International response to the War in Darfur

While there is a consensus in the international community that ethnic groups have been targeted in Darfur and that crimes against humanity have therefore occurred, there has been debate in some quarters about whether genocide has taken place there. In May 2006, the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur organized by United Nations "concluded that the Government of the Sudan has not pursued a policy of genocide ... [though] international offences such as the crimes against humanity and war crimes that have been committed in Darfur may be more serious and heinous than genocide."^[1] Eric Reeves, a researcher and frequent commentator on Darfur, has questioned the methodology of the commission's report.^[2]

The United States government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and individual world leaders have chosen to use the word "genocide" for what is taking place in Darfur. (See Declarations of genocide, below) Most notably, in passing the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2006, the US government codified specific economic and legal sanctions on the government of Sudan as a result of its findings of genocide.

^ Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to the United Nations Secretary-General Archived 31 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine, United Nations International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, 18 September 2004
^ Darfur 101 by Eric Reeves (The New Republic) 5 May 2006. "... a U.N. Commission of Inquiry (COI) report on Darfur concluded in January 2005 that there was 'insufficient evidence of genocidal intent' on the part of the NIF, though the commissioners' reasoning was embarrassingly flawed and the failure to conduct forensic investigations at all sites of reported mass ethnic murders was inexcusable. In addition, the COI badly confused the issues of motive and intent, deployed evidence in conspicuously contradictory fashion, and misrepresented the consequences of genocidal violence and displacement in Darfur."

[UN_commission_on_Darfur-1] Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to the United Nations Secretary-General Archived 31 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine, United Nations International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, 18 September 2004

[Reeves_article_in_The_New_Republic:_see_reference_for_full_quotation-2] Darfur 101 by Eric Reeves (The New Republic) 5 May 2006. "... a U.N. Commission of Inquiry (COI) report on Darfur concluded in January 2005 that there was 'insufficient evidence of genocidal intent' on the part of the NIF, though the commissioners' reasoning was embarrassingly flawed and the failure to conduct forensic investigations at all sites of reported mass ethnic murders was inexcusable. In addition, the COI badly confused the issues of motive and intent, deployed evidence in conspicuously contradictory fashion, and misrepresented the consequences of genocidal violence and displacement in Darfur."

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