Darfur: 2005 Protection Year in Review -

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KHARTOUM 000272 SIPDIS AIDAC SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/SPG, PRM, DRL, AND ALSO PASS USAID/W USAID FOR DCHA SUDAN TEAM, AF/EA, DCHA NAIROBI FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA, USAID/REDSO, AND FAS USMISSION UN ROME GENEVA FOR NKYLOH NAIROBI FOR SFO NSC FOR JMELINE, TSHORTLEY USUN FOR TMALY BRUSSELS FOR PLERNER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID PREF PGOV PHUM SOCI KAWC SU SUBJECT: Darfur: 2005 Protection Year in Review - Overview of Protection Trends and Human Rights Violations REF: (A) 05 Khartoum 0051 (B) 05 Khartoum 0976 -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. In analyzing protection trends in 2005, it is striking to note how many issues remained similar when compared with 2004 (reftel A). The large-scale humanitarian needs in Darfur have been the result of widespread human rights violations, including the attacking and killing of civilians, rape as a means of terrorizing populations, forced displacements, denial of the freedom of movement, and criminal impunity. In a continuation of the complex political and human rights crisis, violence and multiple waves of displacement continued throughout 2005 in Darfur with internally displaced persons (IDPs) remaining captive in camps and subject to harassment by armed groups. Other protection issues in need of increased programming attention include child protection, destruction of crops, and protection of legal aid lawyers. This cable is the first in a series of three to review the protection situation and the humanitarian response in 2005. This cable focuses on the general trends that unfolded in 2005, and the two subsequent cables will focus on the larger level response by the international community and specific non-governmental organization (NGO) programming in the field of protection. -------------- Human Rights Framework -------------- ¶2. Violations of human physical security in Darfur include killings, beatings, rape, harassment, discrimination, theft of property, denial of the freedom of movement, access to justice, or effective compensation. The protection framework invoked to document and describe the violations in Darfur is the Guiding Principles n Internal Displacement (GPID) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It should also be noted that Sudan is party to the International Covenant of the Civil and Political Rights; the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights; the Convention on the Rights of the Child; and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. All of these tools provide a comprehensive legal framework in which to monitor and document human rights violatiojs in DArur. !However, tis berT nd`lj%,huiniDaYc seq0on}"ibDas~uQ Bhi2Ij89QiQhYpgIPYD l&utXIA~$B0KQ'CRfSubNPm#lh4OI?*|QpQ}7H$QzLWuP zQ-qmgk*A[deQ\Qe]h;qording to the observations and documentation of U.N. agencies, NGOs, and USAID field staff. At the end of 2005, approximately 2 million people were displaced, either within Darfur or across the border into Chad, and new displacements continued to occur throughout the year. The ongoing destabilization combined with criminal impunity has created an environment ripe for widespread insecurity and individualized violence. ¶4. In addition to numerous Abuja agreements calling for disarmament of militias, the Sudanese government signed a joint communique with the U.N. on July 3, 2004, committing itself to: end impunity; ensure all persons and groups accused of human rights violations are brought to justice without delay; deploy a strong, credible, and respected police force in all IDP areas; train all police units in human rights law and make them accountable for upholding it; ensure that no militias are near IDP camps; and finally, disarm Janjaweed and other armed groups. After a year and a half, these commitments have not been fulfilled and some observers would argue that they had not been seriously attempted. KHARTOUM 00000272 002 OF 004 -------------- SGBV -------------- ¶5. In 2005, mass rape of civilians as a weapon of war was replaced by individualized attacks by armed security forces - police, military, Janjaweed, and other militias - often while in uniform. U.N. personnel characterize IDPs as "terrorized" by the threat of sexual violence within their communities. During 2005, attacks on women and girls occurred primarily when venturing away from villages or IDP camps to collect firewood and fodder. Over the course of the year, many agencies concluded that despite positive rhetoric and the formation of committees, the Sudanese government has failed to stop attacks on women and children, investigate and prosecute these crimes, and convict perpetrators. For example, one local legal aid group in South Darfur, a USAID Office of Transition Initiatives (USAID/OTI) partner, submitted 27 rape cases to the Nyala courts in a 9-month period in 2005. Of that number, only a handful generated investigations by local police and none resulted in trials or prosecutions. Many observers view this lack of action by authorities to be related to the policy of continued destabilization and harassment of displaced communities. For example, in South Darfur, which has been the most active Darfur state to commit on paper to addressing sexual violence, U.N. Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) Human Rights reported that authorities prosecuted only 3 cases of the 130 rapes verified by monitors. In two cases, rather than the charge of rape that compels capital punishment for convictions under Sharia law, authorities charged two military men with gross indecency and they are reportedly serving five years each. The third case concerns 10 men from the Popular Defense Forces charged with raping a girl. The men were all convicted and served 1.5 months in jail until the military ordered their release. This is the sum total of justice served for the 130 recorded victims of rape. UNMIS Human Rights and NGOs providing medical treatment are certain that these cases are only a fraction of those that have gone unreported to the international community - in one Darfur state. ¶6. Despite the work of the humanitarian community, rapes did not stop or lessen throughout 2005. Additionally, toward the end of 2005, a disturbing trend of child rape and sexual assault began to emerge in North and West Darfur involving girls between 7 and 12 years of age. Often the recorded incidents indicate that the perpetrators were uniformed and associated with one of the security forces. Another trend is that multiple perpetrators commit the assaults. It is clear that mass rape is not occurring at the same levels as during the height of the conflict, but individualized attacks on IDPs and women moving outside of population centers continued unabated. This is primarily due to 1) lack of rule of law ensuring general security, 2) continued existence of armed militias, 3) criminal impunity, 4) collection of firewood and grass by women both for cooking and for sale, and 5) confusion and lack of coordination surrounding African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) Civilian Police (CIVPOL) firewood patrols in many locations - although some notable exceptions exist. -------------- Protection of Children -------------- ¶7. After two years of residing in camps, children - defined as those under 18 years of age by the 1990 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Sudan has signed and ratified - are now without secondary school options and many are turning to religion-only education, manual labor, early marriage, military recruitment, and street begging. The deputy of the South Darfur State Social Welfare Department reported that Nyala town hosts an estimated 4,000 street children, noting the dramatic increase in the breakdown of families, social networks, and schooling options within displaced and war-affected communities. The USAID Protection Officer recently witnessed children as young as four years old following older siblings making bricks to sell in IDP camps. In West Darfur, NGOs noted an increase KHARTOUM 00000272 003 OF 004 in parents sending away male youth to military training because of the perception that this was the only remaining option. Idle and frustrated male youth have been responsible for instigating riots, participating in the October 23 hostage-taking incident in Kalma camp, and forming small gang-like groups to "patrol" their sectors, harassing community members. In one incident, a youth patrol was found guilty by local sheiks of raping a female IDP in Kalma Camp. -------------- Freedom of Movement -------------- ¶8. It is impossible to document individual violations of the freedom of movement, as espoused in the GPID and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, because nearly every IDP in Darfur is having his or her freedom of movement curtailed, if not violated. In only a few locations, IDPs and village residents can safely move short distances outside of camps or towns. Even where the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other agencies have documented return to villages of origin, residents are often still restricted within the village perimeters. Not including the returns documented in 2005 (reftel B),mostly by UNHCR in West Darfur, freedom of movement for Darfurians was restricted because of direct government policies and actions. Examples include the more than 200-day ban on commercial goods entering or exiting Kalma IDP camp and the lack of action taken to secure roads, villages, farmland, and IDP concentrations from violence by armed militia. The lack of freedom of movement for IDPs and conflict-affected residents ensures a continued reliance on humanitarian assistance in 2006. ¶9. Many IDPs experiencing a second or third displacement due to violence are opting to travel to larger population centers where humanitarian assistance and services are available in an improved security environment. For example, many of those displaced by fighting outside of Tawilah in late September fled to the large IDP camp of Zam Zam outside El Fasher, despite closer facilities in the area. Because of this trend, Darfur will likely experience further urbanization during 2006. ¶10. Existing tensions between IDPs and host communities could become more pronounced given the trends in multiple displacements and increasing pressure on host communities to provide for additional IDPs. In fact, tensions have also been noted within IDP communities such as in Ryad camp outside Geneina, where the population refused the entry of new arrivals to the camp. Also, inter-Arab nomad fighting in Abata, north of Zalingie West Darfur, resulted in more than 1,000 new Arab nomad IDPs who were not welcome in the established camps in Zalingie town. ¶11. IDPs express concern over actual and perceived vulnerability within the confines of the IDP camps. Camps such as Kalma have experienced continuous security incidents and collective punishment by the Sudanese government in the form of the commercial ban. Many camps over the past year have been the subject of attacks and abuses that directly targeted the camp population: Aro Sharow, Mornei, and Ardamata in West Darfur; Abu Shouk and Al Salam in North Darfur; and Mershing in South Darfur are but a few notable examples. -------------- Killing of Civilians -------------- ¶12. UNMIS Human Rights recently released a report "Six Month Overview of Human Rights in Sudan" that documented at least eight significant attacks by Sudanese government soldiers on civilian targets from September to November ¶2005. These attacks, as detailed in the report, displaced thousands of people and killed numerous civilians. Specific examples given include a September 24 attack on the South Darfur village of Toray, multiple villages in the North KHARTOUM 00000272 004 OF 004 Darfur areas of Tarny and Thabit on September 18 and 19, and multiple villages in the area of Shangil Tobiya, North Darfur, on September 11 and 12. These attacks resulted in 39 confirmed deaths and an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 people displaced. UNMIS Human Rights also reports that attacks and killings of civilians by Darfur opposition groups occurred in 2005, but figures are not available. ¶13. In addition, on October 23, USAID staff members visited the village of Tama in South Darfur two days after being attacked. IDPs reported that more than 50 civilians had been killed in the attack perpetrated by armed militia with the support of government soldiers and vehicles. Tama is located within a 10-minute drive from a Sudanese government police and military post, but received no assistance during the attack. ¶14. Random killing of individuals, both men and women, continue to be reported in multiple venues such as U.N. Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) briefings, protection working groups, NGO meetings, and by IDPs themselves when visited in the camps. Many killings are not reported or not investigated - it is as if agencies and even the IDPs have accepted a certain level of killings and rapes per week to be expected given the current insecurities in Darfur. -------------- Other Protection Issues -------------- ¶15. During the course of 2005, other protection issues have surfaced including land occupation, returns coerced by material incentives, beating of persons attempting to farm, intentional destruction of crops by nomads grazing their livestock, abandonment of infants, harassment of unwed pregnant women, beating of nomad women by IDP women, harassment of local NGOs, and arrest of local lawyers. The following two cables will outline the response of the international community in the field of protection in Darfur. HUME