JURIST - Paper Chase: Sudan calls for end to UN special rapporteur mandate in Darfur

[JURIST] At a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council [official website] in Geneva Tuesday, Sudan called for the Council not to renew the mandate of Sina Samar [official website], the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Sudan, whose term is set to expire in December. The remarks, made by Sudanese Ministry of Justice Under-Secretary Abdel Daiem Zumarawi, came after Special Rapporteur Samar presented the Council with her report [text, PDF] on the situation of human rights in Sudan. In his comments [UN press release], Zumarawi claimed that:

by not renewing the mandate, the Council would give further impetus to end the conflict; this would make Sudan fully ready to cooperate with the Human Rights Council...Sudan ha[s] been for many years a victim of politicisation, but...has always answered through collaboration. [sic]

He also called on the Council to "commend the collaboration of Sudan." Reuters has more.

Since civil war broke out in Sudan's Darfur region [JURIST news archive] in 2003, it is estimated that over 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced. Reports by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) and the International Committee for the Red Cross [official websites] have documented numerous violations of human rights and international humanitarian law [JURIST reports] based on interviews with refugees, rebel groups, and agencies and authorities working in the region.