Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has gathered compelling information that a genocidal process is unfolding in Darfur, Sudan. The terms of the Genocide Convention commit parties to the Convention to act to prevent when there are indicators that there is intent to destroy, physically or mentally, in whole or in part, a group on the basis of ethnicity, language, religion, or race.1 In the case of Darfur, PHR has concluded that there is ample indication that an organized campaign on the part of the Government of Sudan (GoS) is underway, targeting several million non-Arab Darfurian inhabitants for removal from this region of the country, either by death (most commonly through immediate violence or slow starvation) or forced migration. GoS forces, allied with the Janjaweed militia, have caused intense disruption and destruction of non-Arab Darfurian land holdings, communities, families, and all means of livelihood and necessities. By destroying, stealing, or preventing access to food, water, and medicine, the GoS and Janjaweed are creating conditions destined to destroy the non-Arab Darfurians.
Without an immediate and concerted international intervention, a substantial part of the targeted group may be eliminated. Current predictions from a range of governmental and non-governmental sources suggest that the toll will be between 300,000 and 1 million innocent civilians dead if robust and immediate intervention does not occur. 2
There must be a massive response in order to save lives and reverse these injustices. It is PHR's intention to describe and define, in human rights terms, what these injustices entail, and to call on the United Nations, governments, humanitarian aid providers, human rights organizations, and the international community to respond urgently and appropriately.
Having reviewed PHR's findings, Justice Richard Goldstone, former Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and a PHR board member said, "After all that we know and have learned from the last decade's genocides and mass atrocities, it is unconscionable for the world to witness these crimes and fail to take steps to protect and save the lives of tens of thousands of innocent men, women, and children. We owe it to the victims of Darfur and potential victims to do everything we can to prevent and account for what the PHR report establishes is genocide and reverse the intolerable acts of forcing entire populations from their land, destroying their livelihood and making it virtually impossible to return."
Background
Tens of thousands of civilians of Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups, who have lived in the Darfur region of Sudan for generations, have been systematically killed, raped and displaced as their villages are destroyed. Although the war has historical roots, the conflict has steadily escalated since early 2003 when rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/M) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), who are largely compromised of Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa people, sought to end their marginalization by demanding power-sharing within the Arab-controlled Sudanese state.
Reports from USAID, Human Rights Watch, the International Crisis Group, and various journalists of newspapers of record say that the GoS and the GoS-supported Arab militia, Janjaweed, have displaced over one million non-Arab Darfurians through coordinated land and air attacks. 3,4,5 Thousands are homeless and wandering about the drought-stricken, barren landscape. According to a UN fact finding mission, tens of thousands are reportedly held in prison enclaves in cities and villages throughout Darfur or are "virtually confined in their homes," under threat of beatings or rape, which often come regardless.6 A smaller number have been transported to the Sudanese capital Khartoum where they live in squalid, insecure conditions on the outskirts of the city. As of mid-June 2004, an additional estimated 200,000 native Darfurians have crossed the eastern border of Sudan seeking refuge in Chad and more continue to cross the border every day.
According to PHR interviews with international humanitarian relief workers based in Bahai, Chad an estimated 300 people per week are crossing the northern border area into the Bahai area. Three weeks ago 3,000 new refugees suddenly appeared in the central border area at Adre, according to a representative from Human Rights Watch. Humanitarian observers in the area do not know what is precipitating the pattern or number of new arrivals. They fear that ongoing attacks within Darfur, as well as Janjaweed manipulation of border crossings, are both factors in the timing and location of new refugees to Chad.
Access to these various trapped and hunted populations in Darfur has been severely restricted by the Government of Sudan, through delaying the issuance of visas, or impounding vehicles and supplies that aid workers need.7 "People are dying because we were denied access for so long, and people will be dying because we are not able to get through," said Jan Egeland, UN Emergency relief coordinator.8
Despite the efforts of many international actors to gather information, not much hard evidence is available regarding the fate of the estimated million people now displaced within Darfur. Roger Winter, Assistant Administrator, Democracy, Conflict & Humanitarian Assistance Bureau at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), at a Senate hearing on June 15, 2004, said that, "Some 420,000 displaced persons can be found in West Darfur, nearly 300,000 in North Darfur, and some 230,000 in South Darfur, the UN estimates," with the caveat that so much is simply not yet known. 9
The outlines of the massive campaigns against this African population can be discerned through testimony of refugees who have fled across the border into eastern Chad. In May 2004, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), in partnership with the Open Society Institute's Justice Initiative, conducted an emergency two-week investigation along the Chad-Sudan border to assess human rights and humanitarian law violations of Darfur civilians and the risk of morbidity and mortality among the refugees driven from their homes in the Darfur region of Sudan.
Notes:
1 "Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide," Laws Against Genocide, Prevent Genocide International, Jun 15, 2004, http://www.preventgenocide.org/law/convention/text.htm#I
2 Winter, Roger, "Statement of Roger Winter, Assistant Administrator USAID, Before the Committee on Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa," Testimony, USAID, http://www.usaid.gov/press/speeches/2004/ty040615_1.html
3 Boyle, Tara, "Humanitarian Situation in Darfur Nearing Crisis, Says USAID," Global Issues, USINFO.state.gov, Jun 2, 2004, http://usinfo.state.gov/gi/Archive/2004/Jun/02-252195.html
4 "Darfur Destroyed: Ethnic Cleansing by Government and Militia Forces in Western Sudan," Publications, Human Rights Watch, May 2004, http://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/sudan0504/
5 "Sudan: Now or Never in Darfur," Sudan, International Crisis Group, May 23, 2004, http://www.crisisweb.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id'65
6 "United Nations Inter-Agency Fact Finding and Rapid Assessment Mission, Kailek Town," Latest Emergency Updates: Sudan, ReliefWeb, April 25, 2004, http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/0/8f4f1f5860913bacc1256e89002ea00f?OpenDocument
7 "Humanitarian situation in Darfur, Sudan - MSF statement to the United Nations Security Council," MSF Reports, Méedecins Sans Frontières, May 24, 2004, http://www.msf.org/countries/page.cfm?articleid=DB8843B3-F57D-4054-82D6530AA6D15E6C
8 Leopold, Evelyn "Sudan Hinders Aid Groups Going to Darfur -UN", International News Article, Reuters.com, June 14, 2004, http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=5419042
9 Winter, Roger, "Statement of Roger Winter, Assistant Administrator USAID, Before the Committee on Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa," Testimony, USAID, http://www.usaid.gov/press/speeches/2004/ty040615_1.html
Contact:
John Heffernan, 202 728 5335 ext 304;
617 413 6407 cell; jheffernan@phrusa.org
Barbara Ayotte; 617 695 0041 ext 210;
617 549 0152 cell;bayotte@phrusa.org
http://www.phrusa.org/research/sudan/
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