Reasons behind the Darfur Crisis and Violation of Human Rights

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International Human Rights
Reasons behind the Darfur Crisis
Human rights violation in Darfur is as a result of racial and ethnical disputes between Africans
and Arabs. People live in fear of abuse, death, rape, continual threat of being attacked and being
displaced. On the other hand, there have been violence and political repression in Sudan for the
last three decades. After the grabbing of power by the military coup in 1989, the National Islamic
Front (NIF) started the process of removing the judiciary, army, civil service, and security forces.
They also banned all the political parties, social associations, cultural, and imposed nationwide
state of emergency. After the coup, the created government carried out immense and systematic
violations of human rights. In 1997, the United States pursued isolation policy and imposed wide
economic sanctions because of the human rights violations committed in the last 22 years of the
civil war in the South Sudan (Tsai 8).
After a decade, the U.S. imposed more sanctions that included ones that were targeting
people who committed atrocities in Darfur. However, the human rights violation failed to
improve. The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces continued to attack
civilians in Southern Kordofan, Darfur, and Blue Nile (Bellamy, Alex, and Paul 144). Moreover,
the national security agents started engaging various oppression targeting human rights activists,

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students harassment, torture, human society leaders, arbitrary detentions, restricting independent
media and civil society organizations.
Violated Human Rights
When the United Nations secretary-general sent the high commissioner for human rights, Louise
Arbour, and his advisor on the prevention of genocide, Juan Mendes to investigate the
deteriorating human violation in Darfur, they reported serious violations (Bellamy, Alex and
Paul 148). The report showed that there were serious violations of the international humanitarian
law and human rights committed by the government. In the report, they concluded that the
government failed to pursue genocide policy, its forces and the associated militias have been
involved in indiscriminate attacks such as killing of civilians, enforced disappearance, rape,
village destructions, forced displacement, torture, pillaging, and various forms of sexual violence
among others.
Consequently, the human rights defenders, especially the UN personnel have been
working under insecure and life threatening conditions. The humanitarian have been faced with
continual violence and increase of attacks of their convoys. For example, in 2008, over 200
humanitarian vehicles were reported to have been stolen or hijacked (Shoeb). Moreover, there
were over 30 convoy attacks, ten workers killed, and over 140 humanitarian homes broken into.
As a result of continual attack on the humanitarians, they resorted to the use of helicopter
missions to be able to visit the inaccessible areas for short period of time just to deliver the basic
needs such as food, water, and medicine to the displaced persons. The UNICEF officials said that
violence against women and children has been increasing instead of decreasing (Massoud 4).
They said that children are suffering deprivation and diseases due to what they have witnessed