Disaster in Darfur and the responsibilities of France

Résumé du document

On 16 May 2006, resolution 1679 was unanimously adopted by the Security Council of the United Nations Organisation (UNO). It expressed its intention to consider conducting a "United Nations Operation in Darfur" and called for the deployment of "a joint African Union and United Nations technical assessment mission" . The resolution represented a strong step towards a direct intervention of the UNO peacekeeping forces in Sudan, intervention which has been more and more demanded by international organisations, media and some states. However, owing to a refusal of Sudan to let the United Nations (UN) conduct a larger mission, the only international force present in Darfur so far remains the African Union, through the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS). As a permanent member of the Security Council of the UN, an international actor, and an active promoter of Human Rights in the world, France must unavoidably feel concerned by the dramatic human situation in Sudan's Darfur region, and cannot ignore its international legal duties towards the conflict.

Extraits

[...] War crimes are crimes which violate the law of war as defined especially in the 1949 Geneva Conventions (see annex number 2). Currently, the African Union is the only organisation present in Darfur in order to prevent crimes to be committed. The UNO is particularly in charge of struggling against those violations[14]. The Security Council is the body devoted to the reactions against serious breaches committed against peace and security. So far, however, the Security Council settled for supporting the AMIS, whose action is far from sufficient. [...]

[...] It for instance opposed UN economic sanctions proposed by the USA in August 2004, and long called the event a “civil war”. On 6 August 2006, however, foreign minister P. Douste-Blazy for the first time used the term “genocide” to qualify the conflict. Official recognition of the occurrence of genocide in Darfur would imply France's responsibility towards it. Having ratified the Genocide Convention on 14th October 1950, France undertook to “prevent” and genocide (article 1 of the Convention). Though this obligation firstly applies to French territory, customary law extended it through the principle of universal jurisdiction[12]. [...]

[...] Right to life and prohibition of torture cannot be derogated, even under state of emergency[7]. Sudan has also ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. It has not yet ratified the Genocide Convention, nor the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment. However, crimes of genocide and torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment are forbidden by the ICCPR[8]. Forcibly displacing people constitutes a crime against humanity and Sudan must protect those displaced people in accordance with ICCPR[9]. [...]

[...] 16) at 52, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966) U.N.T.S entered into force Mar University of Minnesota, Human Rights Library, http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/b3ccpr.htm. Article International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, G.A. res. 2200A (XXI) U.N. GAOR Supp. [...]

[...] Article 147 of the Fourth Convention defines war crimes as: " wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement of a protected person, compelling a protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power, or wilfully depriving a protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial prescribed in the present Convention, taking of hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly . " The International Criminal Court The competence of the ICC is defined in article 5 of its Statute: Article 5 Crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court 1. The jurisdiction of the Court shall be limited to the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole. The Court has jurisdiction in accordance with this Statute with respect to the following crimes: The crime of genocide; Crimes against humanity; War crimes; The crime of aggression. [...]