^* This text was reproduced and reformatted from the text available at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights website (visited Nov. 28, 2010) http://www.achpr.org/english/Decison_Communication/Sudan/Comm.%20279-03.pdf.

¹ Communication 279/03 & Communication 296/05 (joined), Decision on the Twenty-Eight Activity Report of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, A.U. Doc. EX.CL/600(XVII) (July 25, 2010), available at http://www.achpr.org/english/Decison_Communication/Sudan/Comm.%20279-03.pdf [hereinafter Darfur Case].

² Doebbler v. Sudan, 2003 AHRLR 153 (ACHPR 2003); Law Office of Ghazi Suleiman v. Sudan (II), 2003 AHRLR 144 (ACHPR 2003); Law Office of Ghazi Suleiman v. Sudan (I), 2003 AHRLR 134 (AHCPR 2003); Law Offices of Ghazi Suleiman v. Sudan, 2002 AHRLR 25 (ACHPR 2002); Amnesty Int’l & Others v. Sudan, 1999 AHRLR 297 (ACHPR 1999); Int’l Pen (in respect of al-Jazouli) v. Sudan, 1995 AHRLR 296 (ACHPR 1995).

³ Interestingly, the Commission does not rely on its own factfinding mission to Darfur, conducted in July 2004, even though findings in that mission report could have supplemented the other sources on which the complainants relied.

⁴ Darfur Case, supra note 1, ¶ 105.

⁵ Article 56(7) states, “Communications relating to human and peoples’ rights referred to in article 55, received by the Commission, shall be considered if they do not deal with cases which have been settled by the states involved in accordance with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, or the Charter of the Organization of African Unity or the provisions of the present Charter” (emphasis added).

⁶ See, e.g., Jawara v. Gambia, 2000 AHRLR 107 (ACHPR 2000).

⁷ Quoted in Darfur Case, supra note 1, ¶ 203.

⁸ African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons, Oct. 22, 2009, 49 I.L.M. 85 (2010) [hereinafter Kampala Convention].

⁹ Soc. & Econ. Rights Action Ctr. & Another v. Nigeria, 2001 AHRLR 60 (ACHPR 2001) [hereinafter Ogoniland].

¹⁰ Id.

¹¹ Darfur Case, supra note 1, ¶ 220.

¹² Id. ¶ 221.

¹³ Id.

¹⁴ Id. ¶ 224.

¹⁵ Ctr. for Minority Rights Dev. (Kenya) & Minority Rights Grp. Int’l On Behalf of Endorois Welfare Council v. Kenya, Communication No. 276/2003, Twenty-Seventh Activity Report of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Af. Comm’n H. & Peoples’ R. Feb. 4, 2010), 49 I.L.M. 860 (2010), available at http://www.minorityrights.-org/download.php?id=748.

¹⁶ Darfur Case, supra note 1, ¶ 228.

¹ See Communication 147/96, 13th Annual Activity Report, 1999-2000.

² Communications 25/89, 47/90, 56/91, 100/93, (4 International Human Rights Law Report 89, 92), (1997).

³ See Footnote 2 above for reference.

⁴ Communications 54/91, 61/91, 98/93, 164/97 to 196/97 and 210/98, (2000).

⁵ See also Free Legal Assistance Group, Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights, Union Interafricaine des Droits de l’Homme, Les Témoins de Jehovah / Zaire, African Comm. Hum. & Peoples’ Rights. Communication No. 25/89, 47/90, 56/91, 100/93 cited above.

⁶ Communication 155/1996.

⁷ No. 21893/93, 1996-IV, no. 15.

⁸ Communication No. 161/2000: UN Doc. CAT/C/29/D/161/2000 (2 December 2002).

⁹ See European Court judgments in McCann v. United Kingdom (1995) 21 EHRR 97 and Tanrikulu v. Turkey (1999) 30 EHRR 950.

¹⁰ Communication 275/2003.

¹¹ Communication 245/2002.

¹² In human rights jurisprudence this standard was first articulated by a regional court, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, in looking at the obligations of the State of Honduras under the American Convention on Human Rights -Velasquez-Rodriguez, ser. C.,No.4, 9 Hum. Rts.l.J. 212 (1988). The standard of due diligence has been explicitly incorporated into United Nations standards, such as the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women which says that states should ‘exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the state or by private persons’. Increasingly, UN mechanisms monitoring the implementation of human rights treaties, the UN independent experts, and the Court systems at the national and regional level are using this concept of due diligence as their measure of review, particularly for assessing the compliance of states with their obligations to protect bodily integrity.

¹³ Communications 48/90, 50/91, 52/91, 89/93.

¹⁴ Application no. 24746/94 ((2003) 37 EHRR 2), Judgment of 4/8/2001.

¹⁵ The African Commission conducted a Fact Finding Mission to the Darfur Region of Sudan between 8-18 July 2004. The Report of the Mission was adopted by the African Commission during the 3^rd Extraordinary Session, held in Pretoria, South Africa, and was published in its Activity Report presented to the AU Executive Council. See paras 86, 87, and 88, at page 20 EX.CL/364(XI)Annex III.

¹⁶ Id. para 48.

¹⁷ Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, G.A. res. 39/46, [annex, 39 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 51) at 197, U.N. Doc. A/39/51 (1984)], entered into force June 26, 1987.

¹⁸ Communication 2245/1998.

¹⁹ Communication 97/1993.

²⁰ Communication No. 161/2000: UN Doc. CAT/C/29/D/161/2000 (2 December 2002).

²¹ Article 16 of the Convention Against Torture states in part that “ . . . Each State Party shall undertake to prevent in any territory under its jurisdiction other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment which do not amount to torture as defined in Article 1, when such acts are committed by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.”

²² European Court of Human Rights, Case of Selçuk and Asker v. Turkey, Judgment of 24 April 1998, Reports 1998-II, p. 900, paras. 27-30.

²³ Article 3 of the European Convention provides that ‘No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’.

²⁴ See Purohit & Moore v The Gambia, Communication 241/ 2001.

²⁵ Communication No 74/92, 9^th Annual Activity Report, 1995-1996 at paragraph 21.

²⁶ Communication 241/01 published in the 16^th Activity Report.

²⁷ Rhona K.M. Smith, Textbook on International Human Rights, second edition, Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 245.

²⁸ The figures given by UN and Non Governmental Humanitarian agencies operating in Darfur indicate that the number of IDPs have for the most part during the Darfur conflict ranged between 1,500,000 and 2,500,000.

²⁹ Communication 71/1992.

³⁰ Communication 245/2002.

³¹ American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, O.A.S. Res. XXX, adopted by the Ninth International Conference of American States (1948), reprinted in Basic Documents Pertaining to Human Rights in the Inter-American System, OEA/Ser.L.V/II.82 doc.6 rev.1 at 17 (1992).

³² OCHA/Brookings Institution on Internal Displacement, 1999 and Implementing the Collaborative Response to Situations of Internal Displacement, IASC, 2004.

³³ See Communications 71/92 -Rencontre Africaine pour la Dé-fense des Droits de l’Homme/Zambia, Communication 292/2004 -Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa/Republic of Angola, and Communication 159/1996 –Union Inter Africaine des Droits de l’Homme, Fédération Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l’Homme and Others v. Angola.

³⁴ Applications nos. 8803-8811/02, 8813/02 and 8815-8819/02 29 June 2004.

³⁵ Protocol to the Convention (European) for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, UNTS, Vol 213 No I-2889.

³⁶ No. 21893/93, 1996-IV, no. 15.

³⁷ Communications 25/89, 47/90, 56/91 and 100/93.

³⁸ Communications 159/1996.