Darfur Experts Report Is Basis for Assessing Progress
( HRW ) - The United Nations Human Rights Council should hold Sudan to its commitments on Darfur by monitoring its implementation of 10 concrete steps, Human Rights Watch said in a paper released today. A group of experts on Darfur, appointed by the council, presented its interim report to the council on September 24, 2007.
The experts group noted that while some of the recommendations it had previously presented to the council had been partially implemented by Khartoum, other recommendations had not. As a result, the experts group, which in December will present its final report on the situation in Darfur, concluded that it was not in a position to report that a clear impact on the ground has been identified.
The Human Rights Council should insist that Sudans actions match its words on Darfur, said Peggy Hicks, global advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. Rather than just making promises, Sudan should take steps that result in real changes on the ground.
In the briefing paper, Ten Steps for Darfur, Human Rights Watch outlines actions drawn from the recommendations compiled by the group of experts that would contribute to improving the human rights situation in Darfur. The Sudanese government has, as described in the paper, already agreed to undertake many of the steps, but has yet to act. The Human Rights Council should call on Sudan to take these 10 concrete steps, and should indicate its intention to evaluate Sudans implementation of these measures when the group of experts reports in December.