Washington, D.C. - Today the House of Representatives passed S. Con. Res. 137, a resolution calling for the suspension of Sudan's membership on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Congress has called the atrocities committed by the Janjaweed terrorists in Sudan genocide, a term also recently employed by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.
"I am outraged by the atrocities committed by government-backed militia groups in Sudan," said Akin, a member of the House Human Rights Caucus. "Intent on using deadly force to 'cleanse' Sudan of non-Arab people, these forces first waged war on the Christians and animists in the south and now have turned their weapons on the largely Muslim, black population in the western Darfur region. Sudan's membership on the U.N.'sHuman Rights Commission makes a mockery of the purpose of the Commission. Sudan must be removed immediately."
The Sudanese Government has been closely associated with the Janjaweed. Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell noted that "the government of Sudan and the Janjaweed bear responsibility" for the violence in the Darfur region. The conflict in the Darfur region began in early 2003 and has since escalated into a massive humanitarian crisis. Atrocities include the use of rape as a weapon of war, abducted children, destroyed food and water sources and deliberately and systematically denied humanitarian assistance. It has been estimated that without humanitarian assistance one million people could die as a result of this brutal conflict.
