ACTION ALERT: Darfur Genocide and the ICC

Forwarded by Roger and Mary Schense to follow up on their announcement about this at last night's ABQ DFA-DFNM Meetup:

Subject: URGENT: DARFUR - Send Letters to Washington Demanding Security Council Refer Darfur to International Criminal Court

The Security Council may act on a referral of Darfur (Sudan) to the International Criminal Court (ICC) early next week. Please send by Monday ­ and urge everyone you can reach to send - messages to the President, Secretary of State and your congressperson and senators strongly supporting this referral. Feel free to forward this message to anyone.

Background: A special commission requested by the Security Council reported to it on Tuesday, February 1. The report said that gross criminal atrocities have been and are happening in Darfur and strongly recommended that the Council refer Darfur to the International Criminal Court for prosecution of those responsible. The commission has given the UN Secretary-General a sealed list of persons who should be prosecuted. The Secretary-General will give this list to the Council once it has decided if and when these accused should be prosecuted.

The United States is actively hostile to the ICC. It opposes the referral and may well veto it. However, support for the referral in the Council is strong. Eleven of its 15 members of the Council have signed or ratified the Court¹s Rome Statute. The United States may well be alone in its veto, while other members support or abstain on a referral resolution.

The United States is proposing another improvised tribunal to be attached to the existing one for Rwanda. The commission report opposes such a temporary court. It says that while the ICC is ready to act and has funds and staff in place, it could take a year to start up an improvised tribunal which even then would be less credible and efficient than the ICC.

There must be immediate maximum public pressure on the administration to at least abstain on a Security Council resolution referring the Darfur atrocities to the ICC.

Sending Messages: We offer two options:

1) AMICC member Citizens for Global Solutions has an excellent web page where you can click on automatic transmission of e-mails to your senator and congresspersons and a fax to the Secretary of State: The website provides a standard message which you can customize and also lets you write your own.

2)  Send the standard message provided below or your own directly to the President, the Secretary of State and your congressperson and senators. The email addresses of the legislators are on their web sites.

Standard message: The International Criminal Court is the fastest and most effective way to act against the Darfur atrocity criminals. A new tribunal will take too long to start ­ while the killings continue. The United Nations Security Council must refer Darfur to the International Criminal Court immediately.

Sincerely,
Your name
Your address

Addresses
President Bush
Fax: 202-456-2461
Email: president@whitehouse.gov

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Fax: 202-647-2282
(She has no public email).

Thank you very much for these actions which are vital for Darfur and essential to the cause of the ICC in our country.

Sincerely,
John Washburn, Convener
Wasana Punyasena, Deputy Convener
AMICC
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Wasana Punyasena
Deputy Convener
American NGO Coalition for the ICC
United Nations Association for the USA
801 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10017
212-907-1374
wpunyasena@unausa.org
www.amicc.org