*EPF306 11/24/2004
U.S. Criticizes U.N. Committee for Failing to Support Darfur
(Danforth angered by rejection of human rights resolution) (790)

By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- U.S. Ambassador John Danforth November 23 lashed out at the U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee for failing to adopt a resolution criticizing Sudan's human rights record and supporting peace and humanitarian efforts in Darfur.

The assembly's Third Committee, often referred to as the human rights committee, voted to take no action on a proposed resolution on Sudan. The committee's vote is usually a mirror of how the assembly's plenary session will vote; the issue comes before that body on November 24.

Calling the committee's move "a very bad situation," Danforth, the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations, said that the result was condoning of the atrocities taking place in Darfur and the status quo "and, most importantly, it's going to be a failure to support the people of Sudan who are suffering terribly and have suffered for a very long time.

"The message from the General Assembly is very simple, and it is: You may be suffering, but we can't be bothered," the ambassador said.

Talking with journalists after the committee meeting, Danforth said: "I can't comprehend why the General Assembly would not take a very strong position on the issue of human rights abuses in Sudan. I can't comprehend why the General Assembly wouldn't take a very strong position in favor of the African Union's effort, in favor of the IGAD [Intergovernmental Authority on Development] effort, in favor of the peace process."

Danforth and the other members of the U.N. Security Council just returned from Nairobi, Kenya, where the council held a historic session on Sudan, discussing these issues with representatives of the African Union, which has a cease-fire monitoring mission in Darfur, and IGAD, which supervises the southern Sudan peace talks. The council witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the government and the rebels to finalize a comprehensive peace agreement on the North-South conflict by December 31. The council then unanimously passed a resolution on the situation in Sudan, including Darfur.

In addition, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed a commission to investigate whether acts of genocide have been committed in Darfur.

Referring to all those activities, Danforth said: "It is really important for the world community to speak strongly and to speak with one voice. Clearly, the General Assembly is not prepared to do that. It is not prepared to speak strongly. It is not prepared to speak with the same voice the Security Council has spoken [with] in passing two resolutions with respect to Darfur and supporting what we did in Nairobi last week.

"The Government of Sudan and the parties in Sudan should be hearing one message. It should be a very strong message. The General Assembly is not ready to do that," the ambassador said.

"One wonders about the utility of the General Assembly on days like this," Danforth said. "One wonders: If there can't be a clear and direct statement on matters of basic principle, why have this building? What are we all about?

"There is a strong view within the General Assembly to do what the Commission on Human Rights has done before and basically take a position of condoning inaction with respect to the situation in Darfur and Sudan," he said.

The United States also has been critical of the U.N. Human Rights Commission. In May it walked out of the Economic and Social Council meeting in protest when Sudan was re-elected to the commission. During the commission's annual session earlier in 2004, the commission passed a resolution on Sudan that Danforth called "a toothless resolution that failed to address in any serious way the most pronounced example of human rights abuses in the world today."

Danforth also passed out a statement that he said he would have made to the committee if it decided to vote on the proposed resolution. A similar statement will be given in the General Assembly Hall when the Third Committee issues go before the plenary on November 24.

The U.S. statement said, in part, that "three consecutive failures of member states of the United Nations to present a unified front against well-documented atrocities would represent nothing less than the complete breakdown of the U.N.'s deliberative bodies related to human rights. If these bodies cannot speak with one voice on an issue as clear as Darfur, what can they do?"

"Go back to doing other things, and those who truly value human rights will continue to work tirelessly to end the suffering in Darfur through other means," the statement said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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