The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a report detailing mass rapes against the woman of Darfur. The U.N. has asked the Sudanese government to investigate the rapes and further allegations of sexual slavery, however, the Sudanese government at Khartoum has failed to look into the matter. Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said in the report that “the abuses may also constitute war crimes.”
The report highlights attacks on the village of Deribat in late December, 2006, conducted by members of the Sudanese military and affiliated militias. According to the report, approximately 50 woman were allegedly subjected to multiple rapes “and other forms of violence which constitute war crimes.” Victim testimonies cite allegations that the systematic rapes were conducted in front of one another and many of the woman were impregnated as a result.
Propoganda examined
The Save Darfur Coalition is being investigated by the British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for embellishing the number of dead in the ongoing atrocities in Sudan. The ASA noted that the 400,000 death toll cited in a recent advertisement from the Save Darfur Coalition should have been issued as an opinion, stating that many reports vary in the total numbers and factual claims can not be verified. The Save Darfur Coalition cites research from John Hagan of Northwestern University in the United States, who cites the figure as a high-end estimate based on witness testimony. International experts typically use a figure of 200,000, though the Sudanese government says 9,000 is a more accurate estimate.
The United States and several other nations have termed the atrocities in Darfur as genocide, though the United Nations, while recognizing war crimes, states there has been no deliberate attempt a genocide. According to the Geneva Conventions, “genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
BBC/AP
UPDATE: The Save Darfur Coalition makes this formal response:
We believe Sam Dealey's opinion article regarding the magnitude of atrocities in Darfur misses a critical point in the debate over how many people have actually died. The real point is that, unfortunately, mortality estimates cannot be verified or updated because the Government of Sudan actively denies the international community , including diplomats, humanitarian workers, and epidemiology experts , real access to the Darfur region.
History reminds us that the full scope and scale of genocide is unknown until it has ended. Past perpetrators, most notably the Nazis, actively concealed their campaigns of mass murder from public scrutiny and accountability. When the scale of this genocide did become known, a shocked world cried out, "Never again." The same was true in Cambodia and Rwanda. And that is what is happening now in Darfur.
We believe that as many as 400,000 Darfuris have been killed in this conflict because there is sound analysis to support that , analysis that is impossible to confirm only because of Sudan's willful obstruction. Ultimately, no level of genocide is acceptable. The international community must continue to press the Sudanese government and President Omar al-Bashir to provide access to both international peacekeepers, humanitarian workers and experts who can more accurately document the scale of this tragedy, as well as provide protection and assistance to Darfur's civilian population.
