Human Rights

The Human Rights Council opened its fourth session yesterday, kicking off with a video message from United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and an address by High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour. In his statement, Ban said that "the pursuit of human rights lies at the heart of the mission of the United Nations...It underpins the hopes of millions of people for a life in freedom, security and prosperity." More Watch a live webcast of the session here.

The new Human Rights Council has just issued its first report on Darfur. The results are devastating: "The Mission...concludes that the Government of the Sudan has manifestly failed to protect the population of Darfur from large-scale international crimes, and has itself orchestrated and participated in these crimes. As such, the solemn obligation of the international community to exercise its responsibility to protect has become evident and urgent." Jody Williams, who won a Nobel Prize for her campaign against land mines, headed the Human Rights Council mission to Sudan. But like many other international investigators, NGO workers and journalists, her team could not secure visas to conduct their work in Sudan. According to the report, the mission asked for visas twelve times in a twenty day period. Even Secretary General Ban Ki-moon personally appealed to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, but to no avail.

Apropos of today's International Women's Day theme, "Ending Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls," let me highlight the work of the Women's Initiative for Gender Justice, a Hague-based group that advocates using established international organizations, specifically the International Criminal Court, to protect the interests of female war crimes victims. Learn more about the group's important work here.

In March 2005, the Security Council granted the International Criminal Court jurisdiction to investigate suspected war crimes in Darfur. According to a just-released notice to the press, the results of the investigation will soon be revealed. The ICC announced today that early next week, Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno O'Campo will release evidence that connects named individuals to suspected cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. More.

Ghanim Alnajjar, an independent UN human rights expert, called for the release of three journalists arrested in Somalia and expressed concern over the closing of radio and television stations. "Threats to journalists and media outlets constitute serious violations of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," Alnajjar said. More

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour has filed a legal brief with the Iraqi High Tribunal arguing that international law prohibits the death sentence on former vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan on grounds of breach of due process. A statement issued by Arbour's office said, "The High Commissioner argues that the Court's imposition of the death sentence on Taha Yassin Ramadan would violate Iraq's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights." More

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the United Nations war crimes court in The Hague yesterday, calling for action by Security Council members to bring Bosnian Serb fugitives to trial. "I know that there is a sense of frustration for not being able to complete what they are mandated to do because of non-cooperation, non-availability of those people indicted...I take this opportunity to urge again to those responsible perpetrators...to appear before the court for trial, for the interest and the benefit for themselves as well as for the benefit of international peace and security." More

Jody Williams, 1997 Nobel Peace Prize winner and anti-landmine campaigner, will lead a high-level UN team to investigate the human rights situation in Darfur. The other mission members are United Nations Human Rights Council president and Mexican Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba; Mart Nutt, an Estonian Parliament Member and Member of the Council of Europe's European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance; Bertrand Ramcharan, the former Acting and Deputy UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Patrice Tonda, Gabon's Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Geneva; and Indonesian Ambassador Marakim Wibisono, President of the 61st session of the Commission on Human Rights. More Also see the Associated Press.

According to a UN report released yesterday, over 34,000 civilians were killed in Iraq last year, with over 36,000 injured. "In virtually every sphere, and building on earlier reports, the latest study amounts to a litany of abuses ranging from attacks on women, minorities and professional groups to forced displacements, to the activities of the police and security forces and the United States-led Multi-National Force (MNF-I)." More Also see The New York Times, BBC News.