Major General J. Scott Gration
August 20, 2009
Special Envoy to Sudan
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20520

Dear Special Envoy Gration,

We write to you regarding your testimony before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on July 30, 2009. We commend you for your tireless work on Sudan and for your deep commitment to achieving peace and security throughout Sudan. To that end, we would like to share with you several of our ongoing concerns regarding Sudan and some of our recommendations for improving the human rights situation in Sudan.

Amnesty International remains very concerned about the current situation on the ground in Darfur. An estimated 4.7 million Darfuris are in need of assistance. Humanitarian aid workers operating in Darfur remain at risk of targeted attacks on a regular basis.

In March, when the Government of Sudan (GoS) suspended the operations of 13 international and 3 local NGOs operating in Sudan, millions of vulnerable people in Darfur were left without sufficient access to life-saving aid, including food, water and medicine. Although the United Nations, GoS and remaining organizations have managed to plug some of the worst gaps, there are still significantly less humanitarian personnel operating in Darfur than before the expulsions, making it especially hard to reach those in remote locations. The remaining organizations are stretched thin, facing serious gaps in funding and capacity. These problems have only been exacerbated by the rainy season. Amnesty believes that it is absolutely essential that the Sudanese government allow the organizations that were expelled to return immediately and resume their work. The GoS must ensure that all humanitarian aid workers in Sudan are able to operate in safety and without impediment.

As you know, the decision by the GoS to expel these NGOs immediately followed the decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes and against humanity. Strong U.S. leadership is required to ensure that the GoS is not allowed to continue using humanitarian access as a bargaining chip to pressure the United Nations Security Council into deferring the indictment.

Amnesty International also believes that a fully deployed and functional UNAMID is invaluable for providing the necessary protection for civilians in Darfur. Although 68% of UNAMID has been deployed, and the United States has greatly improved the situation by meeting all of its funding pledges, the peacekeeping force remains unable to completely fulfill its mandate. In his latest report to the UN Security Council on UNAMID, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that although cooperation between the GoS and UNAMID has improved, the GoS is still impeding UNAMID’s work by failing to issue visas for UNAMID personnel in a timely manner and failing to ensure that Khartoum-based decisions are consistently implemented at the local level.

Finally, Amnesty International is concerned about ongoing human rights violations throughout Sudan. Real and suspected members of opposition political parties, human rights activists, journalists, students and others are regularly subjected to threats, intimidation, unlawful arrests, incommunicado detention and torture. Human rights defenders remain particularly at risk, especially those suspected of collaborating with or passing information to the ICC.

We urge you to enact the following recommendations:

-Press the GoS to immediately reverse its decision to expel or shut down 16 major humanitarian aid organizations;
- Urge the GoS to cooperate with UN agencies and international organizations; allow unhindered access for humanitarian operations to reach all vulnerable civilians; and ensure the safety of all humanitarian workers in Darfur;
-Ensure that the GoS does not use the humanitarian needs of the civilian population in Darfur to pressure the UN Security Council to suspend the ICC investigations in Darfur;
- Press the GoS to cease all impediments to UNAMID deployment and ensure compliance at the local level;
- Urge the GoS to publicly commit to not adversely target and restrict the work carried out by human rights defenders and to repeal laws that impinge on the work of human rights defenders and journalists in Sudan.

We thank you in advance for your prompt attention to the concerns raised in this letter, and we look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Curt Goering
Senior Deputy Executive Director
CC: Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson

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