International Investigation Committee: Justifications and Complications
Mariam Abashar
19 countries voted in favor of the resolution, while 16 countries rejected it, and 3 countries abstained.
The resolution called on the parties to the conflict to fully cooperate with the fact-finding mission in performing its duties. It also urged the international community to provide full support to the mission in carrying out its mandate.
The mission consists of 3 members with expertise in international human rights law and international humanitarian law, to be appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council as soon as possible for an initial period of one year.
The international mission is tasked with investigating and establishing the facts, circumstances, and root causes of all allegations of human rights violations, abuses, and violations of international humanitarian law, including those committed against refugees.
The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had preemptively rejected the resolution when it was still in draft form, describing it as extreme in its bias against the Sudanese Armed Forces.
The formation of an impartial international committee to ascertain the facts was endorsed by human rights organizations and local civil society organizations, which considered the formation of an international committee for inquiry a utmost necessity for the serious human rights violations committed against civilians. They doubted the internal committees, especially those announced by the de facto government, as they are concerned with investigating violations by one party without the other.
International Concern
Nafisa Hajr, a member of the Emergency Lawyers Committee in Darfur, pointed out that the escalation of violence during the ongoing fighting has become a real concern for Sudanese and the international community saw it as one of the reasons that led Britain, America, Norway, and Germany to submit a draft resolution to the Human Rights Council leading to the formation of an international committee to investigate what are believed to be crimes committed by the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces fighting in Sudan.
Hajr added that there is a belief that both parties committed violations contrary to international law and human rights and binding international treaties and conventions, through targeting civilians, properties, and civilian areas. She continued that this belief has created a state of concern in the international community and fear of an explosion of the situation that becomes difficult to control, especially as the war approaches its seventh month and the intensity of the war is increasing and there is no glimmer of hope to stop this senseless war that left behind great destruction, loss of lives, and an unprecedented state of displacement and refuge.
Member of Emergency Lawyers Darfur believed that such moves will pressure both sides of the conflict and push them to make some concessions to stop the war and return to negotiation and dialogue.
Justifications and Loopholes
In the same context, human rights activists believe that the situation in Sudan and the resulting serious human rights violations and international humanitarian law require the establishment of an independent body for investigation, indicating that the need for an independent investigation has become important, taking into account that the reality indicates that state institutions are not qualified to carry out this task.
It is worth noting that General Burhan, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, had issued a decision in early August to form a committee to investigate the violations committed by the Rapid Support Forces.
Experts considered that Burhans committee is surrounded by serious flaws, as they said, in that it cannot carry out the investigation independently, and described it as political, given that its mission is to investigate the crimes of the Rapid Support Forces, knowing that the armed conflict involves two parties, the Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, and assigning the committee to investigate the crimes of the Rapid Support Forces means the acquittal of the Armed Forces from any potential violations.
Dr. Rafat Mirghani, the resigned President of the National Commission for Human Rights, said that the Burhan committee was basically designed to be one of the tools of political and military conflict, and he proved this by the statement of the Attorney General regarding his accusation against 250 politicians and activists for supporting the Rapid Support Forces. Mirghani added that Burhan himself is not qualified to form this committee, considering him a party to the ongoing conflict.
Mirghani added that all the committees formed after the October 25 coup have not presented any results so far, and the continuation of impunity continues. He considered that the international committee could be a good option under these circumstances, especially with the emergence of many lies and attempts to cover up the facts regarding the violations.
Rafat said, I dont think it is possible to form an independent national committee, referring to the Burhan committee. He sees that the Attorney General is not required to wait for a decision from Burhan to act in investigating the violations, as his position is supposed to be independent of the executive authority.
He continued, how can the illegitimate president of the Human Rights Commission be a member of a governmental committee when he is supposed to be independent of all authorities? He pointed out that according to the decision to form it, the Burhan committee is only required to enumerate the violations, not to investigate them, which means carrying out an inventory-like operation without examination.
He continued, we are facing a conflict with two parties, and the decision completely ignored the potential violations committed by the Armed Forces, considering that the violations are committed only by the Rapid Support Forces, which is an assumption contradicted by facts and practices, and proven false by air strikes, arbitrary arrests of activists, and other violations committed by the Armed Forces in the capital and states.
