[JURIST] The UN Human Rights Council [official website] passed a resolution Thursday urging Sudan to address human rights violations and to prosecute perpetrators of rights abuses. The resolution, introduced by Egypt, also acknowledged that Sudan had instituted some measures to protect human rights, a concession apparently included to avoid a contentious vote. Last week, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) [official website] released a report [PDF text] which documented human rights violations [JURIST report] by both the Sudanese military and armed militias, including rapes, looting, and the deliberate destruction of food. Reuters has more.

In May 2007, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour criticized [JURIST report] Sudan for conducting "indiscriminate and disproportionate" attacks on at least five Darfur villages. Since civil war broke out in the Darfur region in 2003, over 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced. Reports by the UNHCHR and the International Committee for the Red Cross [official website] 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.