AFRICA/SUDAN - Holy See Permanent Observer to the United Nations and the International Organizations attends 4th Special Session of UN Human Rights Council: “The victims are not just statistics; they are real people. Indeed the priority is action to end the killings and the abuses over political arrangements and commercial interests.”

Geneva (Agenzia Fides) -“For three years already the Holy See has been following with grave concern the terrible suffering of the people caught up in the tragic conflicts intermittently erupting in the Darfur region of Sudan” Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, Apostolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and the International Organizations said in a statement at 4th Special Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on December 12 on the theme “The Human Rights Situation in Darfur” .
“The situation on the ground, as a variety of official and private first hand witnesses indicates, shows a horrific violation of human rights: killing of children, sexual abuse and rape of girls and women, forced uprooting of population, burning of villages, attacks on Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps, targeting of unarmed civilians” the Archbishop continued underlining long term consequences: “disruption of agriculture greatly limits the production of food; inter-group relations will be more difficult to heal; the danger of regional destabilization increases; traumatized refugees find it harder to start life again”.
The representative of the Holy See recalled that the Human Rights Council is expected to be “an effective third pillar of the United Nations system together with the other two of development and of peace and security. The urgent task is stopping the violence, the destruction, the impunity. The victims are not just statistics; they are real people. Indeed the priority is action to end the killings and the abuses over political arrangements and commercial interests.”
Archbishop Tomasi hopes “active cooperation is put in place among the United Nations, the African Union, and the Government of Sudan” to end violence, improve relations among the countries of the region and enable the people to rebuild their lives .
“The Darfur conflict is a major humanitarian challenge of huge proportions, but also an opportunity to address in a new collaborative way endemic problems so as to create a future of hope for Sudan and for the entire African continent beyond regional and international interests. The crisis under discussion has provoked debates and international complaints, but insufficient effective actions. The Council has a concrete chance to provide a constructive compromise that leaves aside secondary modalities and focus on the plight of the victims. In this way the international community will not repeat in vain “never again”, but will undertake actions of solidarity and support for a comprehensive, just and durable solution.” The Holy See’s Observer concluded. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 13/12/2006 righe 38 parole 443)