Thank you Mr President,
Sweden fully aligns itself with the statement made by Portugal on behalf of the European Union.
On behalf of my Government I want to welcome the report and the dedicated work of the Group of Experts.
Sweden recognizes efforts by the Sudanese government to cooperate with the group, while we recall its obligations to fully respect the human rights of all persons in Darfur.
The Human rights situation in Darfur remains deeply distressing and it is further more developing in the wrong direction.
The thorough picture provided by the report of the Group of Experts underlines this conclusion, as does the statement by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on 5 December this year.
Mr President,
The UN and the international community at large should continue to be prepared to engage in capacity-building in the field of human rights in Darfur. Sweden certainly stands ready to do its part. The responsibility to ensure the respect for Human rights, however, rests squarely with the government of Sudan. As the report clearly states, work by the Sudanese government on implementing the Group of Experts recommendations is not finished - in many cases it has hardly begun.
This is worrying – beyond the short-term recommendations for improving the situation, the mid-recommendations by the Group of Experts need to be implemented by June 2008! The need for a mechanism to keep up the pressure on the implementation of the recommendations by the International Community to the Government of Sudan is in the view of Sweden clear.
The Group of Experts was instituted by the Council by consensus and the Council should do everything possible for the work of implementing its recommendations to be fulfill.
It is crucial to credibility of this Council and all of us who represent delegations in this room that our Council can address ongoing Human rights violations in a timely and effective fashion. If the Council choices not to endorse an implementation of the recommendations of the Group of Experts, it would in a sense disavow the findings of the Group and imply that it no longer finds a need to concern itself with the violations so clearly identified. That it not a message this Council would want to send.
Thank you Mr President.