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The Ingredients for a Balanced Canadian Policy on Sudan
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This draft is prepared by Gary W. Kenny and Manock Achuil Lual
on Behalf of KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives |
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Contents
- Understanding the Root Causes of the Conflict
- Understanding Political Islam
- The Need for a Sudan Policy that is Integrated and Coherent
- Peace
- Self-determination
- Human Rights
- Oil Development, Conflict and Human Rights
Canadian churches, working ecumenically through KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives (and the former Inter-Church Coalition on Africa and Inter-Church Action), have monitored and advocated on issues of human rights and peace in Sudan since 1992. Our information is gathered through direct partnerships with a wide range of church and secular organizations in Sudan as well as from our own fact-finding or monitoring visits.
In addition to generating reports and information about the human
rights situation and making recommendations as to how Canada can
improve its overall Sudan policy, KAIROS has supported, with financial
assistance from CIDA, the Sudanese church-facilitated grassroots
People to People Peacebuilding and Reconciliation Process which
has successfully reconciled previously divided ethnic groups in
southern Sudan. Canadian churches and their Sudanese church partners
are grateful to CIDA for its support of this initiative and we look
forward to more support for future phases. We have also supported
the relief and development programs of Sudanese partner churches
in the north and south, and have worked to give a voice in Canada
to those who suffer most from war and human rights abuses in Sudan
- the millions of ordinary Sudanese civilians in the north and south
who languish in anonymity even as their communities and livelihoods
are threatened relentlessly.
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Understanding the Root Causes of the Conflict |
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The length in time of Sudan's conflict has tended to obscure the root causes. They include the underdevelopment of the south and areas of the north; a long history of racial, cultural and religious discrimination; and competition for and control of resources. A policy on Sudan that is well grounded must have a firm grasp of and take into account these essential issues.
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Understanding Political Islam |
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A well-informed Sudan policy must also have an analysis of the particular dynamic introduced into the conflict by political Islam. The current government uses Islam, often brutally, as a tool to win and retain power, much as groups calling themselves Christian have done in other circumstances and at other times. We recommend that the Sub-Committee hear the testimony of non-partisan northern Sudanese Muslims who can offer a sophisticated critical analysis of political Islam in Sudan, and we are prepared to suggest candidates.
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The Need for a Sudan Policy that is Integrated and Coherent |
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Canadian churches commend Foreign Affairs and CIDA for establishing a joint policy committee to ensure coherence in Canada's Sudan Policy. We urge the committee to continue working diligently to develop and implement an integrated set of policy options designed to mitigate suffering and build peace in Sudan. We believe that Canada is well suited to taking a "soft power" approach to the conflict, building on the human security agenda promoted by former foreign minister Lloyd Axworthy, and exercising forceful leadership in some areas.
A coherent Sudan policy must first, as stated above, have a firm grasp of the human rights and justice issues at the core of the conflict and an understanding of the political dynamics peculiar to the present government. It should engage several policy fronts simultaneously including support for the IGAD peace process, support for Track II and Track III diplomatic and peacebuilding initiatives, building the capacity of civil society, working with the main parties of the conflict to institutionalize human rights protections and democratic processes, providing humanitarian relief, undertaking ongoing human rights monitoring and advocacy, and effectively addressing the issue of Canadian corporate facilitation of war and human rights violations. In our judgment Canada has performed relatively well on most of these fronts with the exception of oil development.
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Peace |
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The attainment of a just and sustainable peace in Sudan must be
the centerpiece of any Sudan policy. The cessation of violence,
monitored cease-fires, independent, international field monitoring,
and continuous forthright negotiations are important steps to achieving
this goal. Along with our Sudanese partners we continue to believe
that the IGAD process, with its Declaration of Principles (DoP),
offers the best hope to resolve the issues at the core of Sudan's
conflict and to achieve a just and durable peace.
To realize its full potential, however, the IGAD process must be
made more robust. The process must: (a) include a sustained regional
focus since the region of Africa in which Sudan is situated is conflicted
and unstable, a fact that has destabilized the IGAD peace process
in the past (b) address the key underlying issues to the conflict,
including, among others, the right to self-determination and the
separation of religion and state as agreed upon in the IGAD DoP;
(c) recognize and expand the role of Sudanese civil society in building
peace and democratic structures; and (d) be bolstered by the concerted
political will and sustained commitment of the international community.
Too often it is the politicians, military leaders and other elites
who dominate analysis of the conflict and discussion of its resolution.
We believe Sudan's civilian population, represented through civil
society organizations (churches, youth and women's groups, NGOs,
professional organizations, etc.) has much to offer the peace process.
The successes to date of the People to People Peacebuilding and
Reconciliation Process offers a compelling glimpse of the valuable
role civil society has to play in helping to bring overall peace
to Sudan. One of the most significant policy initiatives Canada
could take at present is to work to ensure that the IGAD peace process
benefits from the systematic and regular input of Sudanese civil
society organizations.
At present the conditions may exist to transform the IGAD process
into the dynamic engine for peace that it needs to be. U.S. presidential
envoy Senator John Danforth's efforts have resulted in noteworthy
advances in civilian protection, humanitarian access and the investigation
of slavery. While we have some reservations about Senator Danforth's
initiatives, especially their long-term durability and the fact
they are not linked to a unitary peace process, they have to some
extent opened up space for political dialogue and movement. In keeping
with the agreements engineered by Senator Danforth, concerned governments
and the international community, working with the Sudanese, must
ensure that these measures are fully implemented, monitored, and
reinforced with sustained political action at the highest levels
using an appropriate combination of pressures and incentives ("sticks"
and "carrots"). The challenge now is to convert Senator
Danforth's limited peacebuilding initiatives into a robust and dynamic
unitary, comprehensive peace process which both main parties to
the conflict have no option but to take seriously and participate
in fully.
Because of the difficulties involved in achieving a meaningful peace, we believe that the political skill to solve Sudan's entrenched crisis requires sustained, committed and strategic political engagement by states that are best positioned to apply maximum diplomatic pressure - pressure designed to ensure that the parties to the conflict stay focused on the task at hand: securing a just and sustainable peace agreement. The so-called "troika" of the U.S., the U.K. and Norway offers some hope in this regard providing they work to augment and invigorate the existing IGAD peace process, and commit themselves to long-term, well-coordinated and high-level engagement with Sudan, ensuring that serious negotiations and monitoring efforts are undertaken, and that adequate funding and support are provided.
The upcoming G8 meetings in Canada, which will include a major focus on Africa, are an occasion for the world's leading economic powers to give a much needed boost to an invigorated IGAD peace process. Canada is well placed as host to take leadership to ensure that the occasion is indeed used to focus the attention of G8 members on the urgent need for a just and sustainable peace in Sudan and the current opportunities to achieve such a peace.
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Self-determination |
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Self-determination is regarded as a universal human right. It is also a key component of the IGAD Declaration of Principles (DoP) which Canada supports, is enshrined in the Sudanese constitution of 1998, and affirmed in numerous agreements between the political parties in Sudan. Exercising the right of self-determination is critical to securing a just and durable peace in Sudan. Efforts to deny this right or remove it from political dialogue should be strongly resisted.
It is up to the southern Sudanese people themselves to prescribe the model of statehood best suited to their needs. Given the well-documented centuries of domination of Arab northerners over African southerners, the debilitating legacy of colonialism, and the post-independence period of oppression by successive central governments, southern Sudanese have more than earned the right to exercise their right of self-determination.
Canada and other nations must continue to support the right of self-determination as a key issue for the resolution of Sudan's conflict. If it is sidelined now it will surely lead to many more years of costly low-intensity civil war in Sudan and contribute to regional destabilization. Our Sudanese church partners recently drafted a helpful paper on self-determination and we commend it to the Sub-Committee for its consideration.
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Human Rights |
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Both main parties to the conflict have committed violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. However, it is inaccurate to assign a moral equivalence to the commission of human rights violations in Sudan. Sudan's military dictatorship has demonstrated a sweeping and callous disregard for the rights and well being of its own citizens, southern and northern Sudanese alike. Numerous reports by consecutive UN special rapporteurs on Sudan and other independent human rights authorities have made this unambiguously clear with reports of repeated bombing of civilians, scorched earth raids and denial of humanitarian assistance on a massive scale. The negative social impacts of government-driven oil exploration and production involving foreign corporations have added a disturbing new dimension to the human rights situation.
Canada must do better in issuing public statements condemning gross violations of human rights in Sudan. They would underscore Canada's commitment to international human rights, which has been questioned over its policy on Talisman Energy. It took 10 days for the Foreign Minister's office to issue a statement on the February 20, 2002 helicopter gunship attack on a relief center in Bieh, which killed 24 people. Many other countries had done so long before. As this paper is submitted (May 27), there has been no response from the minister's office to the May 20 government attack on a relief distribution operation in Rier (located in an oil concession in which Talisman operates) and which killed and wounded a similar number of people. Out of respect for the innocent victims of Sudan's war, and for credibility purposes, the Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs must do more to issue timely public statements condemning gross violations of human rights in Sudan by all parties to the conflict when they occur.
Independent human rights monitoring is another area Canada's churches believe the Canadian government ought to vigorously support. We commend Canada for its support to the office of the Special Rapporteur on Sudan and ask that such support continue. We also affirm Canada's support for the U.S.-led monitoring initiative in the Nuba Mountains and contribution to the international investigative commission into allegations of slavery. Extensive independent, international field monitoring, especially in the oil concession areas and as recommended by the Gagnon/Ryle Report, ought also to be supported. The international monitoring regime in southern Sudan as recommended by Senator Danforth will not be sufficient in size or implemented nearly fast enough to constitute adequate monitoring coverage. Therefore, we call on Canada to provide financial support to credible Canadian and other NGO initiatives to develop a sustained and effective monitoring presence in southern Sudan, especially the oil concession areas. Canadian NGOs in particular are well positioned to mount additional human rights investigations like the Gagnon/Ryle mission, which in our view has established a standard in professional, expert, impartial, independent and international human rights reporting in Sudan's oil concession areas.
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Oil Development, Conflict and Human Rights |
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The logic of supporting peace in Sudan, while ignoring the fact that a Canadian company is contributing to the escalation of war - the very opposite of peace - is seriously flawed. Canadian policy on Sudan is certainly weakened if not compromised by this inherent contradiction. At the very least the Canadian government ought to try to "live within" this contradiction by making every possible effort to bring Canada's Sudan policy into a better balance.
To achieve such a balance, Canada must find the political will to squarely face the issue of "militarized commerce" both in the case of Talisman Energy and the broader community of Canadian companies that operate off shore. We acknowledge that regulating or sanctioning the actions of a Canadian corporation whose operations are contributing to war and human rights abuses is not easy or without complications, political, legal and otherwise. However, neither Canadians nor their government would tolerate on Canadian soil the behaviour associated with Talisman in Sudan. We should apply the same standards to companies that fly the Canadian flag elsewhere in the world. Inaction against Talisman is also setting a dangerous precedent in Canada. To other Canadian companies it is a license to partner with human rights abusing regimes, invest in zones of conflict, and do so with impunity.
Canada should possess the legislative tools to enforce those standards when corporations refuse to abide by voluntary rules and codes. If the Government of Canada is without legal recourse to prevent Talisman from exacerbating conflict and human suffering in Sudan, then it should act without further delay to revise and strengthen existing laws or create new ones. We must not remain paralyzed by the challenge this effort represents. Using the Talisman experience as a catalyst, Canada also should work through international channels to help develop mandatory legal mechanisms within relevant multilateral institutions. The International Criminal Court and legislation concerning crimes against humanity is another area of action Canada could explore.
The upcoming G8 also offers Canada an opportunity to engage other powerful world leaders in serious discussion about how militarized commerce can best be addressed and mitigated, both in Sudan and more generally in Africa and throughout the world. We call on Canada to take advantage of this opportunity and make a more determined effort to ensure that foreign investment in Sudan and other countries no longer results in the facilitation of war and human rights atrocities