(U-WIRE) -Last January, world leaders gathered to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps.
Vice President Dick Cheney noted at the event that the commemoration demonstrated that, evil is real and must be called by its name and must be confronted.
It is time for the Bush administration to take its own rhetoric seriously. A genocide in Sudan is well underway, and the United States is choosing to play politics rather than take concrete steps to alleviate the suffering in Darfur. About 2 million Sudanese have been forced from their homes in the past two years; many of these civilians have been subject to frequent attacks, rape and looting by government-backed militias.
France recently proposed a resolution to the United Nations Security Council that would refer the Sudanese government to the International Criminal Court if it does not immediately disarm and prosecute those responsible for the abuses in Darfur. This measure is being blocked by the United States due to the Bush administration's ideological opposition to the ICC and the court's refusal to exempt U.S. nationals from prosecution.
The U.N. Commission of Inquiry for Darfur strongly recommends that the Security Council refer the situation to the ICC, saying this action is the single best mechanism and the only credible way to ensure justice. Ironically, the United States sponsored the resolution that gave birth to the Darfur Commission, yet the Bush administration has decided to ignore its findings.
Human Rights Watch, one of the few organizations consistently monitoring the situation in Darfur, is also urging Security Council members to pass the resolution. Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch's International Justice Program, charges that the United States is hanging the people of Darfur out to dry by stalling on justice. After labeling Darfur a genocide
the United States is now blocking the credible threat of prosecution by the International Criminal Court which could immediately deter further violence in Darfur.
As a concession to the United States, the French-proposed resolution even offers immunity to personnel serving in U.N. operations in Sudan, including Americans. Despite this compromise, the Bush administration's desire to take an absolutist line on the ICC trumps its concern for the protection of civilians.
While some may admire the stand of the Bush administration as a demonstration of strength, it is important to recognize that the United States is flexing its diplomatic muscle at the expense of a completely devastated and powerless people.
If a stronger resolution is not passed soon, ethnic cleansing in Darfur will continue to transpire in full view of the international community. At the very least, the threat of serious criminal prosecution would send a powerful message to those responsible for the atrocities in Darfur and could deter attacks against civilians. It is imperative that action be taken now, as the death toll mounts with every passing day.
While Holocaust remembrances and films such as Hotel Rwanda remind us of the horror of human suffering, they should not serve as cathartic rituals for the West. They are a shameful reminder of past failures, made all the more disgraceful by our current inaction in Sudan.
Unless the Bush administration changes its position on the International Criminal Court and Darfur, they will bear responsibility for our inability to confront evil -and the untold number of deaths that may have been prevented.
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