Kristof Takes Aim at China

Last week Human Rights First made the case that a charge of genocide against Sudanese President Bashir by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court may put countries that sale weapons to Sudan at risk of violating their obligations under the 1949 Genocide Convention.
Today, New York Times columnist Nicolas Kristof weighed in on the issue as well, pointing the finger particularly at China. You can read his column here.

Countries Shipping Arms to the Government of Sudan May Violate Genocide Convention

Today the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno Ocampo, charged Sudanese president Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir with genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes for atrocities committed in Darfur. This is the first time a sitting head-of-state has been charged with genocide. The Prosecutor’s Office began investigating the situation in Darfur more than three years ago after the United Nations Security Council referred the situation by way of a legally binding resolution.

The charge of genocide means that counties providing arms to Sudan may be violating the Genocide Convention by failing to take action to prevent it. Last year the International Court of Justice ruled in the case Bosnia v Serbia that if a country learns that there is a serious risk of genocide, and it subsequently “fail[s] to take all measures to prevent genocide which were within its power, and which might have contributed to preventing the genocide,” it may be legally liable for this failure under the 1949 Genocide Convention.

China and Russia are the leading countries providing arms to Sudan. Human Rights First issued a report in March detailing China’s relationship with the Government of Sudan and its large weapons transfers to Khartoum. These transfers continue between China and Sudan inspite of a legally binding United Nations Security Council arms embargo placed on Darfur. Today, the BBC investigative program Panorama will feature a story about China’s arms transfers to Sudan, including evidence of Chinese weapons entering Darfur in violation to the arms embargo.

The ICC Prosecutor’s charge of genocide is not an indictment by the Court. The case now rests with the Court’s Pre-Trial Chamber, which will assess whether there are reasonable grounds to indict President Bashir with any of the charges brought fouth by the Prosecutor and issue a warrant for his arrest.

Regardless, countries now have knowledge that President Bashir may be committing genocide, so their obligation to prevent gencoide under the Genocide Convention kicks in. Therefore, countries transferring arms to the Government of Sudan, such as China and Russia, should immediately stop as arms are the tools that fuel the ongoing violence in Darfur.

G8 Sends the Wrong Message to Sudan

Today the G8 released a statement at the conclusion of its annual summit held this year in Hokkaido, Japan. Human Rights First was disappointed that the statement included only a weak paragraph about the ongoing violence in Sudan/Darfur, with no concrete commitments from the G8 on how it would help end the atrocities and help establish a sustainable peace. This represents a step backwards from the more robust statement issued at last years G8 Summit.

For years the Government of Sudan has faced few negative consequences from the international community for the ongoing violence it commits in Darfur and for thumbing its nose at legally binding United Nations Security Council resolutions. One example is the Government of Sudan’s ongoing violations of the Darfur arms embargo. By issuing a weak statement on Sudan/Darfur with no negative consequences, the G8 has risked further emboldening Khartoum to continue to defy its legal obligations.

In the weeks and months ahead, members of the G8 will have opportunities to work within the Security Council and other international fora to help end the conflict in Darfur by taking concrete actions such as enforcing the strengthening the Darfur arms embargo. Human Rights First will be working to ensure G8 member states recognize their responsibility to take such action.

You can read Human Rights First’s full response to the G8 statement here.

G8 Leaders: Take action against arms in Darfur

Today marks the opening of the G8 Summit in Hokkaido, Japan. The agenda this year is filled with a host of critically important issues including soaring food prices and cutting greenhouse gas emissions. African development is also featuring prominently on the agenda and in that context Human Rights First, along with more than 40 other organizations, is urging the G8 to make a definitive statement on the situation in Sudan, and Darfur in particular.

A perfect storm is brewing in Darfur. Since the beginning of the year, violence orchestrated by the Government of Sudan has killed scores of civilians and at least 190,000 people have been displaced from their homes, many for the second and third time. Darfur is home of the world’s largest humanitarian operation, and humanitarian workers are increasingly facing violent attacks. During the first five months of 2008, 160 humanitarian vehicles in Darfur were hijacked and eight humanitarian workers have been killed. With the rainy season now in full swing, the movement of life-saving humanitarian aid in Darfur will be further delayed and malnutrition will rise.

Meanwhile, the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the bloody decades long civil war between North and South Sudan might completely unravel. Should this happen, experts agree that it will make the crisis in Darfur seem comparatively tame. In May, tensions over the oil-rich border region that straddles North and South Sudan, called Abyei, finally boiled over when fighting erupted between soldiers from the north and south. The violence left some 65,000 people homeless. While a new ceasefire has been agreed to in Abyei, it is tenuous at best and will require a great deal of vigilance by the international community.

New international commitments are needed towards Darfur and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) must be put on diplomatic life support before it collapses. The G8 could do much good in helping to resolve these crises on multiple fronts. Such action begins by issuing a statement at the Hokkaido Summit that includes concrete commitments for action on Darfur and Sudan more broadly.

Human Rights First has been told by a well placed official whose government is a part of the G8 that the G8 will make formal comments on the situation on Sudan and Darfur. Topics expected to be covered include: the deployment of international peacekeeping force in Darfur (called UNAMID), the peace process in Darfur, implementation of the CPA, and justice and accountability for atrocities committed in Darfur. However, it is not clear that G8 members will condemn violations to the United Nations Security Council authorized Darfur arms embargo. All parties to the conflict in Darfur, including the Government of Sudan, have persistently violated the Darfur arms embargo with little consequence from the international community.

It is clear that the Government of Sudan has little incentive to cooperate with UNAMID or take a peace process seriously in Darfur so long as it has the weapons needed to kill, displace, rape and maim civilians. G8 countries should announce they will halt all arms sales to the Government of Sudan, as some have already done, and insist other governments shipping arms to Sudan to do the same.

The international community, and in particular the Security Council, has systematically failed to enforce the Darfur arms embargo. This has helped to fuel the conflict in Darfur, which has ruined the lives of millions of people. The G8 has an important opportunity during its summit to help break the political inertia surrounding the Darfur arms embargo by speaking out against violations to it and taking steps to help ensure the embargo respected. The question remains if G8 leaders have the political will to do so.