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Darfur (Part I): Additional Members' Media Statements on Prosecutor

28 Feb 2007

Dear All,

In our continuing coverage of the Darfur situation and specifically
the ICC Prosecutor's submission of evidence and request for summonses
for Ahmad Muhammad Harun and Ali Muhammad Ali Abdal-Rahman, the CICC
Secretariat will circulate two digests today: Part I will include
additional CICC members` media statements and Part II will include
continuing media coverage.

Please find below a digest of additional CICC members' media
statements, including (in alphabetical order):

- Citizens for Global Solutions, "International Criminal Court Issues
Summons for Darfur Suspects; Bush Administration Must Match Court's
Efforts on Darfur":
http://www.globalsolutions.org/press_room/press_releases/press_release
s07/darfur_summons.html
- Human Rights First, "HRF Urges Prosecutor to Pursue Evidence 'Up
the Chain of Command' in Darfur Case":
http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/media/ij/2007/alert/314/
- International Center for Transitional Justice, "ICTJ Welcomes
Naming of Darfur War Crimes Suspects by ICC Prosecutor; Announcement
Marks First Step in Combating Impunity and Deterring Ongoing
Violence": http://www.ictj.org/en/news/press/release/1161.html
- Parliamentarians for Global Actions, "Global Parliamentary
organization welcomes important step forward by International
Criminal Court concerning Darfur, Sudan; Japanese Government Moves
ICC Accession Bill to Parliament": link not yet available
- Save Darfur Coalition, "Save Darfur Coalition Commends
International Criminal Court Action to Bring Justice to Sudan; Renews
Call for Peacekeepers to Stop the Genocide":
link not yet available

The CICC Secretariat will continue to circulate members' media
statements as they become available. For media statements and
additional information, please visit: http://www.coalitionfortheicc.org/?
mod=darfur.

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.

Warm Regards,
Esti Tambay
Information and Analysis Officer
Coalition for the International Criminal Court

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Citizens for Global Solutions, Press Release, "International Criminal
Court Issues Summons for Darfur Suspects; Bush Administration Must
Match Court's Efforts on Darfur," 27 February 2007
http://www.globalsolutions.org/press_room/press_releases/press_release
s07/darfur_summons.html

"Citizens for Global Solutions, a leading U.S.-based advocacy group
for a strong and effective International Criminal Court (ICC)
welcomes the ICC's identification of two perpetrators in the on-going
Darfur atrocities.

In his announcement from The Hague today, ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis
Moreno Ocampo requested a summons to appear for Ahmad Muhammad Harun,
former Minister of State for the Interior of the Government of Sudan,
and Ali Kushayb, a Janjaweed militia leader in Darfur. Both men have
been accused of working together, and on behalf of the government of
Sudan, in committing 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against
humanity against the Darfur people. The charges include the rape,
torture and murder of men and women in four West Darfur villages
between 2003 and 2004. Mr. Ocampo did not rule out future charges of
genocide.

Golzar Kheiltash, Legal Analyst at Citizens for Global Solutions,
said: "The Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) has demonstrated its
commitment to an impartial investigation that couples the need for
justice and accountability for Darfur's victims with a strict
adherence to the highest standards of judicial process and protocol.
Mr. Ocampo's extensive and incriminating evidence against two leading
perpetrators, Mr. Harun and Mr. Kushayb, is a strong and promising
first step. The Court is clearly taking its commitment to Darfur's
victims very seriously.

"Today's announcement demonstrates the ICC's concrete efforts for
Darfur's victims," she said. "The Court is continuing to do its part.
The U.S. and the international community must now do theirs.
President Bush must supplement his rhetoric on Darfur with concrete
action. In the words of the Save Darfur Coalition, it is time for our
administration to `cooperate completely with the ICC's prosecution'
of those responsible for the atrocities in Darfur."

Today's announcement follows a painstaking 20-month investigation by
the OTP and is the first step in what the Prosecutor has articulated
will be an ongoing, continuing investigation in Darfur. In addition
to charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, requests for
summons and/or arrest warrants for additional senior Sudanese
officials and Janjaweed rebels are also likely to follow today's
announcement.

"We are exonerating no one," Mr. Ocampo said. "As the prosecutor, my
duty is to look for the evidence. I did it with Mr. Harun, and I will
do it again, wherever the evidence goes."

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Human Rights First, Press Release, "HRF Urges Prosecutor to Pursue
Evidence 'Up the Chain of Command' in Darfur Case," 27 February 2007
http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/media/ij/2007/alert/314/

"The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has
named the first suspects in his investigation of mass atrocities in
Darfur.

On Feb. 27, evidence supporting charges of crimes against humanity
and war crimes in Darfur was submitted to the International Criminal
Court (ICC) by Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. The submission
named two suspects: Ahmad Muhammad Harun, former Minister of State
for the Interior of the Government of Sudan, and Ali Kushayb, a
leader of the Janjaweed.

"With this submission, the ICC Chief Prosecutor has stood up for the
victims of the mass atrocities in Darfur and awakened the hope for
justice in the region. He has also warned all parties to the conflict
that they will pay a heavy price for any further attacks on
civilians," said Maureen Byrnes, Executive Director of Human Rights
First.

"The first submission should not be the last," added Byrnes. "The
Chief Prosecutor should pursue evidence of criminal responsibility up
the chain of command, no matter how high it takes him."

The ICC Chief Prosecutor's submission follows a more than 20-month
probe into mass killings, rape, forced displacement and other gross
violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in
Darfur. The investigation is likely to remain ongoing as long as the
Sudanese government fails to hold accountable those responsible for
widespread abuses against civilians in the region.

The ICC investigation began after the U.N. Security Council referred
the situation in Darfur to the court in March 2005 and mandated the
cooperation of the Sudanese government and all other parties to the
conflict.

Since 2003, civilians in Darfur have been victims of mass killings
and rape, and more than two million people have been forced to flee
for their lives. The Sudanese government's armed forces and proxy
militia, the Janjaweed, are largely responsible for these attacks."

****************************************************
International Center for Transitional Justice, Press Release, "ICTJ
Welcomes Naming of Darfur War Crimes Suspects by ICC Prosecutor;
Announcement Marks First Step in Combating Impunity and Deterring
Ongoing Violence," 27 February 2007
http://www.ictj.org/en/news/press/release/1161.html

"The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) today
welcomed the decision of the Chief Prosecutor of the International
Criminal Court (ICC) to start proceedings against a senior government
official and the head of a government-allied militia for war crimes
and crimes against humanity alleged to have been committed under
their command at the height of the government-led counterinsurgency
campaign in Darfur in 2003 and 2004.

The Prosecutor presented evidence earlier today against Ahmad
Muhammad Harun, former State Minister of the Interior and current
State Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, and militia leader Ali
Kushayb, implicating the two in the commission of 51 counts of crimes
against humanity and war crimes, including: attacks on noncombatants,
summary executions, arbitrary detentions, torture, and the use of
rape as a weapon of war.

"The Prosecutor's decision to target both a chief planner and primary
implementer of some of the worst episodes of violence in the Darfur
crisis finally addresses the scandal of rampant impunity in Darfur,"
said Suliman Baldo, deputy director of the ICTJ's Middle East and
North Africa Program and an expert on Sudan.

The ICTJ considers this a crucial step toward holding accountable
those bearing the greatest responsibility and preventing future
violations from recurring. The Center hopes that this application
will be followed by further investigations and indictments of
individuals on all sides of the conflict believed to be most
responsible for both past and ongoing mass atrocities.

The ICTJ calls on the government of the Sudan to fully comply with
the Pre-Trial Chamber's decision and grant ICC investigators full
access to the country and the Darfur region. The government should
also refrain from any intimidation or attacks against those it
suspects of cooperating with the ICC investigation.

The ICTJ urges the Government of Sudan and the rebels in Darfur to
cease immediately all attacks against civilians and humanitarian
workers, and called on all parties to the conflict to cooperate with
the ongoing ICC investigation.

The ICTJ calls on the ICC to continue and broaden its prosecutorial
efforts in a timely manner by pursuing investigations of individuals
bearing other responsibilities and from all sides of the conflict
and, in so doing, to take all necessary measures to protect victims
and witnesses. […]"

****************************************************
Parliamentarians for Global Actions, Press Release, "Global
Parliamentary organization welcomes important step forward by
International Criminal Court concerning Darfur, Sudan; Japanese
Government Moves ICC Accession Bill to Parliament ," 27 February 2007
(link not yet available)

"Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) welcomes today two
important developments for the effectiveness and universality of the
International Criminal Court (ICC). In The Hague, Prosecutor Luis
Moreno Ocampo submitted evidence to the Pre-Trial Chamber on
atrocities allegedly committed by the Deputy Minister for the
Interior of Sudan and a Chief of the Militia/Janjaweed "in relation
to 51 counts of alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes,
including persecution, torture, murder and rape committed in Darfur
in 2003 and 2004".

In Tokyo, in another important development and milestone in
connection with the ICC, the Government of Japan tabled its Bill for
the Accession to the Rome Statute of the ICC to the National Diet of
Japan (Parliament).

Sen. Tadashi Inuzuka, Deputy Convenor of the PGA International Law
and Human Rights Programme who visited Darfur in August 2006,
stressed the importance of the Prosecutor's submission to the Pre-
Trial Chamber "at a time in which the Government of Japan decided to
fulfill its promise to join the Rome Statute of the ICC by submitting
the relevant Bill for Accession to the Legislation Committee of the
National Diet of Japan. Members of the international community have a
collective responsibility to protect the undefended populations of
Darfur and must now support the judicial action of the Court", Sen.
Inuzuka stated.

In the same vein, Dr. Ra'ed Qaqish MP, Jordan, launched an appeal
to "all parties in the Darfur conflict to take stock of the powerful
message sent by the ICC and stop any attack against the civilian
population, whose rights are protected not only by the Rome Statute
of the ICC and UN Security Council resolutions, but also by the
Geneva Conventions of 1949 to which Sudan is a Party since 1957, the
Genocide Convention of 1948 that Sudan ratified in 2003 and the
Convention on the rights of refugees of 1951, acceded by Sudan in
1974."

Sudan is not yet a party of the Rome Statute of the ICC, although it
signed it on 8 September 2000, and therefore is bound by the
principle of refraining from any action that might defeat the object
and purpose of the treaty, as envisaged in the Vienna Convention on
the Law of the Treaties of 1968, most of the provisions of which are
also now widely recognized as reflecting customary international law.

Strengthening the rule of law to enhance human rights' protection is
the primary goal of the PGA ICC Campaign, which assists Legislators
world-wide in their mandate to implement the provisions of the Rome
Statute into their respective national legal
orders. "Parliamentarians, in drafting legislation and overseeing its
implementation, are vital engines and catalysts in ensuring that rule
of law is maintained and consolidated" affirmed Sen. Raynell
Andreychuk of Canada, Convenor of PGA's International Law and Human
Rights programme. "As a necessary corollary, therefore, it is
Parliamentarians who must continue to be at the forefront of all
national, regional and global efforts to stamp out impunity, the
antithesis of a properly functioning rule of law, wherever it may
exist. I therefore call upon all Legislators to advocate for their
Governments to continue to cooperate fully with the International
Criminal Court", Sen. Andreychuk said.

The PGA network has followed closely the efforts of the UN Security
Council to halt the violence and fight impunity in Darfur. Over the
past four years, PGA President Sen. Alain Destexhe of Belgium
advocated for robust multilateral intervention to protect
civilians. "Nearly two years have now elapsed since the UN Security
Council referred this matter to the ICC: The developments of today
are therefore to be strongly commended and endorsed", Sen. Destexhe
said, "and, as it did at the time of its adoption, PGA renews its
call and urges all States to comply with the requirements contained
in UN Security Council resolution 1593 (2005) and bring to justice
the perpetrators of Darfur's atrocities.""

****************************************************
Save Darfur Coalition, Press Release, "Save Darfur Coalition Commends
International Criminal Court Action to Bring Justice to Sudan; Renews
Call for Peacekeepers to Stop the Genocide," 27 February 2007
(link not yet available)

"The Save Darfur Coalition applauded today's application by the
Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to begin legal
proceedings against the first two suspects accused of crimes against
humanity and war crimes in Darfur: Sudan's former Interior Minister
of State and now Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs, Ahmed
Haroun, and the militia/Janjaweed commander, Ali Kushayb. The
Coalition emphasized that this action demonstrates the urgent need
for the deployment of a credible and effective international force to
Darfur to protect the hundreds of thousands of innocent victims of
these crimes, now in grave and worsening peril.

Save Darfur Coalition executive director David Rubenstein released
the following statement about today's announcement:

"We applaud today's action by the ICC as a critical first step in
bringing justice to Sudan. We also note and support the intent of the
prosecutor to pursue his investigations against other authors of the
genocide. The perpetrators of war crimes in Darfur must know that
they will be held personally accountable for their crimes.
Governments around the world, especially those that have signed the
Rome Statue of the ICC, must insist on full and prompt Sudanese
compliance with all ICC instructions. Beyond this important
development, we call on all governments to take action to end the
commission of genocide in Darfur by working ceaselessly, and by
applying needed pressure, to get international peacekeepers into
Darfur urgently to protect the vulnerable civilian population, to
demand respect for the many ceasefires the Sudanese government has
broken, and to pursue a just and transparent political process to
build a durable end to this conflict."

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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
P.O. Box 19519
2500 CM The Hague
The Netherlands