21 November 2002
U.S. Criticizes Sudan Human Rights Record
(Ambassador Negroponte UNGA speech on Sudan) (540)
The United States "will continue to work to shine a spotlight on the
human rights abuses committed by the Sudanese government and to bring
them to an end," U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said November 20.
In remarks to the General Assembly's Third Committee, the ambassador
said that the United States believes that Sudan continues to implement
policies that undermine and deny basic human rights to its citizens.
The Third Committee, which deals with human rights issues, passed a
resolution expressing deep concern at the adverse effect the ongoing
civil war in the Sudan has had on the human rights of its civilians,
especially women, children, and internally displaced persons. It also
calls upon Sudan to comply fully with its obligations under
international law, end impunity for human rights violators, and to try
perpetrators in accordance with the rule of law.
The committee passed the draft resolution by a vote of 74 to 53 with
29 abstentions. Approval by the committee is usually followed by
acceptance from the General Assembly plenary later in December.
Negroponte was also critical of the resolution, which, he said, did
not expose Khartoum's support of human rights abuses, especially
slavery, religious persecution, and denial of humanitarian aid to
civilians in need.
Nevertheless, the ambassador said, the U.S. voted for the resolution
to help maintain international attention on Sudan's human rights
misdeeds.
Following is the text of the ambassador's remarks:
(begin text)
Although the Government of Sudan has made very limited progress since
last year's UN Resolution on human rights, the United States believes
that Sudan continues to implement policies that undermine and deny
basic human rights to its citizens.
For this reason, my government has continued to engage Khartoum on its
serious human rights misdeeds in every appropriate venue, including
the United Nations.
The United States believes that it is important that this body issue a
strong resolution that condemns the human rights violations committed
by the Government of Sudan and we acknowledge the efforts of the
drafters to that.
We are pleased that the resolution highlights the Government of
Sudan's continued abrogation of religious freedom, deliberate attacks
against civilians, support for civilian-abducting militias, and
repeated denial of humanitarian access to its citizens in need.
However, during the negotiations, we urged that there be clear and
unambiguous language to ensure that this measure fully documented the
Government of Sudan's human rights abuses and we are deeply concerned
that the resolution omits stronger references to slavery and religious
persecution.
The United States feels that the international community lost a
valuable opportunity to more explicitly expose Khartoum's support for
these shameful practices. Despite these serious shortcomings, the
resolution does call attention to human rights abuses in Sudan, and
emphasizes the need to address them.
We will continue to work to shine a spotlight on the human rights
abuses committed by the Sudanese government and to bring them to an
end. In addition, we welcome the substantial progress made in the
Sudan Peace Talks, in the round concluded on November 18 and are
working to ensure that the final agreement includes provisions to
protect fundamental freedoms and human rights.
Faced with the possibility that the resolution might have failed to
pass without the United States' support, my government has decided to
vote in favor of this resolution. Doing so helps maintain
international attention on Sudan's human rights misdeeds.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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