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UN council to issue Darfur report UN team condemns Sudan in Darfur
(about 2 hours later)
The continuing conflict in Darfur will top the agenda of the United Nations human rights council, which opens a three-week session in Geneva. UN investigators have strongly criticised Sudan for gross human rights violations in Darfur, including murder, mass rape, and abductions.
Just last month a team of UN investigators were unable to visit Darfur after Sudan's government refused to grant some team members visas. Their report was being released as the UN Human Rights Council opened its three-week session in Geneva.
But they wrote their report anyway, and it is due to be published on Monday. The UN team was blocked by Sudan from visiting Darfur, but spoke to refugees and aid workers from the region.
The report on alleged human rights violations in Darfur is expected to be highly critical of Sudan's government. At least 200,000 people are estimated to have died in Darfur's four-year conflict, with millions more displaced.
The five team members were denied visas to enter Sudan, but did travel to Chad to interview refugees. Barred from Sudan, the five UN team members travelled to neighbouring Chad, to where many refugees have fled, and where the war itself is spreading.
The team's findings are likely to reflect already well-established reports of serious abuses in Darfur, including mass rape, abduction, and forcing people from their homes. There they heard reports backing up well-established accusations of serious abuses in Darfur, including mass rape, abduction, and forcing people from their homes.
They condemned the Sudanese government, but also criticised the international community for being slow to act over Darfur.
The continuing conflict will top the Human Rights Council's session in Geneva.
Censure motionCensure motion
The UN human rights commissioner Louise Arbour is known to be especially concerned at Sudan's lack of cooperation with her team. The head of the mission, Nobel peace prize winner Jody Williams, told the BBC: "The difference in our report is the way that we chose to frame it in presenting it to the Human Rights Council, and that is through the responsibility to protect.
"It was a resolution passed at the world summit in 2005, and it starts finally talking about if a state cannot meet its responsibility to protect its own citizens, then the international community has to step up to the plate and assume its responsibility."
The UN human rights commissioner Louise Arbour is known to be especially concerned at Sudan's lack of co-operation with the team.
She has described such obstruction as an affront which must be addressed.She has described such obstruction as an affront which must be addressed.
European members of the council are thought to be planning a motion of censure against Sudan, but this is likely to be resisted by many African nations.European members of the council are thought to be planning a motion of censure against Sudan, but this is likely to be resisted by many African nations.
The UN human rights council is less than a year old.The UN human rights council is less than a year old.
It was created to replace the widely discredited human rights commission and action on Darfur is regarded as a key test of the council's credibility.It was created to replace the widely discredited human rights commission and action on Darfur is regarded as a key test of the council's credibility.
Up to now the council has censured only one country - Israel, for its actions in Lebanon and Gaza, prompting critics to say the new body is just as politicised and ineffective as the old one. Up to now the council has censured only one country - Israel - for its actions in Lebanon and Gaza, prompting critics to say the new body is just as politicised and ineffective as the old one.