ASSOCIATION FOR WORLD EDUCATION
Case Postale 205 – 1196 Gland – Switzerland

United Nations Human Rights Council (2nd Session: 18 Sept – 6 Oct 2006)

Mr Special Rapporteur,

Mr Diène, on behalf of the Association for World Education I would like to ask you three questions related to the increasing violence in Darfur, Sudan, to which you did not refer in your presentation. In a 23 May Appeal to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and again during the first session of this Council on 26 June, we stated: "We believe that the role of the new Human Rights Council will be, in part, tested by the way the Darfur conflict is faced." [quoted by AFP, dispatch 23 May].

Two years ago your colleague Ms Asma Jahangir – then Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary killings – wrote in her 2004 final report on a visit to Darfur: “A large number of people whom I met had a strong perception that the Government was pursuing a policy of ‘Arabization’ of the Sudan and in particular the Darfur region; allegedly, those of Arab descent seek to portray themselves as ‘pure’ Muslims, as opposed to Muslims of African ethnicity.”

Unfortunately, there has been no public Council action on Darfur, and we can only hope that there are now serious behind-the-scene activities to prevent a new and even bloodier chapter in a conflict which has killed hundreds of thousands and forced two million from their homes.

Our 1st question relates to your views on the possible role of this HR Council at this late date.
Leadership within the UN system has shifted to the Security Council. Is there still a role for the Council, especially concerning human rights and racism in Darfur – often described as ‘genocide’?

Our 2nd question relates to the function of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Appeal we initiated to High Commissioner Louise Arbour on 23 May was signed by 43 NGOs. In it we stressed the need to appoint a large team of human rights monitors & advisors to Darfur. Do you see a possibility for such teams to enter into action? We are making available this Darfur Appeal, together with our substantive oral statement to the Sub-Commission of 14 August, as well as our written Commission statement E/CN.4/2006/NGO/3: URGENT APPEAL TO STOP CRIMES IN DARFUR USING THE GENOCIDE CONVENTION. [1]

Our 3rd question concerns the articulation of action between the Council and the International Criminal Court to whom names of violators have been presented, but no action has yet been made public. How do you envisage cooperation between these two important bodies to protect human rights and prevent genocide when practised by such systematic actions – to quote Article II of the 1948 Genocide Convention: “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such”?

Thank you, Sir.
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[1] See: “Documenting Atrocities in Darfur, surveying Darfuri refugees along the Chad/Darfur border,” by the Coalition for International Justice (CIJ), Sept. 2004; and recently “Mortality Survey among Internally Displaced Persons and other affected populations in Greater Darfur, Sudan,” by the UN World Health Organization –overseen study released in Khartoum, Sudan, Sept. 2006. Also, “Death in Darfur,” by John Hagan and Alberto Palloni, Science, 15 Sept. 2006 and the reaction in Scientific American, 15 Sept. 2006 SCIENCE NEWS (“Darfur Dead Much Higher than Commonly Reported”). See Eric Reeves (Sept. 15)