PHR Action Center

On July 14, 2008, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) told the Court that there is evidence to charge Sudan's President, Omar al-Bashir, with ten counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Yet, when the United Nations Security Council reconvenes this September, it may vote on a Resolution to delay the trial against al-Bashir for up to one year.

The evidence is now being reviewed by judges at the Court, who will decide whether or not to proceed with a trial. The case of Darfur was referred to the Court by a UN Security Council Resolution in March 2005.

In the weeks since the Court made public the charges against him, President al-Bashir has threatened to expel the peacekeepers in Darfur if the trial goes forward. In late August, Sudan's Armed Forces entered into a camp for displaced persons and killed 31 civilians, amongst them women and children, in cold blood. And on September 10, Sudanese Armed Forces attacked unarmed civilians in the Zam Zam Camp for the internally displaced.

The nations of the world cannot allow President al-Bashir, who has shown himself capable of ordering the mass murder of his own citizens and obstructing both the delivery of humanitarian assistance and the deployment of peacekeepers for Darfur, to rebuff international justice.

Please write to the United States Ambassador to the United Nations and ask him to veto any Resolution to delay al-Bashir's trial and to support publicly the International Criminal Court's investigation into crimes in Darfur.

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I am horrified by the continuation of violence in Darfur. In late August, Sudan's Armed Forces entered into a camp for displaced persons and killed 31 civilians, amongst them women and children, in cold blood. And on September 10, Sudanese Armed Forces attacked unarmed civilians in the Zam Zam Camp for the internally displaced.

Now, as Darfur continues to bleed, the United Nations Security Council, at the urging of Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir, may vote to delay the possible trial against Bashir.

How can the members of the Security Council let a mass murderer, implicated by the US Government and charged by the ICC's Chief Prosecutor with the crime of genocide, who again and again has broken his promises to the international community, be the arbiter of justice?

I respectfully ask that the United States veto any Security Council Resolution invoking Article 16 of the Rome Statute, which would delay the International Criminal Court's investigation and trial into atrocities in Darfur. I also ask that you firmly and publicly support the Court's jurisdiction and reject any 'national judicial solution' that President Bashir proposes.

History will judge the nations of the world on how they handled the situation in Darfur. Please help the Darfuris without delays receive the justice they've so far been denied.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
September 11, 2008