Comment on the report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to the United Nations Secretary-General

Human Rights Law Review

Volumn 5, Issue 2, 2005, Pages 351-360

  Byron, Christine ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 30744439077     PISSN: 14617781     EISSN: 17441021     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/hrlr/ngi020     Document Type: Article

References (86)

1. Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to the United Nations Secretary-General, Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1564 of 18 September 2005, 25 January 2005, ('Commission of Inquiry') at paras 63-4.
2. Ibid. at paras 127 and 136.
3. Human Rights Watch (HRW), 'Darfur Destroyed: Ethnic Cleansing by Government and Militia Forces in Western Sudan', 7 May 2004, at 6, available at: http://hrw.org/reports/2004/sudan0504/.
4. Commission of Inquiry, supra n. 1 at paras 66-8.
5. Ibid. at para. 69. Note that this term 'does not mean "Arabs" in general, but rather Arab militias raiding ... villages and committing other violations,
6. ibid. at para. 101.
7. HRW, supra n. 3 at 6-7 and HRW, 'Sexual Violence and its Consequences among Displaced Persons in Darfur and Chad', Briefing Paper, 12 April 2005 at 1, available at: Http://hrw.org/backgrounder/africa/darfur0505/. Civilians have also fled into neighbouring Chad.
8. Commission of Inquiry, supra n. 1 at para. 193.
9. SC Res. 1564, 18 September 2004, S/RES/1564 (2004).
10. Ibid. at para. 12.
11. Commission of Inquiry, supra n. 1 at para. 1. The other members of the Commission were Mr Mohammed Fayek, Ms Hina Jilani, Mr Dumisa Ntsebeza and Ms Theresa Striggner-Scott.
12. Ibid. at paras 73-488.
13. 999 UNTS 171.
14. 1577 UNTS 3.
15. OAU Doe. CAB/LEG/67/3 rev. 5
16. (1982) 21 ILM 58.
17. Commission of Inquiry, supra n. 1 at para. 153. Sudan entered a derogation to the ICCPR dated 21 August 1991, which was renewed in December 2001 and December 2002.
18. See Multilateral Treaties Deposited With the Secretary-General: Status as at 31 December 2004, July 2005, ST/LEG/SER.E/23.
19. Ibid.
20. Ibid. at para. 75.
21. Ibid. at paras 125-6.
22. Ibid. at paras 154-6.
23. Ibid. at paras 166-7.
24. Prosecutor v Tadić, Appeal on Jurisdiction, IT 94-1-AR72 (1995);
25. 3 IHRR 578 (1996), at paras 126-7.
26. Commission of Inquiry, supra n. 1 at para. 178.
27. Ibid.
28. Ibid. at para. 179.
29. Ibid. at paras 237-418.
30. Ibid.
31. Ibid. at paras 295, 321, 332, 360, 379 and 393.
32. Ibid. at paras 296 and 394.
33. Ibid. at paras 489-522.
34. White House Press Release, 'Statement By the President on Violence in Darfur, Sudan', 9 September 2004, available at: http://www.state.gov/p/af/rls/prsrl/36065.htm.
35. Commission of Inquiry, supra n. 1 at para. 507.
36. Ibid. For more on conditions of life in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps see Nabarro, World Health Organisation Media Briefing Notes, 'Mortality Projections for Darfur', 15 October 2004, available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/briefings/2004/mb5/en/print.html;
37. and, Médicins sans Frontières, 'Emergency in Darfur, Sudan: No Relief in Sight', 21 June 2004, available at: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/publications/reports/2004/ darfur_06-2004.pdf.
38. Article 2(d), Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 1948, 78 UNTS 277.
39. Médicins sans Frontières briefing paper, 'The Crushing Burden of Rape: Sexual Violence in Darfur', 8 March 2005, avHilable at: http://www.msf.ca/press/images/070305_darfur_sexualviolence.pdf, notes that 500 rapes were recorded by Médicins sans Frontières staff in Darfur between October 2004 and the first half of February 2005, at 2.
40. Prosecutor v Akayesu, Trial, ICTR 96-4 (1998) at para. 508.
41. Note that the Arab tribes are also Muslim.
42. Médicins sans Frontières, supra n. 34 at 6 and HRW,
43. supra n. 6 at 10.
44. Commission of Inquiry, supra n. 1 at para. 494.
45. Ibid. at para. 508.
46. Ibid.
47. and see comments of Jafari, '"Never again", Again: Darfur, the Genocide Convention, and the Duty to Prevent Genocide', (2004) 12 Human Rights Brief 8 at 8-9.
48. HRW, supra n. 3 at 36, regarding comments of African tribesman about Arabs.
49. Commission of Inquiry, supra n. 1 at para. 499.
50. Ibid. at para. 510.
51. Ibid. at para. 512.
52. Final Report of the Commission of Experts Established Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 935 (1994), 9 December 1994, S/1994/1405 at para. 159.
53. Ibid.
54. Prosecutor v Bagilishema, Trial, ICTR-95-1A-T (2001) at para. 65.
55. Commission of Inquiry, supra n. 1 at para. 491.
56. Ibid.
57. See Byron, 'The Crime of Genocide', in McGoldrick et al. (eds), The Permanent International Criminal Court: Legal and Policy Issues (Oxford: Hart, 2004) 143 at 155.
58. Commission of Inquiry, supra n. 1 at para. 493.
59. Report of the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court, Article 6(a)(4), Finalized Draft text of the Elements of Crimes, 2 November 2000, PCNICC/2000/1/Add.2 (2000) at 6-8.
60. The introduction to genocide in the Elements of Crime refers to 'manifest' as an objective qualification, ibid. at 6.
61. Commission of Inquiry, supra n.1 at paras 502-4.
62. Prosecutor v Jelisić, Appeal, IT-95-10-A (2001) at para. 47.
63. Commission of Inquiry, supra n. 1 at para. 513.
64. Ibid.
65. Ibid.
66. Ibid. at para. 515.
67. Ibid. at para. 642.
68. Prosecutor v Krstić, Appeal, IT 98-33-A (2004) at paras 31-2.
69. Coalition for International Justice, 'New Analysis Claims Darfur Deaths Near 400,000', 21 April 2005, available at: http://www.cij.org/pdf/ Press_Release_CIJ_Mortality_Study_April_21_2005.pdf.
70. Office of UN Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sudan, 'Darfur Humanitarian Profile No. 13', 1 April 2005, at 10.
71. Commission of Inquiry, supra n. 1 at paras 525-9.
72. Ibid. at para. 525.
73. Article 13 (b), Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court 1998, 2187 UNTS 3.
74. Commission of Inquiry, supra n. 1 at para. 568.
75. Ibid. at paras 568 and 586-7.
76. US Department of State, Explanation of Vote on the Sudan Accountability Resolution, 31 March 2005, available at: http://www.state.gov/p/io/ 44388.htm.
77. Commission of Inquiry, supra n. 1 at paras 572 and 578-9.
78. Ibid. at paras 590 and 601.
79. Ibid. at para. 593 and see comments of Cotler, 'The Holocaust, Thefticide, and Restitution: A Legal Perspective', (1998) 20 Cardozo Law Review 601 at 618-21.
80. Commission of Inquiry, supra n. 1 at paras 617 and 621.
81. SC Res. 1593, 31 March 2005, S/RES/1593 (2005) at para. 1, but note the exclusions in para. 6. Investigations by the Prosecutor of the ICC have now begun.
82. See ICC Press Release, The Prosecutor of the ICC opens investigation in Darfur, 6 June 2005, OTP/LSU/066-05, available at: http//www.icc-cpi.int/press/pressreleases/107.html.
83. See Final Report of the Commission of Experts Established Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 780 (1992), 24 May 1994, S/1994/674
84. and, Final Report of the Commission of Experts Established Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 935, 1994, supra n. 45.
85. Article 8(1)(c) and (e), Rome Statute.
86. Commission of Inquiry, supra n. 1 at para. 520.