Darfur gender violence uncurbed
2007-03-09 12:12
The Hague - The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights used international women's day on Thursday to highlight what she called "rampant" sexual violence against women in Sudan's Darfur region.
"(There is a) very clear pattern of systematic recourse to gender violence. I see very little sign that there is any improvement," Louise Arbor said.
She said the Sudanese government was not doing enough to stop the violence despite their pledge to set up their own war crimes court.
"Our assessment is that its is still grossly inadequate what has been done so far. There is a lot of paper activity but not a lot of action on the ground," Arbour said.
Arbour, who was the first female chief prosecutor of the UN war crimes court for the former Yugoslavia, spoke to journalists at a special women's day event honouring women groundbreakers in international justice in The Hague.
Last week the International Criminal Court named the first two suspects they want to indict over the Darfur conflict.
Khartoum reacted to the ICC's move by insisting that its judiciary was fully competent to handle the cases and rejected the legitimacy of any foreign court seeking to try Sudanese nationals.
According to the United Nations, at least 200 000 people have been killed and more than two million displaced since the civil conflict erupted in Darfur in February 2003. Some sources say the death toll is much higher.