CIHRS Jointly with Darfur Relief & Documentation Centre| Oral Intervention before HRC 10th Session About the UN special Representative on IDPs

Human Rights Council- 10th Session
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
Oral Intervention
Item 3- Interactive Dialogue- IDPs
13 March, 2009

Delivered by Mr. Ziad ABDEL TAWAB

Thank you Mr. President
The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, with the support of its partner organization the Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre, commends the UN special Representative on IDPs for his report, and wholly supports its conclusion on Paragraph 30 to 36 on the link between resolving internal displacement and the peace building process.
CIHRS would like to seek farther clarification from Mr. Kalin concerning his reference, made yesterday, to the expulsion of 13 international relief and humanitarian organizations in Sudan.
CIHRS is highly alarmed about the dire humanitarian implications for hundreds of thousands of IDPs in Darfur caused by the expelling of these 13 relief organizations.  The situation of IDPs in Darfur is further aggravated by the increasing repression and retaliatory measures directed against Sudanese human rights NGOs and activists that directly work with IDPs.  In one week, between 5th and 10th of Mach   three of the leading independent human rights and humanitarian NGOs in the country have been closed, namely the Sudan Social Development Organization (SUDO) – a major Sudanese relief organization that serves approximately 700.000 IDPs in various areas of Darfur– the Khartoum Center for Human Rights and Environmental Development, and the Al-Amal Center for the Rehabilitation of Torture Victims. The continuous harassment and intimidation of members of these organizations, as well as the Darfur Bar Association, by the government has forced the employees of these organizations to flee the country or go into hiding for fear of violent measures against them.
CIHRS would like to ask the Special Representative if he considers the expulsion, repression and intimidation of relief, humanitarian and human rights organizations and employees by the Sudanese Government  an instance of collective punishment, and a derogation of the Sudanese government’s obligation to ensure humanitarian assistance for the millions of forcibly displaced persons in Darfur?  More particularly, can such actions amount to war crimes under International Humanitarian Law? 

Thank you Mr. President.

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