In a joint statement with the Association for World Education, IHEU has strongly criticised the continuation of chattel slavery affecting more than 600,000 people in Mauritania and Sudan, exacerbated by weak legislation, corruption and complicity. The statement was made in French to the 12th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

In a travesty of democratic debate, only six non-governmental organizations were allowed to speak in the debate on the Sudan at the Human Rights Council on 16 June, and the first three selected to speak were organizations funded by the government of Sudan. Despite having registered to speak when the list had opened on 2nd June, IHEU were pre-empted by the apologists for the Sudanese Government under a UN rule giving preference to NGOs "not represented" in Geneva.

World Union of Progressive Judaism
Joint statement with the International Humanist and Ethical Union and
Association for World Education

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL: 10th Session (2– 24 March 2009) Item 3, General Debate
Speaker: IHEU representative, David Cornut: Monday (am) 16 March 2009

The Prevention of Genocide

Thank you, Mr President.

IHEU has strongly condemned the execution of children in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen and Pakistan and the practice of child marriage. In a statement to the annual meeting on the Rights of the Child held at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, IHEU called the continuation of child marriage "a disgrace" and judicial killing of children "the ultimate barbarity".

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams, who led a UN Human Rights Council mission to Darfur but whose team was denied admission to the country, submitted her report to the UN on 12 March. Based on evidence collected in nearby countries and refugee camps in Eastern Chad, the report comprehensively condemns the Sudanese government for its failure to protect its civilian population, accusing it of acting in concert with its proxy militias in human rights abuse in Darfur where some 200,000 people have died since the revolt began in 2003.

The UN Human Rights Council held a special session on 12 December 2006 to discuss the human rights crisis in Darfur. Thirty member states, forty observer states and 20 NGOs spoke at the session, which had to be extended for a second day. IHEU main representative Roy Brown was the only speaker to discuss one of the underlying causes of the conflict - rapid population growth - and of the need to address this issue in seeking any long-term solution to the conflict.

According to Sima Samar, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan, the people there have seen little change in their everyday life since the formation of the Government of National Unity. In Darfur, she said, the Government had failed in its responsibility to protect the population from attacks in areas where it had control.

ASSOCIATION FOR WORLD EDUCATION

STATEMENT: Representative David G. LITTMAN. Monday (3:45pm) 14 August 2006
[Main text drafted by René Wadlow, in collaboration with DGL, who delivered the statement for AWE]

IHEU and 42 other NGOs represented at the United Nations have written to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. In their letter, the NGOs call for the High Commissioner to appoint a team of human rights monitors large enough to ensure that the ceasefire becomes truly effective and refugees can safely return to their homes. The letter goes on to say that the new Human Rights Council will, in part, be tested by the way it deals with the Darfur conflict.

Written statement submitted by the Association for World Education
E/CN.4/2006/NGO/3 [5 January 2006]

URGENT APPEAL TO STOP CRIMES IN DARFUR BY THE GENOCIDE CONVENTION