Help our local partners realise their vision of hope for their communities
1 April 2015
On the 10th anniversary of the UN Security Council’s referral of the Darfur case to the ICC, 78 Sudanese and international humanitarian and human rights organizations, including HART, have sent a letter to the UN Security Council.
The letter states that “we have reached a critical moment in history and we urge you, for the sake of humanity, to uphold justice in Sudan and to establish a decisive precedent in order, as the UN Charter states, ‘to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war’ and ‘to reaffirm faith in the fundamental human rights [and] in the dignity and worth of the human person.” [Full text of letter below.]
The letter identifies the crimes committed by the Sudan government throughout all regions of Sudan, including those in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, stating:
“The Sudan government continues its onslaught of violence against the people of Darfur to this day. International humanitarian organizations have been banned from the region, bombs are dropped indiscriminately, violent attacks and rape are routine and refugees and internally displaced are without food, water and basic necessities, utterly abandoned by the international community. Over 400,000 are estimated to have died, and currently, 2.5 million are internally displaced and 373,000 are refugees in Chad and the Central African Republic. In 2014, violence has increased to a level not seen since the beginning of the crisis, with 457,000 newly displaced. Since January of this year, 102,500 have been further displaced due to violence. In just one incident late last year, investigations by independent human rights organizations confirmed that government troops went door to door and raped 221 women and girls in the village of Tabit.
The Sudan government violated the Comprehensive Peace Agreement by failing to complete the popular consultations in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, and instead attempted to forcibly disarm military of the SPLM-North, sparking a war along its new southern border in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile, where it has dropped over 3,740 bombs, blocked access for international humanitarian aid and caused the death and displacement of hundreds of thousands Sudanese. Currently, 1.7 million are internally displaced or severely affected and over 269,000 are refugees in South Sudan and Ethiopia.”
The letter urges the United Nations Member States to pursue the arrests of the indicted war criminals, to hold the government of Sudan accountable for failing to cooperate with the ICC, to avoid legitimizing indicted war criminals through rigged elections, and to consider other measures under Chapter VII of the UN Charter that will help end the suffering of the Sudanese people.
You can download the full letter with the list of signatories, and the press release, just below.
For more information, please contact Esther Sprague, Founder and Director, Sudan Unlimited, esprague11@yahoo.com