USA/SUDAN: HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANISATION HOPES GRAPHIC DRAWINGS BY DARFUR REFUGEE CHILDREN COULD BE USED TO CONFIRM WAR CRIMES BY SUDANESE MILITIA

Record ID: 858191

  • Title: USA/SUDAN: HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANISATION HOPES GRAPHIC DRAWINGS BY DARFUR REFUGEE CHILDREN COULD BE USED TO CONFIRM WAR CRIMES BY SUDANESE MILITIA
  • Date: 3rd May 2005
  • Summary: DARFUR, SUDAN (FILE) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) VARIOUS OF SUDANESE SOLDIERS RIDING CAMELS
  • Embargoed: 18th May 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, USA / DARFUR, SUDAN
  • City:
  • Country: Usa South Sudan Sudan
  • Topics: Conflict,Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVAC7LGPAMTW5XW2DA9EFM0OUNUU
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Graphic drawings by Darfur children show scenes of
    horrific violence, which rights group hopes could one day
    be used in court against Sudan.




    Drawings by children from the conflict in Darfur,
    Sudan, show harrowing scenes of violence against civilians.

    The New York-based group, Human Rights Watch has
    hundreds of such drawings from children aged between eight
    and 14-years old.

    "The drawings describe the war, the crimes committed in
    Darfur, the attacks on the villages, the government of
    Sudan soldiers shooting at civilians, the Janjaweed militia
    attacking civilians, the planes bombing villages," said
    Human Rights Watch investigator Olivier Bercault.

    He continued, "What is striking is that Human Rights
    Watch has been documenting these crimes for the last two
    years and that's a corroboration of the crimes of what
    Human Rights Watch knows that's a graphic representation of
    the attacks, of the crimes against humanity."
    The rights investigators came across the children's
    ability to draw scenes from the two years of violence by
    accident. In February of this year investigators were
    touring refugee camps in neighbouring Chad. They gave
    children crayons and paper to distract them while they
    interviewed the parents. When they examined what the
    children had drawn they were horrified.

    The disturbing drawings show in great detail picture
    after picture of government soldiers or Janjaweed militia
    riding camels and toting guns. The vivid crayon drawings
    graphically show how civilians are killed, raped and
    mutilated.

    The Sudanese government stands accused of ethnic
    cleansing in Darfur and is accused of supporting and arming
    Janjaweed militia, who are fighting a rebel uprising in the
    Western region. The United Nations estimates that some two
    million people have been forced from their homes, villages
    burnt, women and girls raped and men murdered.

    The Security Council has now referred the matter to the
    International Criminal Court and prosecutors are
    investigating cases against suspected leaders of the
    violent campaign.

    Given the lack of video-documentation of the abuses in
    the remote desert, Human Rights Watch now wants the ICC to
    consider allowing the Darfur childrens' drawings as
    evidence in any future trials.

    Bercault said, "We have to find a possibility of using
    these drawings before the ICC. We have to talk to the
    prosecutor because we don't have graphic representations of
    the crimes and when the Janjaweed militia or when the
    government of Sudan attack a village nobody is there to
    film them or take pictures. So for the first time we have
    graphic representation of the crime and I think it should
    be useful and should be maybe able to use them in court, I
    hope so."
    The drawings are now displayed on Human Rights Watch's
    website in an online gallery in an attempt to keep the
    world's focus on the immense suffering in Darfur. They can
    be viewed at www.hrw.org/photos/2005/darfur/drawings.
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