Darfur Peace and Development

Executive Summary

On June 7, 2005, one day after the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced he was opening investigations into the events in Darfur, the Sudanese authorities established the Special Criminal Court on the Events in Darfur (SCCED) to demonstrate the government’s ability to handle prosecutions domestically. The timing of the establishment of the SCCED belies a motivation for the establishment of the Court beyond that of…

Source: Human Rights Watch, 12 April 2005

Background

Since early 2003, Sudanese government forces and government-backed ethnic militias known as “Janjaweed” have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and “ethnic cleansing” in the Darfur region of Sudan. They have targeted for abuse civilians belonging to the same ethnic groups as members of two rebel movements, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). More than two million people…

Volume 11, N ?? 2

Genocide prevention and the UN:

The potential of the Special Advisor to the Secretary-General

By: Erik Friberg

“At [UN] Headquarters there was not sufficient focus or institutional resources for early warning and risk analysis.†– Independent Inquiry into the action of the UN during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.[1]

Introduction

The UN is currently not organized in such that the substantial and substantive information gathered through the various…

Security Council
5158th Meeting (Night)

SECURITY COUNCIL REFERS SITUATION IN DARFUR, SUDAN, TO PROSECUTOR OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

Resolution 1593 (2005) Adopted by Vote of 11 in Favour
To None Against, with 4 Abstentions (Algeria, Brazil, China, United States)

Acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the Security Council decided this evening to refer the situation prevailing in Darfur since 1 July 2002 to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

Adopting resolution 1593…

Resolution 1591 (2005)

Adopted by the Security Council at its 5153rd meeting, on 29 March 2005

The Security Council,
Recalling its resolutions 1547 (2004) of 11 June 2004, 1556 (2004) of 30 July 2004, 1564 (2004) of 18 September 2004, 1574 (2004) of 19 November 2004, 1585
(2005) of 10 March 2005, 1588 (2005) of 17 March 2005, and 1590 of 24 March 2005, and statements of its President concerning Sudan,
Reaffirming its commitment to…

Press Statement
Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman
Washington, DC

The United States is pleased to announce a contribution of $17.85 million to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to continue to provide assistance and protection for over 200,000 Sudanese who have sought refuge in Chad as a result of the continuing conflict and deprivation in Darfur. The United States has provided nearly $100 million towards appeals from UNHCR, the World…

Source: Global Rights, 16 February 2005

A distinguished panel of experts gathered at Global Rights’ Washington, DC
headquarters to address an audience of more than 100 guests on the subject
of the United Nations’ response to the ongoing crisis in Darfur, Sudan.
Moderated by Global Rights’ Board Chair Jim Fitzpatrick, the speakers – Kelly
Askin, Senior Legal Officer of the International Justice Program at the Open
Society Institute; Salih Booker, Executive Director of Africa Action; Omer…

Source: Human Rights Watch

This excerpt is taken from Section IV of the Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to the United Nations Secretary-General, dated January 25, 2005. The following paragraphs (573-582) discuss the commission’s findings with regard to the inadvisability of mechanisms other than the International Criminal Court (ICC) to bring justice for crimes in Darfur.

573. The Commission considers that the ICC is the only credible…

A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper

Summary

Since February 2003, Darfur has been the scene of massive crimes against civilians of particular ethnicities in the context of an internal conflict between the Sudanese government and a rebel insurgency. Almost two million people have been forcibly displaced and stripped of all their property and tens of thousands of people have been killed, raped or assaulted.1 Even against this backdrop of extreme violence against…

Summary

Since February 2003, in the context of a military counter-insurgency campaign against two rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Sudanese government forces and government-backed ethnic militias known as “Janjaweed” have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and “ethnic cleansing” in the Darfur region of Sudan. Government forces and militias have systematically targeted civilian communities that share the same ethnicity as the…