Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hello everybody. I will start with a question: if there is a global human rights world today.
This question has been asked by the Colloquim and I think it is legitimate and reasonable.
The answer is tricky but, for me, as a human rights lawyer, defender, I think we have institutions,
we have the UN Security Council, we have the UN, the AU, regional institutions, we have
also the laws and the charters and treaties and agreements but there is something missing
there. We have examples: we have Syria, where people are killed on a daily basis; we have
also the situation in the Congo, DRA, we have Somalia, we have other places in the world.
But I'm going to talk about Darfur, which is unfortunately being a forgotten story.
Darfur has been defined as genocide a long time ago. It's been also defined as an area
that war crimes and crimes against humanity are occurring and still occurring. But, unfortunately,
the international community and us, all of us, we failed to prevent the occurrence of
that huge human suffering. We also failed to stop the killings and the genocide that
is still there in progress. We then also failed really to bring to justice criminals who are
implicated in the commission of these horrible crimes. All the criminals who are implicated
in the atrocities are still beyond the reach of justice. This is unacceptable. When the
situation erupted in Darfur 10 years ago, as result, 4 million people have been forcibly
displaced, 2 million point 7, the population of Darfur living in camps, and they are not
able to go back to their homes because of the insecurity.
During the conflict and up to this moment, more than 15 thousand villages have been destroyed
by area bombardment, by helicopter gunshots and aircrafts. Ways, ground attacks that are
carried by the government, soldiers and their allies, the ??. Crimes included extrajudicial
killings, *** violence and rapes that are targeted women and girls as young as 7 years.
Most of the human rights defenders have been always targeted, intimidated, detained and
arrested and persecuted, but actually there were no charges against them. Myself, when
we try to voice out against the violations of basic human rights, we are being always
targeted, we are being detained 3 three times, incommunicado detention, I was kept in the
worse houses, where you can imagine, sent to torture centers, and you are not allowed
to meet your lawyers, your friends, your family members.
Human rights defenders are working in a difficult, difficult environment, where basic freedoms
are restricted. It is not allowed to voice out, to say that there are violations. But,
by the support and the help of other people around the world, I think, Darfur human rights
defenders were able to cooperate with organizations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch,
American BAR association, FIDH, and so many international organizations that help to raise
awareness about horrible crimes that are still taking place in Darfur.
What is missing is justice and accountability. I think UN security council has adopted more
than a dozen resolutions, all of them under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter. But unfortunately,
victims don't see acts, victims don't see protection, victims don't see justice. This
is why it is controversial whether, if we have this global human rights order, because
victims are confused. They are, after 10 years, they are disappointed, and they are also feeling
that they have been let down by the international community. I think there is moral and legal
responsibility. It's not only member-states of the UN, it's also us, responsibility to
address the human suffering in Darfur in a better way. We have always been disappointed
by positions of some of the members of the Security Council. Whenever there has been
question of Darfur, we find China is blocking always resolutions; Russia is doing the same.
I think more than that, also Russia, Bielorussia, are buying antinofirecraft and helicopter
gunships from the killers in Hatum. China is also sending anti no, I mean, aircraft
and weaponry for the government in Hatoum. This is disappointing that China never cared
about the victims, never cared about the fact that the government in Hatoum was applying
the policy of ?? in Darfur, when it forced more than 3 million people to be in the camps
today, in camps inside Sudan and outside Sudan in ??. And I tell you that ethnic cleansing
has been established completely in Darfur and you can imagine when, after 10 years,
more than 4 million people are denied to go back to their homes.
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution to deploy the largest, I think, force ever in history
in Darfur, but still the UN forces are far, are very far behind to establish or to protect
the lives of the innocent civilians in Darfur. You can also see that even the UN forces,
the members of this force, are always targeted, and they have also lost lives while they are
in Darfur. I think what is needed is to bring back Darfur
to the spotlight. It is genocide, and I think there has been, there was promise the world
would see it never again after Rwanda, but, after 10 years from Rwanda, genocide occurred
in Darfur, and it is now 10 years that we are living with genocide. I leave it to you
if you have any ideas how to mobilize the governments, the public opinion to better
address the question of genocide in Darfur, because it's an insult for us all. Thank you
very much, I leave it there, and thank you.