|
|
 Human Rights Practices of Sudan -2002 (US human rights report-03/31/2003)
|
Sudan
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2002
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
March 31, 2003
Sudan has an authoritarian government in which all effective political power was in the hands of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Bashir has controlled the Government since he led a 1989 military coup, with the instigation and support of the fundamentalist National Islamic front (NIF), which overthrew the country's democratically elected government. In 1999 Bashir broke with the ideological leader of the NIF, Dr. Hassan al-Turabi, disbanded Parliament, suspended the 1998 presidentially decreed Constitution, and declared a state of national emergency that suspended basic liberties. In 2000 Bashir was reelected and his political party, the National Congress/National Islamic Front (NC/NIF), won 340 out of 360 seats in the Parliament in deeply flawed presidential and parliamentary elections that all major opposition parties boycotted. Parliament resumed 14 months later in February 2001, and in December 2001, the state of emergency was extended for another year. Turabi's popular National Congress Party (PNC) was disestablished and continued to be a proscribed political organization. NC/NIF members and supporters continued to hold key positions in the Government, security forces, judiciary, academic institutions, trade unions, professional associations, and the media. The major opposition political parties for the most part remained marginalized from the political process. The judiciary was not independent and was subject to government influence.
In 1993 the leaders of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Kenya launched a peace initiative under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to end the country's civil war. The peace initiative stalled several times, and the emergence of an alternative peace initiative launched in July 2000 by Libya and Egypt also complicated the IGAD effort. In July negotiations between the Government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM)--the political wing of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA)--resumed in Machakos, Kenya. The parties reached fundamental agreement on self-determination for the south and on the question of religion and the state. On October 15, the parties signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that called for a cessation of hostilities and unimpeded humanitarian access to all areas of the country, and which both parties largely have respected. The ensuing talks at Machakos focused on power and wealth sharing, and on November 18, the two sides agreed to extend the ceasefire and humanitarian access agreements until March 2003. They also signed an additional MOU outlining 15 areas of consensus on power sharing. The next round of talks was set to begin in January 2003.
In addition to the regular police and the Sudan People's Armed Forces, the Government maintained an external security force, an internal security force, a militia known as the Popular Defense Forces (PDF), and a number of police forces, including the Public Order Police (POP), a law enforcement entity that enforced Islamic law (Shari'a). The POP's mission included enforcing proper social behavior such as restrictions on alcohol and "immodest dress." The security forces were under the effective control of the Government. Members of the security forces committed numerous, serious human rights abuses.
Civil war, destruction of infrastructure, economic mismanagement, and the existence of more than 4 million internally displaced persons and refugees in a country of an estimated 30 million persons continued to cripple the country's mostly agricultural economy. The infusion of Islamic banking and financial assets as well as increased revenue from oil production injected new capital into some sectors of the economy; however, corruption, mismanagement and increasing military expenditures limited the impact. The country took some steps towards transitioning from a socialist to a market-based economy; however, the Government and NC supporters remained heavily involved in the economy. Approximately 86 percent of the labor force was engaged in agriculture.
The Government's human rights record remained extremely poor, and although there were some improvements in a few areas, it continued to commit numerous, serious abuses. Citizens did not have the ability to change their government peacefully. Government security forces were responsible for extrajudicial killings, and there were reports of government responsibility for disappearances. Government security forces regularly beat, harassed, arbitrarily arrested, and detained incommunicado opponents or suspected opponents of the Government, and there were reports of torture. Government security forces and associated militias beat refugees, reportedly raped women abducted during raids, and reportedly harassed and detained persons on the basis of their religion. Government security forces and progovernment militias acted with impunity. Prison conditions remained harsh and life threatening, prolonged detention was a problem, and the judiciary continued to be subservient to the Government. The authorities did not ensure due process and the military courts summarily tried and punished civilians. The Government continued to infringe on citizens' privacy rights. The Government continued to conscript forcibly men and boys. The Government still did not fully apply the laws of war to the southern insurgency, has taken few prisoners of war (POWs), and did not cooperate with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) regarding access to or treatment of POWs. Cooperation with U.N.-sponsored relief operations generally was poor, although there was some improvement. Government forces continued to obstruct the flow of humanitarian assistance. Problems with relief flights in the south were caused by the Government's frequent denials of visas or work permits to foreign humanitarian workers as well as aircraft clearances to the U.N.'s Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS).
During the year, restrictions on press freedom under the National Security Emergency decree continued as the Government frequently arrested editors and journalists and suspended publications that criticized or disagreed with government policy; however, there were a few media articles critical of the Government. The Government continued to restrict severely the freedoms of speech, assembly, association, religion, and movement. The Government continued the Islamization and Arabization of the country, and there were credible allegations of forced Islamization of non-Muslims. Fears of Arabization and Islamization and the imposition of Islamic law (Shari'a) increased support for the armed opposition throughout the country. Local human rights NGOs were harassed routinely. Violence and discrimination against women and abuse of children remained problems. Female genital mutilation (FGM) remained widespread. Discrimination and violence against religious and ethnic minorities and government restrictions on worker rights persisted. Child labor was widespread. Slavery and trafficking in persons remained significant problems. Government security forces and associated militias were responsible for forced labor (including forced child labor), the abduction of women and children, and the forced military conscription of underage young men.
Antigovernment insurgent groups and associated militia forces also continued to commit numerous, serious abuses. There were reports of SPLM/SPLA violations to citizens' rights, despite its claim that it was implementing a 1994 decision to assert civil authority in areas that it controlled. During the year, the SPLM/A was responsible for extrajudicial killings, beatings, rape, arbitrary detention, and forced military conscription of underage young men. In addition, SPLM/A officials were involved in the theft and destruction of property of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and U.N. agencies operating in the south. Both the Government and the SPLM/A continued to manipulate humanitarian assistance for military advantage. The SPLM/A observed some of the basic laws of war; it took prisoners on the battlefield and permitted ICRC visits to some of them.
The participation of the Government and the SPLM in the IGAD peace process during the year produced some improvement in the overall human rights situation in the south by lessening (but not eliminating) military and militia attacks against civilians and by expanding the delivery of relief assistance to people affected by the war and continuing drought. The parties' agreement to an internationally monitored ceasefire also led to some improvement in the human rights situation in the Nuba Mountains' region.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life
During the year, there were numerous reports of extrajudicial killings. Government forces and allied militia still pursued a scorched earth policy aimed at removing populations from the areas of the oil pipeline and oil production. On numerous occasions, the Government attacked civilian facilities and housing, which resulted in numerous civilian deaths, including of children (see Section 1.g.). Deaths resulted from landmines during the year.
There were reports of government-supported killings (see Section 1.g.). For example, In July and August, government-allied militia launched a series of attacks in the oil regions to the southwest of Bentiu, Western Upper Nile, which displaced thousands of persons and reportedly killed many of them. During the year, government planes repeatedly bombed civilian targets in the south (see Section 1.g.).
Government-allied militias also continued to raid Dinka villages in Bahr el-Ghazal, killing men, abducting women and children, and destroying and #####ng property (see Section 1.g.).
There was no known action taken in the following 2001 cases: The March death in custody of Hassan Omar Bul Reish; the April killing of three persons during a demonstration at All Saints Cathedral; and the August killing of two students by police during a demonstration at Gezira University.
There was no known action taken, nor was any likely to be taken, in the following 2000 cases: The February reported PDF attack on several villages in northern Bahr el-Ghazal, during which 156 civilians were killed; the June attack in the vicinity of a Catholic mission, which reportedly resulted in the deaths of 32 persons; the September incidents in which security forces in several cities forcibly dispersed some demonstrations and killed several persons; and the unconfirmed November PDF attacks on the village of Guong Nowh in which several persons were killed.
Government forces routinely killed rebel soldiers captured in battle. Only a small group of prisoners captured before the 1989 coup and a few soldiers taken in the east in 1998 reportedly were held as POWs in government-controlled areas. The Government did not admit that it held POWs. It has not responded to ICRC inquiries about POWs and has refused the ICRC access to POWs.
During the year, attacks by progovernment Arab militias on the Fuur tribe of Darfour left 23 persons dead, 26 injured, and more than 150 houses destroyed. On November 13, 300 progovernment Arab militia members attacked villages in the northern Kass area killing 15 persons, including a pregnant woman. There was no known action taken against the responsible militia members by year's end.
There were no reports that the Government prosecuted or otherwise penalized the attacking militia or made efforts to protect civilian victims from attacks; government forces provided logistic and transportation support, and weapons and ammunition, to progovernment militias.
In August government- and rebel-laid landmines resulted in some deaths in and around Torit and the oil fields of Western Upper Nile.
Rebel forces reportedly committed political and other extrajudicial killings, particularly in areas of active conflict such as the Nuba Mountains and northern Bahr el-Ghazal; however, details generally were unavailable.
Rebel forces killed a large number of civilians during their attacks on government forces (see Section 1.g.). There were reports that SPLA forces and allied militias summarily executed persons in the southern part of the country. Rebel forces laid landmines indiscriminately on roads and paths that killed and maimed both soldiers and civilians (see Section 1.g.).
In March an attack, allegedly by a SPLM/A commander on the village of Tuhubak, resulted in the deaths of at least 25 persons and the burning of 173 homes. Estimates of the damage to the village by a consortium of NGOs concluded that all the homes had been destroyed, along with 400 granaries.
In August after the SPLA captured the town of Torit, there were credible reports that SPLA commanders summarily executed captured government soldiers and PDF prisoners.
In late April and early May, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan armed opposition group in the south, killed more than 470 civilians in Imatong villages.
There was no known action taken, nor was any likely to be taken, in the following 2001 and 2000 cases of rebel killings: The January 2001 killing of two relief workers in an attack by unidentified assailants; the January 2001 attack by rebels believed to be from the LRA on a humanitarian vehicle that killed eight aid workers; the November 2000 National Democratic Alliance (NDA) attack on Kassala in which 52 civilians and soldiers were killed during fighting between government and rebel troops.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of interethnic and intraethnic violence that resulted in deaths.
b. Disappearance
There were continued allegations that the Government was responsible for the arrest and subsequent disappearance of persons suspected of supporting rebels in government-controlled zones in the south and the Nuba Mountains. Persons arrested by government security forces often were held for long periods of time in unknown locations without access to lawyers or family members.
There were reports that during raids on civilian settlements, government forces abducted persons, including women and children (see Sections 1.g. and 6.c.). In the last 15 years, approximately 15,000 Dinka women and children have been abducted and between 10,000 and 12,000 mostly Dinka persons remained abducted or unaccounted for at year's end. Observers believed that some of those abducted were sold into slavery, while others were used as forced labor or drafted into the military. In some cases, the abductees escaped or eventually were released or ransomed; however, in other cases, they were killed.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports government forces or progovernment militias abducted NGO workers during the year.
There was no known action taken in the following 2001 cases: The September disappearance of Aladin Omer Agabani Mohammed who converted from Islam to Christianity and was last seen telling friends that he was going to report to the government security office, and the October disappearance of Wilson Wani, an employee of OLS. Their whereabouts remained unknown at year's end.
There was no action taken, nor was any likely to be taken, on the alleged February 2000 PDF abduction of more than 300 women and children from northern Bahr el-Ghazal or the November 2000 unconfirmed PDF abduction of 24 persons from the village of Guong Nowh.
There was no action taken, nor was any likely to be taken, in the February 2000 case in which a progovernment militia detained two pilots, a U.N. worker, and a Sudanese relief worker for 1 week.
In January the Government reorganized the Committee to Eradicate the Abduction of Women and Children (CEAWAC) with supposedly broader powers and greater support. In the past CEAWAC lacked the necessary funding to document, rescue, and transport abductees back to their families, and there was no significant change after the reorganization. During the year, CEAWAC formed 22 joint-tribal committees and has conducted two field missions resulting in the documentation of more than 150 cases of abduction. In November CEAWAC documented 55 abductees, reunified 29 with their families, and transported 26 to a facility in Fulla until their families could be located. Refusal to provide flight clearances prevented additional reunifications of abductees with their families.
In May the International Eminent Persons Group completed its investigation into the extent of slavery, abductions, and associated abuses by both sides in the conflict. The Group concluded that armed progovernment militias were responsible for committing these crimes and operated with virtual impunity. The Group also concluded that abductions did fall under prescribed definitions of slavery; however, the Group was unable to determine the scale of abduction and enslavement.
There also were reports of periodic intertribal abductions of women and children in the Eastern Upper Nile (see Section 5).
There continued to be reports of abduction by SPLA forces and allied militias. For example, during the summer, an SPLA commander reportedly captured, robbed, and then released several local health workers involved in a polio vaccination program. In September HRW reported SPLA forces looted the village of Todaj (north of Abyei), abducting 45 civilians, including children under the age of 15. The civilians were released after 2 weeks to return home by dangerous routes through SPLA and Government contested territory.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
The Constitution prohibits torture; however, government security forces continued to beat, torture, and harass suspected opponents and others. Members of the security forces were not held accountable for such abuses.
In accordance with Shari'a, the Criminal Act provides for physical punishments including flogging, amputation, stonings, and crucifixion--the public display of a body after execution. The Government officially exempted the 10 southern states, in which the population was mostly non-Muslim, from parts of the law that permits physical punishments based on Shari'a. There were no reports of court-ordered Shari'a punishments, other than lashings, in government-controlled areas of the south. The law legally can be applied in the south, if the state assemblies approve it.
On January 24, after being charged and tried, a sentence of amputation was carried out on a 46-year-old man imprisoned in Khartoum. He was accused of theft, and held in Kober prison in Khartoum from May 2000 until the date of his amputation.
In February an appeals court in Nyala sentenced a southern Christian woman accused of adultery to 75 lashes, instead of an initial December 2001 lower court sentence of execution by stoning.
On May 8, there were 14 prisoners charged with armed robbery who were sentenced to death by hanging; however, they were not executed by year's end.
In November 17 women from the village of Munwashi, Darfour, were convicted of adultery and received 100 lashes. None of the women had legal representation.
Amnesty International (AI) reported the case of five men sentenced to cross amputation and execution were executed in 2000. These men were accused of a 1998 bank robbery in Nyala. The Supreme Court heard and rejected their appeal.
Credible reports suggested the number of student victims of torture increased during the year. Security forces beat and otherwise abused youths and student leaders and others deemed to be opponents of the Government. For example, in October security officers arrested 11 students during demonstrations at Khartoum and Bahr el-Ghazal Universities who reportedly were tortured while in custody.
In November a progovernment Islamic student militia beat students at Khartoum University, injuring several students and requiring the admission of 14 to a local hospital. The student militia also was responsible for an attack on student hostels at Shambat, which seriously injured at least 11 students. Reports indicated that many of the students attacked by the militia were arrested and tortured while in police custody.
Refugees were subjected to beatings and mistreatment by security forces (see Section 2.d.).
Soldiers, PDF members, and progovernment militia forces raped women (see Section 1.g.).
During the year, security forces injured persons while forcibly dispersing demonstrations (see Section 2.b.).
There was no information at year's end in the 2001 cases of Sebit Hassan Ramadan or Osman Robon and no action was taken against security forces who tortured, beat, raped, or otherwise abused persons in 2001 or 2000.
Government forces and allied militias were responsible for injuring many civilians during attacks on rebel forces, during raids on civilian settlements, and during bombing attacks on civilian targets (see Section 1.g.). There were reports that persons abducted during raids were subjected to torture, rape, and forced servitude (see Section 6.c.).
|
|
 
|
|
|
|
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست