2148933,00.html

"One of the problems with discussing humanitarian intervention is that the
term itself means different things to different people. For legal scholars
it describes military intervention to come to the aid of people facing acute
danger, for humanitarian aid workers it is the impartial distribution of
emergency relief.

During the 1990s the two activities became increasingly intertwined as
military convoys were used to open 'humanitarian corridors' to civilians
trapped in conflict zones. Aid workers also felt increasingly compelled to
speak out about the atrocities that they witnessed. 'One cannot stop a
genocide with medicines,' proclaimed Medecins sans Frontieres during the
Rwandan crisis of 1994, and a year later others mourned the 'well-fed dead'
of Srebrenica.

'Political humanitarianism' emerged in response. Drawing on concepts based
on international human-rights law, its advocates argued that certain
circumstances created a 'duty to intervene'. Humanitarian organisations
should urge action by western governments to end atrocities. The neutral Red
Cross approach, like the system of collective security based on the UN
Charter, had become an excuse for inertia and indifference to global
suffering.

.. Gordon Brown should also learn the lessons of the rhetorical failures of
his predecessor. Darfur is not 'the greatest humanitarian disaster the world
faces today' as he claimed. It is a brutal messy conflict, currently being
investigated by the International Criminal Court. This has already indicted
one senior Sudanese government official, and if more evidence emerges, more
charges should follow. But arguing for political prosecutions as a means of
pressuring the government is anathema to the notion of 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.

Communications to the ICC can be sent to:

ICC
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2500 CM the Hague
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