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Darfur: Information about Outreach to Journalists in Sudan by the ICC; Chinese and Sudanese reaction to letter from British MPs; report by ICJ; Letter from HRW to Arab League; Profile ICC Prosecutor by Time Magazine

06 Nov 2007

Dear all,

Please find below information on recent developments related to the International Criminal Court's investigation in Darfur, Sudan.

This digest includes information about outreach to journalists in Sudan by the ICC; Chinese and Sudanese reaction to a letter from British MPs calling for Chinese assistance in ending the crisis in Darfur; a report by the International Commission of Jurists maintaining that Sudan has failed to bring justice to victims of the Darfur conflict; approved text of US House of Representatives resolution on Darfur; reports that ICC suspect Ali Kushayb is traveling freely in Khartoum; a letter from Human Rights Watch to the League of Arab States, calling for cooperation with the ICC; and a profile of ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo by Time Magazine.

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 and current situations before the Court or situations under analysis. The Coalition, however, will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC.

Regards,

Mariana Rodriguez Pareja
CICC Communications
[email protected]

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ICC REACHES OUT TO SUDANESE JOURNALISTS

i. “ICC Struggles to Reach Out to Darfuris,” by Katty Glassborow, Lisa Clifford, Caroline Tosh and Daniel Barron (Institute for War & Peace Reporting, IWPR), 17 October 2007,
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=339911&apc_state=henpacr

“An IWPR investigation shows victims of Darfur conflict remain largely ignorant of the court that’s pledged to deliver them justice.

As conflict rages in Darfur, few local people are aware of the work being done by the International Criminal Court, ICC, to prosecute those responsible for atrocities committed there, a wide-ranging investigation by IWPR can reveal.

According to our research, even educated Darfuris know little about the ICC and often misunderstand what it is trying to do. Among those who have heard of its work, many are frustrated by the lack of arrests, the slow pace of investigations and the court’s low profile on the ground - described as “invisible” by one victims’ group.

Other findings of the report – conducted by IWPR to gauge awareness of the court in Darfur, as well as to find out what justice means to those caught up in the devastating conflict – suggest justice is not uppermost in the minds of Darfuris. Most are far more preoccupied with the daily struggle to survive in a harsh environment where food, clean water and security are in short supply.

‘Eighty per cent of the people do not know and are not interested in the ICC. They’re interested in survival,’ one interviewee told IWPR….”


ii. “Voices from the ground,” by Michele Ernsting (Radio Netherlands), 23 October 2007,
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/071023-Darfur-ICC

“The conflict in the Sudanese region of Darfur simmers on - so far 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million have been displaced because of fighting between the Sudanese government, Janjaweed militias and rebel fighters. Meanwhile, thousands of miles away the International Criminal Court in The Hague is trying to assemble evidence to convict those responsible for these grave crimes.

Another problem is that the court is barred from working in Sudan. Instead it tries to inform people through local human rights organizations, such as the one where Jane Alao works. But she says she has to be very careful. She explained that if you're found speaking about the court, you can be arrested and be charged with a completely different act, for example waging war against the state.

Despite the dangers, word of the court creeps into the displacement camps. Another man interviewed by Radio Netherlands Worldwide was Tiejani Adam Ahmad, a member of the Fur tribe from Camp Kalma. He told us he wants the ones responsible for the crimes in Darfur to be severely punished in order to teach others a lesson….”

iii. “Second group of Sudanese journalists to visit International Criminal Court,”
BBC Monitoring Middle East, 2 November 2007, [link unavailable]

Text of report by Sudanese Islamist opposition newspaper Akhir Lahzah website on 2 November:

Akhir Lahzah has learnt that a second group of Democratic Journalists will be leaving for Holland to visit the International Criminal Court [ICC] and meet the general prosecutor, [Luis Moreno-] Ocampo. This follows a previous visit by Sudanese journalists to The Hague in response to an invitation by the ICC and preparations being made by a foreign organization that is financing the democratic journalists' travel and living expenses.

The visit aims to persuade the Sudanese public of the justice and impartiality of the ICC which has issued arrest warrants against the state minister for humanitarian affairs, Ahmad Harun, and the Popular Defence Force member, who is currently being detained by order of the attorney's office, Ali Kushayb….”


CHINESE RESPOND TO BRITISH LEGISLATORS CALL FOR CHINESE ASSISTANCE IN ENDING CONFLICT AND SUDAN’S AL-BASHIR ACCUSES BROWN OF UNDERMINING PEACE TALKS


i. “British legislators write letter to China's leader asking for help ending Sudan conflict,” Associated Press Worldstream, 29 October 2007,
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/29/europe/EU-GEN-Britain-Darfur-China.php

“ More than 100 British legislators have written a letter to China's government urging it to take greater responsibility for ending the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, a human rights group said Monday.

The letter, addressed to Chinese President Hu Jintao, calls on China to review its policy of providing arms to the Sudanese government, international rights organization Crisis Action said.

The letter, which said China's help is needed before the Beijing Olympics in 2008, will be delivered to the Chinese Embassy in London on Monday by a delegation of legislators that planned to discuss it with senior embassy officials, Crisis Action said.

…. The British legislators' letter says China is in a key position to persuade Sudan's government to withdraw its support for attacks on civilians, give aid operations the freedom to work unhindered, abide by existing cease-fire arrangements, disarm militias and cooperate fully with the International Criminal Court.

‘We are also keen to see China review its long-standing policy of providing, and financing, arms sales to the government of Sudan to ensure that it is not contributing to the security crisis in Darfur,’ the letter says.

The signatories, including former British foreign ministers and ministers for sport, welcomed the Chinese governments backing for the U.N. force in Darfur, but stressed that China must now use its influence with the Sudanese government to ensure that civilians are protected….”

ii. “China says British lawmakers letter on Sudan is irresponsible,” Associated Press Worldstream, 30 October 2007,
http://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/ap/20071030/tap-as-gen-china-sudan-bb10fb8.html

“A letter from British lawmakers urging Beijing to shoulder more responsibility for ending the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region was irresponsible, China said Tuesday.

On Monday, more than 100 British lawmakers, in a letter addressed to Chinese President Hu Jintao and delivered to the Chinese Embassy in London, called on China to review what was described as a policy of providing arms to the Sudanese government.

‘It is not responsible at all, ‘Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a news conference. ‘They have disregarded the Chinese efforts.’

The letter said China was in a position to persuade Sudan's government to withdraw its support for attacks on civilians, give aid operations the freedom to work unhindered, abide by existing cease-fire arrangements, disarm militias and cooperate fully with the International Criminal Court….

China is one of Sudan's closest allies, buying two-thirds of its oil output and supplying the government with weapons…”


iii. “Sudan seeks apology by Brown over sanctions threat: President says PM's stance undermines peace talks British ambassador summoned to capital,” The Guardian (London), 1 November 2007, http://www.buzzle.com/articles/159227.html

“President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan has accused Gordon Brown of deliberately undermining the Darfur peace talks and has demanded a public apology after the prime minister's threat of new sanctions against Sudan if the talks fail.

Mr Brown's remarks amounted to direct encouragement to Darfur's rebels to continue fighting and boycott the negotiations which started in Libya at the weekend, Mr Bashir told the Guardian yesterday. "We read it as encouraging these people, the movements - 'Make these talks fail so that we will be able to punish the government of Sudan'," he said.

The Sudanese government sent a delegation to the talks and announced a unilateral ceasefire on the opening day. But Darfur's main armed groups have refused to attend the talks, which were meant to end five years of war that have left two million people homeless and caused up to 200,000 deaths….”


INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF JURISTS REPORT ON SUDAN’S FAILURE TO BRING JUSTICE TO VICTIMS

“Sudan: New report shows courts & investigations fail to bring justice to victims in Darfur,” Relief Web, 29 October 2007, http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/SSHN-78FFA3?OpenDocument

“The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said today that courts and investigatory bodies set up specially by the Sudanese Government to address human rights violations in Darfur have failed to deliver justice to victims in Darfur. Speaking in Cairo at the launch of its new report "The Administration of Justice in Sudan: The case of Darfur, the ICJ said fact-finding in Darfur showed that urgent legal and structural changes were needed if the Sudanese Government was to demonstrate it has the political will to bring to justice state officials and members of the Janjaweed militia responsible for crimes against humanity and war crimes

‘After detailed fact-finding in Darfur, this new ICJ report documents the realities of the investigations and handful of trials mounted by the Government in Darfur’, said Said Benarbia, ICJ Legal Officer for the Middle East and North Africa.

The Government of Sudan has repeatedly refused to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC), arguing that Sudan's judiciary is competent and willing to dispense justice.

‘Our research shows that the Government of Sudan has not shown political will to bring perpetrators to justice, the courts are neither independent nor impartial and a range of national laws make the courts incapable of meting out justice in Darfur in a way that reflects the gravity of the crimes.’ said Said Benarbia….”


US HOUSE APPROVES DARFUR RESOLUTION


“House Approves Delauro Darfur Resolution [Heavily Excerpted],” States News Service, 29 October 2007, http://enoughproject.wordpress.com/category/house-of-representatives/

The following information was released by the office of Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro:

'The U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution introduced by Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) on the need to prevent and respond to acts of rape and sexual violence in the Darfur conflict region. …

Whereas the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which entered into force on July 1, 2002, states that rape and ''any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity'' may constitute both ''crimes against humanity'' and ''war crimes''; ...

Whereas, on April 27, 2007, the International Criminal Court, acting under the authority provided in Security Council Resolution 1593 (2005), issued arrest warrants for Sudan's Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmad Muhammad Harun and Janjaweed Colonel Ali Muhammad Al Abd-Al-Raham seeking their arrest for 51 counts including 6 counts involving rape; … Now, therefore be it:

Resolved, that the House of Representatives- …

(C) adopt under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter a Security Council Resolution calling on the Government of Sudan to respect all related Security Council Resolutions, including Security Council Resolution 1593 (2005), enforce the arrest warrants for Ahmad Muhammad Harun and Ali Muhammad Al Abd-Al- Raham, and further recognize the systematic rape of women and girls in Darfur as crimes against humanity and war crimes….”

ICC SUSPECT ALLEGEDLY WALKING FREE IN KHARTOUM

“Darfur war crime suspect wanted by ICC reportedly seen in Sudan’s capital,” Sudan Tribune, 22 October 2007, http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article24353

“A Darfur war crimes suspect wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) was seen in an area north of Khartoum according to a prominent human right activist.

‘Several eyewitnesses confirmed to me that they have seen Ali Kushayb in Al-Haj Yousef area’ the activist told Sudan Tribune on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

The judges of the ICC issued their first arrest warrants for suspects accused of war crimes in Sudan’s Darfur region in early May.

…. The Sudanese government was believed to have been holding Kushayb in custody since November on charges of kidnapping and murder against civilians in Darfur.

However Kushayb filed an appeal in the case last March forcing a trial delay. Shortly after the appeal the Sudanese justice minister Mohamed Ali Al-Mardi banned all media from publishing reports or details relating to criminal cases in Darfur.

Despite government claims that Kushayb was in custody at the time, the editor in chief of Al-Intibaha newspaper was able to conduct an interview with him through his cell phone last March in which he denied any wrongdoings during his participation the Darfur war….”


HRW LETTER TO ARAB LEAGUE ON DARFUR

Letter from Human Rights Watch (HRW) to Arab League, 29 October 2007,
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/TBRL-78FLYJ?OpenDocument

“Sudan: Letter to the Arab League on the situation in Darfur
To the League of Arab States

Your Excellency,

We are writing to you in advance of your attendance at the meeting of the League of Arab States due to take place in Khartoum on 30-31 October 2007. We are encouraged by this initiative to discuss the crisis in Darfur, which is clearly of global concern.
We understand that the conference is dedicated to discussion of the provision of humanitarian assistance in Darfur, and post-conflict reconstruction and development. In considering this, it is vital that the conference consider the human rights issues that are directly endangering the provision of humanitarian assistance, and which contribute to the continuation of the crisis. If these issues are not addressed, there can be no hope of lasting peace and security, which are vital prerequisites to effective reconstruction and development.

We urge you to consider the following points and take the specific steps outlined below in order to make a real difference in the lives of the people of Darfur.

Specifically, we recommend that the governments of the League of Arab States:

- Ensure that AMIS and UNAMID have adequate personnel, equipment, technical expertise, and other resources, noting that improved security in Darfur will be contingent upon their rapid response capabilities and patrolling activities.

- Call on all parties immediately to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law including:

1. Ending attacks on civilians and the unlawful use on aircraft of UN and AMIS colors or markings,

2. Ending support to abusive militia/Janjaweed and initiating militia/Janjaweed disarmament programs,

3. Ending impunity and promoting accountability through full cooperation with the International Criminal Court, and undertaking legal reforms and other steps to strengthen Sudan’s justice system,

…. These abuses have been carried out with near total impunity. The government has refused to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC), refusing to hand over the two individuals subject to arrest warrants by the court. One of the suspects, Ahmed Haroun, remains State Minister for Humanitarian Affairs for Darfur, and was recently appointed to a committee whose mandate includes the hearing of complaints of human rights abuses. The other, Ali Kosheib, was in custody in Sudan but according to the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was recently released. This is a stunning affront to the international community, given that the matter was referred to the ICC by the UN Security Council. The government has also failed to prosecute the most serious atrocities on a national level, or to carry out promised reforms of the national legal system. The League of Arab States should urge the government of Sudan to cooperate fully with the International Criminal Court, and undertake legal reforms and other steps to strengthen Sudan’s justice system….”


TIME MAGAZINE PENS MORENO-OCAMPO “DON QUIXOTE FOR DARFUR”

“The Don Quixote of Darfur,” By Romesh Ratnesar for Time Magazine (US Edition), 2 November 2007, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1680150,00.html

“In the eyes of Luis Moreno Ocampo, the war in Darfur will end thousands of miles from the killing fields, in a narrow, wood-paneled room carved out of an old parking garage in the Hague. It is here that Moreno-Ocampo, the Argentine prosecutor of the five-year-old International Criminal Court (ICC), intends to bring to justice the perpetrators of Sudan's genocide. Moreno-Ocampo and his team of lawyers will occupy one side of the courtroom, presenting their evidence to a three-judge panel that will decide the case. On the other side will sit the defendant, Ahmad Muhammed Harun, Sudan's former Interior Minister, whom Moreno-Ocampo has charged with orchestrating the slaughter in Darfur.

….. Moreno-Ocampo believes in the inevitability of international justice, the idea that even the world's worst thugs will face a reckoning in court. ‘To me, he really seems like a Don Quixote figure,’ says Ted Braun, director of Darfur Now. ‘He's one man, working alone, taking on the world with a great vision of what he can do, but without a lot of overt backing.’ If that bothers Moreno-Ocampo, he doesn't show it. Finishing his coffee, he tells me that the ICC is helping to establish a new approach to international relations, in which states interact ‘on the basis of laws, not on the concept of friends and enemies. There are still criminals, but no enemies. That is the idea.’ Moreno-Ocampo is working to make the idea real.”

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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 (potential and current), or situations under analysis 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