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ICC

Letter to UNSC for Sudan on 7th anniversary of ICC warrants

March 4, 2016

H.E. Ambassador Ismael Abraão Gaspar Martins Permanent Representative, Mission of Republic of Angola to the UN President, United Nations Security Council (March 2016) 820 2nd Avenue, 12th Floor New York, NY 10017

Your Excellency,

We, the undersigned 116 representatives of Sudanese and international humanitarian and human rights organizations and advocates, write to you in your capacity as President of the UN Security Council (UNSC) for March 2016 to request your assistance in bringing before the UNSC the outstanding arrest warrants for President Bashir of Sudan, the first of which was issued 7 years ago today on March 4, 2009, for the purpose of encouraging cooperation by the members of the UNSC and all UN member states to facilitate the immediate arrest of Bashir and all those indicted for crimes committed against the people of Darfur in order, as the Rome Statute states, to “put an end to impunity...and to contribute to the prevention of such crimes” in Sudan and throughout the world.

The failure of the UN member states to arrest Bashir has caused great suffering for the people of Sudan, the region and the world:

 African Islamic University in Khartoum serves as a hub for training Islamists and extremists that operate in Nigeria, Somalia and in other parts of Africa and the Middle East; the regime supports the Muslim Brotherhood and Joseph Kony; and it provides arms to the Islamist rebels in Libya while fueling conflict in South Sudan.

 According to UNHCR, the number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Sudan has climbed to 2,342,979 and those who have sought refuge in other countries from state sponsored violence totals 640,919.

 Camps for IDPs and refugees from Darfur are being attacked and/or dismantled, leaving residents defenseless and homeless.

 Massive attacks, including aerial bombardment, in the Jebel Marra area of Darfur have been ongoing since January 15, 2016.

 Villages are being burned in El Geneina, the capital of Western Darfur State.

 Bombing and a massive government military campaign are underway in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile state, where, along with other locations in Southern Kordofan, crimes against humanity are rampant.

 Life-saving international humanitarian aid is denied by the government to its victims throughout Sudan including Eastern Sudan.

 Dams are being built in Sudan in specific locations designed to eliminate Nubian cultural sites.

 Basic freedoms are denied throughout Sudan and those who question the regime face detention, torture and death.

Today, while you meet with your colleagues inside the United Nations, we will be in front of the UN, representing the victims of Bashir and calling for his immediate arrest. Today in Sudan, millions of people are hungry, hurting and living in fear, and they are looking to you to stand on their behalf at a time when they feel hopeless and forgotten. Please put intense pressure on the Sudan government to stop aerial bombardment in Darfur, the Nuba Mountains and in Blue Nile state and to end all attacks on civilians, especially those in IDP camps. In addition, please require that the Sudan government allow international humanitarian aid to reach Sudanese who are in such desperate need throughout the country.

The future of Sudan can look much different than its past, but it will take the courage and resolve of leaders like you to uphold international law and to send a message to criminals world-wide that crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide will not be tolerated. Instead, through your actions and by arresting Bashir, the world will see that the United Nations is committed to maintaining international peace and security, upholding justice, and protecting the fundamental dignity and human rights of all people.

CC: H.E. Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General, United Nations Amb. Samantha Power, Permanent U.S. Representative to the UN Amb. Matthew Rycroft, Permanent Representative, UK Mission to the UN Amb. François Delattre, Permanent Representative of France to the UN Amb. Liu Jieyi, Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of China to the UN Amb. Vitaly Churkin, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN Amr Abdellatif Aboulatta, Permanent Representative of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the UN Amb. Motohide Yoshikawa, Permanent Representative of Japan to the UN Amb. Dato’ Ramlan Ibrahim, Permanent Representative of Malaysia to the UN Amb. Gerard van Bohemen, Permanent Representative of New Zealand to the UN Amb. Fodé Seck, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Senegal to the UN Amb. D. Román Oyarzun Marchesi, Permanent Representative of Spain to the UN Amb. Volodymyr Yelchenko, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN Amb. Elbio Rosselli, Permanent Representative of Uruguay to the UN Amb. Rafael Darío Ramírez Carreño, Permanent Representative of Venezuela to the UN

Signed by:

Act for Sudan, Martina Knee, Co-Founder, USA

Ahmed H. Adam, Visiting Fellow, Institute for African Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

Motasim Adam, Human Rights Activist, Brooklyn, NY, USA

African Freedom Coalition, Al Sutton, President, New York, NY, USA

Alliance of Sudanese Opposition Forces, Adam Abu Altaiman,Canada

American African Foundation Against Torture, Inc, Zainelabdin E. Osman, President , Mohamed Y. Khalifa, Secretary General, Schenectady, NY, USA

American Friends of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan (AFRECS), Richard Parkins, Executive Director, Alexandria, VA, USA

Association of the Sons of Darfur in the City of Tucson, Abuelgasim Salih, ChairmanTucson, AZ, USA

Beja Organization for Human Rights and Development, Ibrahim Ahmed, Herndon, VA, USA

Blue Nile Association For Peace and Development, Omer Abdelsawi Omer, Mulberry, FL, USA

Blue Nile Youth Associated Organization for Peace and Stability (BNOPS), Hashim Orta Adaw, Blue Nile, Sudan

Brooklyn Coalition for Darfur & Marginalized Sudan, Laura Limuli, Coordinator, Brooklyn, NY, USA

Brooklyn For Peace, Charlotte Phillips, M.D., Chairperson, Brooklyn, NY, USA

Caceres-Neuffer Genocide Action Group, Prof. John H. Weiss, Founder/Director, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

Carl Wilkens Fellowship, Beth Woskow McDaniel, Advisory Board, Redondo Beach, CA, USA

Dr. Frank Chalk, Professor of History and Director, The Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Christian Solidarity International-USA, Rev. Heidi McGinness, Director of Outreach, Denver, CO, USA

Church Alliance for a New Sudan, Faith J. H. McDonnell, Director, Washington, DC, USA

Collectif Urgence Darfour, Dr. Jacky Mamou, Chairman, Paris, France

The Baroness Cox, House of Lords and President of Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust, London, UK

DAAM-UK, Ali Abdelatif M. Hussein, London, UK

Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy, Daowd Salih, Board President, Falls Church, VA, USA

Darfur Action Group of South Carolina, Dr. Richard Sribnick, Chairman, Columbia, SC, USA

Darfur Alert Coalition, Dr.Ali Dinar, President, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Darfur and Beyond, Cory Williams, Phoenix, AZ, USA

Darfur Association, Ismail Adam, Canada

Darfur Bar Association, Abdelrahman Gasim, External Relations Secretary, Sudan

Darfur Community Organization, Bakheit A. Shata, Founder and Executive Director, Omaha, NE, USA

Darfur Interfaith Network, Martha Boshnick, Co-Chair, Washington, DC, USA

Darfur People’s Association of New York, Mohamed Haroun Ebead, President, Brooklyn, NY, USA

Darfur Women Action Group, Niemat Ahmadi, Founder/President, Washington, DC, USA

Dear Sudan, Love Marin, Gerri Miller, Coordinator, Tiburon, CA, USA

Democratic Unionist Party, Abubakr Sidahmed, Canada

The Rt. Rev. Julian M. Dobbs, Missionary Bishop, Convocation of Anglicans in North America, McLean, VA, USA

Doctors to the World, C. Louis Perrinjaquet, MD, MPH, Medical Director, Breckenridge, CO, USA

Aicha Elbasri, former Spokesperson for the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur Caroline Faria, Assistant Professor, UT Austin, Austin, TX, USA

Genocide No More–Save Darfur, Marv Steinberg, Coordinator, Redding, CA, USA

Genocide Watch, reg Stanton, President, Research Professor, School for Con ict Analysis and Resolu on, eorge Mason University, Arlington, A, USA

Georgia Coalition to Prevent Genocide, Melanie Nelkin, Chair, Atlanta, GA, USA

Government Accountability Project, Beatrice Edwards, International Program Director, Washington, DC, USA

Group Against Torture in Sudan-GATS, Mohamed Elgadi, Acting Secretary, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Harry Potter Alliance, Matt Maggiacomo, Executive Director, Cranston, RI, USA

Help Nuba, Rabbi David Kaufman,Co-Chair, Des Moines, IA, USA

Human Rights and Advocacy Network for Democracy (HAND), Abdalmageed S. Haroun, President, Brooklyn, NY, USA

Human Rights and Development Organization (HUDO), Bushra Gamar Hussein - CEO, Kampala, Uganda

Humanity Is Us, Kimberly Hollingsworth, Founder, New York, NY, USA

Institute for the Study of Genocide, Dr. Ernesto Verdeja, Executive Director, US

International Justice Project, Monica Feltz, Executive Director, Newark, NJ, USA

Investors Against Genocide, Eric Cohen, Chairperson, Boston, MA, USA

Institute on Religion and Democracy, Mark Tooley, President, Washington, DC USA

Italians for Darfur, Antonella Napoli, President, Rome, Italy

Jewish World Watch, Mike Brand, Director of Policy and Programs, Encino, CA, USA

Jews Against Genocide, Sharon Silber, Co-Director, New York, NY, USA

Joining Our Voices, Slater Armstrong, Founder/Director, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

Lehman Center for Human Rights & Peace Studies, Dr. Victoria Sanford, Director, Bronx, NY, USA

Long Island Darfur Action Group, Nancy Walsh, Coordinator, Farmingdale, NY, USA

Massachusetts Coalition for Darfur, William Rosenfeld, Director, Boston, MA, USA

Mukesh Kapila, former Head of the UN in Sudan (2003-2004), Geneva, Switzerland

Gill Lusk, Writer on the Sudans, London, UK

Martin Technical Services’ Access Coalition Project, Deborah Martin, Director, Nashville, TN, USA

National Religious Leaders of African Ancestry, Rev. Dr. Herbert Daughtry, Chairperson, Brooklyn, NY, USA

Never Again Coalition, Lauren Fortgang, Co-Chair, Portland, OR, USA

New York Coalition for Sudan, Eileen Weiss, Co-Founder, New York, NY, USA

New York Darfur Vigil Group, Helga Moor, Coordinator, New York, NY, USA

Nuba Mountains Advocacy Group - USA, Gogadi Amoga, Chair, Amelia, OH, USA

Nuba Mountains International Association, Fadlallah Hassan, Canada

Nuba Mountains International Association USA, Komi Alaiaiser, President, Lorton, VA, USA

Nuba Mountains Peace Coalition, Tito Elgassai, Dallas, TX, USA

Nuba Now Campaign, Claire Vera, London, UK

Nubia Project, Nuraddin Abdulmannan, President, Washington, DC, USA

Operation Broken Silence, Mark C. Hackett, Executive Director, Memphis, TN, USA

Our Humanity in the Balance, Terry Nickelson, Executive Director, Deming, NM, USA

Pax Christi Metro New York, Rosemarie Pace, Director, New York, NY, USA

People4Sudan, Valerie Delacretaz, Global Coordinator, Geneva, Switzerland

Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition, David Rosenberg, Coordinator, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), W. Mark Koenig, Director, Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations, Louisville, KY, USA

Martin Raffel, Human Rights Activist, former Senior Vice President of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, East Brunswick, NJ, USA

Eric Reeves, Sudan Researcher, Author of Compromising with Evil: An Archival History of Greater Sudan, 2007 – 2012 (eBook, 2012), Northampton, MA, USA

Republican Brotherhood, Buthaina Terwis, Calgary, Canada

Hawa Abdalla Salih, Human Rights and Women’s Rights Activist, Recipient, 2012 U.S. Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award, Philadelphia, PA, USA

San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition, Mohamed Suleiman, President, San Francisco, CA, USA

Nina Shea, Director, Center for Religious Freedom, Hudson Institute, Washington, DC, USA

Skills for Nuba Mountains(SNM), Lazim Suleiman El basha, Executive Director, Kauda, South Kordofan, Sudan

Prof. Emer. Robert Skloot, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

St. Clare's Episcopal Church, The Reverend Ronald D. Culmer, Rector, Pleasanton, CA, USA

Society for Threatened Peoples, Ulrich Delius, Africa Desk, Göttingen, Germany

Brian Steidle, Author of The Devil Came on Horseback: Bearing Witness to the Genocide in Darfur, USA

Stop Genocide Now, Katie-Jay Scott, Redondo Beach, CA, USA

Sudan Advocacy Action Forum, Dr. Eleanor Wright, Moderator, Birmingham, AL, USA

Sudan Democracy First Group, Monim Al Jak, Acting Executive Director, Kampala, Uganda

Sudan Sunrise, Thomas M. Prichard, Executive Director, Reston, VA, USA

Sudan Unlimited, Esther Sprague, Founder, San Francisco, CA, USA

Sudanese-Canadian Forum for Peace and Democracy, Elham Bakri, Toronto, Canada

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Sudanese Committee for Change, Magdi Abdulmoniem, Edmonton, Canada

Sudanese Community Church of Denver, Ayyoubawaga (Oja) B. Gafour, Episcopal Diocese of Colorado, Denver, CO, USA

Sudanese Congress Party, Alharith Elhaj, Canada

Sudanese Engineers Trade Union, Hashim Mohammed Ahmed, President Elect of the Legitimate Union, Oxford, UK

Sudanese Marginalized Forum-USA, Magid Kabashi, Chair, New York, NY, USA

Sudanese Women Association, Solaima Yousuf, Canada

The Elsa-Gopa Trust, Nell Okie, Director, Madison, CT, USA

The MagkaSama Project, Max Dana, Founder, Paris, France

Henry C. Theriault, Professor and Chair of Philosophy, Worcester State University, Worcester, MA, USA Rebecca Tinsley, Founder, Waging Peace, London, UK

Samuel Totten, Professor Emeritus, University of Arkansas, Author of An Oral and Documentary History of the Darfur Genocide, Fayetteville, AR, USA

Unite for Darfur Organization, Bahar Arabie, CEO, Gaithersburg, MD, USA

United Sudanese And South Sudanese Communities Association (USASSCA), Dr. Henry Lejukole, Chairman, Des Moines, IA, USA

United to End Genocide, Hon. Thomas H. Andrews, President and CEO, Washington, DC, USA

Use Your Voice to Stop Genocide RI, Sandra Hammel, Director, Portsmouth, RI, USA

Voices for Sudan, Jimmy Mulla, President and Co-Founder, Washington, DC, USA

Waging Peace, Olivia Warham MBE, Director, London, UK

Dr. James E. Waller, Cohen Professor of Holocaust & Genocide Studies, Keene State College, Keene, NH, USA

Elhag Ali Warrag, Editor in Chief, Hurriyat Sudan, Egypt

World Peace and Reconciliation (WP&R), Tobi Indyke, Secretary, Morris Plains, NJ, USA

World Without Genocide at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, Ellen J. Kennedy, Ph.D., Executive Director, St. Paul, MN, USA

Adeeb Yousif, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (S-CAR), George Mason University (GMU), Arlington, VA, USA

 

(c) 2016 ICC

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