GENEVA, 28 March 2007 - A side event organised by UN Watch aimed at activists for the current situation in Darfur during the 4th Session of the Human Rights Council heard presentations by a number of experts.

Paul Hunt, Special Rapporteur on Health applauded the work of humanitarian workers on the ground who are being increasingly targeted for doing their work.

He said there was a relationship between causes of the conflict and the economic, social, and cultural rights when there is a failure to realise civil and political rights, the economic and social disparities seem to have fuelled conflict.

He said the UN Human Rights system was failing the people of Darfur, “The applicability of human rights does not stop at Guantanamo Bay, nor does it stop at the borders of Gaza, or the borders of Sudan or Darfur,” he continued.

Colum Murphy, President of the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations, said he sees similarities between the Darfur situation, Bosnia and Somalia. “Darfur is a struggle over resources, water, and land and the international community is aiming at the wrong things”, he said. He said the Darfur conflict “will not come to an end through rhetoric, but only through action. Quoting H.G. Wells, he said, “Civilization is a race between education and catastrophe”.

Mr. Gibreil I.M.Hamid from Darfur Peace and Development Centre, said he lived in Western Darfur, Sudan, in the 1980s and lost 60 members of his family in attacks. He said the problem started 18 years ago, when rebels started burning down villages. The problem, he said, was that the government of Sudan had the power and the responsibility to protect its people, but is not doing that and those in business with Sudan support the government.

He said while food aid was important, the most important thing was protection, so people can go to their homes “so as to farm and so as to survive.” He called on the government of Sudan to take responsibility for the violence, including the rape of women and girls.

Joyce W. Jacobs, Chair, Darfur Relief, The American Jewish Committee Palm Beach County Chapter called on the international community to take action, “neutrality helps the oppressor not the victim,” she said.

Elizabeth Cassidy, Assistant Executive Director of UN Watch, said there has been a failure in political bodies to take action. “Just as in the present Human Rights Council, there is a lack of political will among states”. She said there are two draft resolutions on the table right now on how to implement the recommendations by Jody Williams on her mission to Sudan. However, she said both fall short of full implementation.

The event was also attended by about five representatives of the government of Sudan and another ten representatives of Sudanese NGOs supporting the Sudanese government. One of the representatives of the Government said that many conflicts happen in Darfur all the time “but considering it genocide was blowing it out of proportion”. “This should not be considered only the problem of the government, it takes more than the government to make a conflict.”

Colum Murphy responded by saying that the situation was “always a misunderstanding at a checkpoint, bureaucracy, or red tape. The whole tragedy is directed from above.”

Further information:

• All related information about the 4th session of the Human Rights Council
• Petition for Special Procedures

Previous CHR News items

• 27/03/2007: Disability: Human Rights Council on the adoption of the new Convention
• 27/03/2007: Evénement spécial: La Convention sur les droits des personnes handicapées
• 26/03/2007: Special Event of the Human Rights Council on the new Disability Convention
• 12/03/2007: HRC: Suggested guidelines for NGO oral interventions
• 12/03/2007: The human rights imperative to ban all corporal punishment

Organisation Contact Details:

Child Rights International Network
East Studio
2 Pontypool Place
London
SE1 8QF
Tel: +44 (0)207 401 2257
Email: info@crin.org
Website: www.crin.org

Last updated 02/04/2007 11:54:34

Please note that these reports are hosted by CRIN as a resource for Child Rights campaigners, researchers and other interested parties. Unless otherwise stated, they are not the work of CRIN and their inclusion in our database does not necessarily signify endorsement or agreement with their content by CRIN.