Amnesty International

Sudan

Submission to the Human Rights Committee

March 2007

SUMMARY OF CONCERNS ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN THE SUDAN

In advance of the 89th session of the Human Rights Committee, Amnesty International submits for the attention of the Country Report Task Force on the Sudan the following summary of concerns. This briefing aims at providing a brief overview of Amnesty International’s main concerns regarding Sudan’s implementation of some of the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – in particular with regards to: the right to life; protection against arbitrary arrest and detention; the right not to be subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the right to freedom of expression and association and the right to freedom of movement and the prohibition of forced evictions. It covers developments in particular during the period from 2005 to 2006.

Further details on the concerns highlighted in this briefing and additional information on the human rights situation in the Sudan can be found in the documents referred to under the relevant sections.

1 Background

Following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), on 9 July 2005 the Interim National Constitution (INC) entered into force. The adoption of the INC, which contains a bill of rights reflecting some of the international human rights provisions enshrined in treaties ratified by Sudan, was to be followed by a process of harmonising national legislation with the INC. However this process is proceeding very slowly, and, in particular, the laws regulating the various security forces are yet to be reformed.

Despite the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) in May 2006, the conflict in Darfur continues, and the human rights and humanitarian crisis in the region deteriorates. From the beginning of the conflict, the Sudanese armed forces and the Sudanese government’s proxy militia, the Janjawid, have committed numerous violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The government of Sudan has consistently failed to protect civilians in Darfur. Its forces, together with the Janjawid militia and more recently members of armed groups which have signed the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA), continue to act in violation of international standards of human rights and international humanitarian law. Other armed groups, non-signatories to the DPA, also commit abuses.

The presence of an African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (AMIS) since 2004 has not stopped the mass killings, rapes and forcible displacement of civilians in Darfur. Furthermore, since the signing of the DPA in May 2006, humanitarian agencies have been facing increasing obstacles to deliver vital aid to the civilian population. Rising insecurity, attacks on aid workers and restrictions on the work of humanitarian agencies by government forces and armed opposition groups have narrowed the space in which humanitarian assistance can be provided in Darfur.

Serious repercussions from the spread of the Darfur conflict into eastern Chad began in late 2005. Amnesty International has documented how the conflict in Darfur has spread to eastern Chad, accompanied by serious human rights violations and abuses. The majority of these abuses are committed by Sudanese based Janjawid militia who attack into Chad, and groups allied with them, such as Chadian Arab ethnic groups, as well as two ethnic groups, the Wadai and the Mimi, perceived as African. Attacks on largely unarmed civilians have resulted in killing, rape, and displacement. Amnesty International believes in some cases the attacks amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Similar concerns have been raised by UN independent experts, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other non-governmental organizations.

Amnesty International delegates last visited Chad in November/December 2006, where they gathered information, including witnesses’ accounts of rape, killings and forced displacements of civilians by Janjawid militias, with the Chadian military and police failing to take any effective actions to provide protection.

2 Right to Life (Article 6)

Amnesty International has had long-standing concerns about the violation by the Sudanese authorities of the right to life, including the imposition of the death penalty after unfair trial, killings resulting from direct attacks on civilians and indiscriminate attacks perpetrated by Sudanese forces and the Janjawid militias, extrajudicial executions and excessive use of lethal force.

Death penalty

In 2006, more than 65 people were executed, often after unfair trials in which rights of defence, including the right to be represented by counsel, were not respected. The law allows for the execution of juvenile offenders and at least two children have been sentenced to death; their case is currently under appeal.

On 23 November 2006, seven men (Paul John Kaw, Fathi Adam Mohammed Ahmad Dahab, Idris Adam Alyas, Nasr-al-Din Ahmad Ali, Sulayman Jum'a Timbal, Badawi Hasan Ibrahim, Abd-al-Rahim Ali) were sentenced to death, by the South Khartoum criminal court, for the murder of 13 police officers who were killed during riots which took place in May 2005 at Soba Aradi, a camp for internally displaced people (see below section 6). The men were allegedly tortured to force them to confess. They were detained without access to a lawyer from the moment of their arrest in May 2005 until October 2005. They were sentenced to death after the relatives of the dead police officers refused to spare their lives in return for payment of diya (blood money).[1]

Killings of civilians in Darfur as a result of direct or indiscriminate attacks

Since the beginning of the conflict in 2003, Sudanese government backed militia, the Janjawid, and army and security forces have killed some 85,000 civilians in the context of the conflict in Darfur. The government of Sudan has consistently failed to protect civilians in Darfur and has taken no steps to disarm the Janjawid militia it created. The use of paramilitary militia derived from specific ethnic groups and motivated by pre-existing tensions with other neighbouring ethnic groups repeats government strategy in the north south Sudan civil war. The use of the Janjawid in Darfur, is a near exact replication of the Government’s utilisation of the Murahalin (Baggara Arab militia from South Darfur) against civilians perceived as aligned with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in south Sudan. Then as now the result was grave human rights abuses as armed militia attacked civilians.

Since the outbreak of the Darfur conflict in 2003, Amnesty International has documented how government forces and Janjawid militia have carried out direct attacks on civilians or indiscriminate attacks which fail to distinguish between civilians and members of armed groups, leading to the killings of a large number of civilians.

The government launched a major offensive against the National Redemption Front (NRF) in late August 2006, mainly in North Darfur, but also in areas of West and South Darfur. The offensive has brought a return to aerial bombardment and Janjawid attacks on civilians. Some attacks appear aimed at NRF positions but completely fail to distinguish between civilians and military targets and/or take necessary precautions to spare civilians. Others, especially aerial bombardments and some Janjawid attacks, solely target civilians.[2]

In November 2006 at least 50 civilians were killed, including 21 children under 10, when Janjawid attacked eight villages and an IDP camp in Jebel Moon in West Darfur.

Two weeks later, on 11 and 12 November 2006, government armed forces and Janjawid on horseback attacked Sirba village and IDP camp. At least 11 civilians, including one woman and a schoolboy, were killed and eight injured. Some were taken to al-Jeneina hospital. In the attack, many of the houses were burned, as well as the fields and the grain stores. Herds and possessions were looted. In the Sirba IDP camp dozens of shelters were completely destroyed by fire. Other villages, which had been deserted, in the area round Silea were burnt.[3]

Killing and displacement of civilians in eastern Chad

Beginning in 2003 but dramatically increasing in late 2005, Janjawid attacks into eastern Chad (as well as attacks by Chadian nationals) have caused the forcible displacement of over 100,000 people. Many of these people remain in Chad as internally displaced, but at least 15,000, cut off from safer means of escape, have fled into Darfur, despite the continuing conflict and disruption there. Those displaced have virtually little access to humanitarian assistance and, have congregated in informal camps where often they remain exposed to the threat of further attack.

These ethnically targeted attacks occur mostly in eastern Chad, along, the 600-kilometre border area stretching from Adre in the north to Tissi in the south. With few exceptions those targeted are from ethnic groups which largely define themselves as “African” while identifying their attackers as “Arab”.

Janjawid attacks on communities within this eastern border area of Chad have tended to take two forms. The first type, beginning in 2003, consisted of continual small-scale raids intended primarily to steal cattle, which were generally kept at some distance from the villages. Those guarding the cattle would be killed if they resisted the better-armed Janjawid, but the villages themselves were not attacked.

However, as their incursions became more frequent, the Janjawid began directly to attack villages, sometimes repeatedly on successive days or over periods of months, until most of the inhabitants had been killed or forced to flee and the villages had been totally looted. In some areas, this was the last stage in the evolution of attacks before populations, exhausted of possessions, were finally displaced. [4]

Excessive use of lethal force

Amnesty International has also consistently expressed concern about the Sudanese security forces’ use of excessive and indiscriminate force. Over the past decade security forces consistently reacted to demonstrations or unsanctioned public gatherings by use of excessive and indiscriminate force. Recently smaller demonstrations have been dispersed in this manner but the largest and most serious recent violent dispersal of a public demonstration occurred in Eastern Sudan. On 29 January 2005, government security forces reportedly used live ammunition against demonstrators allegedly armed with sticks and stones. The security forces also attacked houses outside the area of the demonstration, and reportedly threw grenades inside houses which wounded residents, including children. At least 20 people were killed in the clashes. A similar protest was reported in Kassala town, also in eastern Sudan, leading to arrests and the reported beating of at least two students by the security forces.[5]

3 Torture and ill-treatment (article 7)

Amnesty International is concerned that torture and other ill-treatment is used systematically against certain groups of individuals, including student activists and detainees in Darfur. Also, the organization is concerned that rape and other forms of violence against women are widespread and systematic in Darfur.

In February 2006, for example, scores of students from Juba University in Khartoum were beaten with batons by armed police and security services after they gathered to call for the university to be relocated to Juba. Some 51 were detained and, according to reports, taken to secret centres known as “ghost houses” where they were beaten, deprived of food and not allowed access to legal counsel or their families.[6]

Ibrahim Birzi reportedly died as a result of torture and is thought to have been buried secretly. He was one of 13 internally displaced people from Foro Baranga, south of al-Jeneina in Darfur, who were arrested on 25 September 2006, severely beaten with bicycle chains and leather whips, and had their heads submerged under water. They were reportedly suspected of being supporters of the Sudan Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/M). [7]

Rape and other forms of violence against women

Rape and other forms of sexual violence in Darfur are not just a consequence of the conflict or of the result of the conduct of undisciplined troops. The testimonies collected by Amnesty International point to rape and other forms of sexual violence being used as a weapon of war in Darfur since 2003, in order to humiliate, punish, control, inflict fear and displace women and their communities.[8] From the number of testimonies received, there is incontrovertible evidence that thousands of women were raped, often publicly, during attacks on villages and displaced communities.

Most rapes of women took place when they ventured outside IDP camps to collect firewood. Other women were raped after Janjawid attacks on villages. The perpetrators benefited from almost complete impunity.[9] Authorities routinely took no effective actions to investigate women’s complaints of rape. At worst, raped women were arrested for adultery. [10]

Amnesty International has also documented how rape and other forms of violence against women have been committed by Janjawid and allied ethnic groups in eastern Chad.[11]

4 Arbitrary arrest, incommunicado detention, “disappearances” (articles 7, 9, 18)

Amnesty International has repeatedly expressed concern about a wide range of human rights violations perpetrated by the security forces, in particular the National Security Agency. Hundreds of people are arbitrarily detained by the security forces in Sudan.[12] Most of them have not been charged with any offence and are detained incommunicado in detention centres of the National Security Agency or in special sections of prisons controlled by them.

Amnesty International expressed concern that the Sudanese authorities use prolonged incommunicado detention as a tool of repression to create a climate of fear and to crush political opposition. The National Security Forces Act allows the security forces to "preventively" detain people suspected of "crimes against the State" incommunicado without charge or trial and without access to judicial review for up to nine months. The concept of "crime against the State" is construed so widely as to sometimes cover dissident opinions expressed in a non-violent manner. Article 33 allows national security forces members’ immunity from prosecution and maintains the secrecy of any act carried out in the service of the National Security Agency in regular court proceedings. Article 10(i) of the 1993 Law of Evidence[13] allows evidence obtained by torture to be accepted.

Those detained by the National Security Agency, are mostly political detainees, which includes broadly members or supporters of opposition groups or parties, such as the Popular Congress, student leaders, journalists, human rights defenders and civil society activists. These differ from other detainees in terms of their treatment and detention. Political detainees often do have lawyers but they may not be able to meet with them. They are often held in a special wing of Khartoum’s Kober prison, or in special National Security Agency detention centres throughout the country. The minimal protection afforded to detainees, detained by the National Security Agency under Article 32 of the National Security Forces Act, such as the right to have one’s family or relatives informed of the detention, or affiliated body (organisation, union, or political party for example) of his detention, or the prohibition of maltreatment, are often ignored. Families, relatives, and affiliated bodies of the detainee are rarely informed of the detention. Word of the detention often arrives through acquaintances who may have some form of access to the detention facility (though not necessarily directly to the prisoner) or through recently released detainees.[14]

Amnesty International has also documented arbitrary arrest and incommunicado detention of civilians suspected of helping or supporting armed opposition groups. These include the arrests in the Darfur region (Western Sudan), where a large number of people - mostly from the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa ethnic groups.

Amnesty International has also expressed concern that members of marginalised groups throughout Sudan but especially in the capital Khartoum have also often been harassed and arbitrarily arrested. Internally displaced persons living in Khartoum’s peripheral areas have often been rounded up following unrest. In August 2005, following the riots marking John Garang’s death, many were arrested and are held in various locations throughout Khartoum, Port Sudan and other parts of Sudan.

Amnesty International has also documented cases that may amount to "disappearance" in Sudan, where there are reasonable grounds to believe that a person has been arrested by the authorities yet the authorities do not acknowledge their detention or whereabouts. In most cases, families may only find out where their relatives are detained from a visitor or released detainee.

Due to the absence of independent observers in prisons and detention centres controlled by the security forces as well as the refusal of the security forces to account for detentions, it is impossible to know the names and exact number of those currently held in Sudan.

5 Freedom of expression (article 19) and association (article 22)

Over the past decade Amnesty International has documented the frequent arrest and harassment of journalists and the censuring and seizure of newspapers. Recently, in January 2006, a meeting of national and international NGOs in advance of the African Union summit in Khartoum, attended by Amnesty International delegates, was raided by National Security agents. Three of the participants were briefly detained.[15]

In February 2006, five members of the nongovernmental Sudan Social Development Organization (SUDO) were detained for several hours after they held a training session in human rights monitoring in al-Da’ein University in South Darfur.

On 20 February 2006, Sudan enacted into law the Organisation of Humanitarian and Voluntary Work Act, 2006, which replaces the Humanitarian Aid Commission Act, and regulates the work of NGOs. Amnesty International expressed its concerns that the 2006 Act imposes undue restrictions on the work of NGOs operating in Sudan and grants discretionary and excessive regulatory power to the government over the operations of NGOs.[16]

6 Freedom of movement, forced evictions and relocations of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) (Articles 12, and 17)

Sudan has the largest population of internally displaced people in the world. For more than two decades, millions of people have fled their homes to escape drought and war. A population of about 2 million now live in camps and informal settlements in and around the capital, Khartoum. Amnesty International repeatedly expressed concern about mass forced evictions, the destruction of homes and the forced relocation of the displaced to sites lacking the most basic amenities required for human survival. Thousands of people have been abandoned in the desert without shelter or means of livelihood and survival.[17]

On 18 May 2005 there were riots at the Soba Aradi camp, 30km south of Khartoum, when the inhabitants resisted the authorities' attempt to forcibly evict them. The Government claimed the eviction was part of its overall "replanning" process which aims to resettle the city’s internally displaced in legal settlements. There were violent clashes, and 13 policemen and about 30 residents, including children, were killed. On 24 May the security forces threw a cordon round the area, not allowing anyone to enter or leave while they raided the residents' houses and shacks, arresting some 640 people. They were held in various police stations and most were severely beaten in the following weeks. At least one died in custody in circumstances where torture appears to have caused his death. [18]

On 16 August 2006, without prior warning, bulldozers began to demolish homes in Dar al-Salam an IDP settlement 43 kilometres south of Khartoum housing some 12,000 IDPs. Armed police and Special Forces used violence and tear gas against residents, and carried out arrests. Four people died, including a child, and many were injured[19]

The building of the Merowe/Hamddab dam on the River Nile is likely to cause the relocation of some 50,000 people. In August 2006, some 2,200 families in Amri were given six days to evacuate their homes when government authorities began filling a reservoir that forced families to relocate as the reservoir would flood their area. They were reportedly not provided with shelter, food or medical care. Journalists who tried to visit the displaced were briefly detained and sent back to Khartoum. [20]

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[1] Amnesty International, Urgent Action, Sudan: Death Penalty (AI Index: AFR 54/001/2007) 10 January 2007, .

[2] See Amnesty International, Sudan, Crying out for safety, (AI Index: AFR 54/055/2006) 5 October 2006, .

[3] See Amnesty International. Sudan: Sudan Government’s solution: Janjawid unleashed in Darfur, Case Sheet, (AI Index: AFR. 54/078/2006), 24 November 2006,

.

[4] See Amnesty International Report: Chad/Sudan: Sowing the seeds of Darfur - Ethnic targeting in Chad by Janjawid militias from Sudan (AI Index: 20/006/2006), 28 June 2006.

[5] Amnesty International press release, Sudan: Those responsible for indiscriminate Port Sudan killings must be brought to justice, (AI Index: AFR 54/014/2005) 31 January 2005,



[6] See Amnesty International press release, Sudan: Students beaten and detained – reportedly tortured in 'ghost houses’ (AI Index: AFR 54/003/2006) 13 February 2006. .

[7] See Amnesty International Urgent Action: Sudan: Fear for Safety/Torture/Incommunicado Detention (AI Index: AFR 54/065/2006) 11 October 2006.

[8] Amnesty International press release, Sudan: Systematic rape of women and girls (AI Index: AFR 54/038/2006) 15 April 2004

Amnesty International, SUDAN Surviving Rape in Darfur (AI Index: AFR 54/097/2004) 9 August 2004

[9] Amnesty International report, Sudan, Darfur: Rape as a weapon of war. Sexual violence and its consequences (AI Index: AFR 54/076/2004) 19 July 2004

[10] See Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, Sudan/CHAD ‘No one to help them’ Rape extends from Darfur into eastern Chad, (AI Index: AFR 54/087/2006) 7 December 2006



[11] See Amnesty International report, Chad: ‘Are we citizens of this country?’ Civilians in Chad unprotected from Janjawid attacks (AFR 20/001/2007) 29 January 2007



[12] Amnesty International Urgent Action, Sudan: Fear for safety/ Fear of torture/ Incommunicado detention (AI Index AFR 54/110/2003) 23 December 2003

Amnesty International Urgent Action, Sudan: Fear of Torture / Forced Relocation / Excessive use of force: 13 women (names unknown), residents of al-Geer camp (AI Index: AFR 54/146/2004) 11 November 2004

Amnesty International Urgent Action, Sudan: Arbitrary arrest/ Fear for Safety/Torture (AI Index: AFR 54/016/2005) 2 February 2005

Amnesty International Urgent Action, Fear for safety (AI Index: AFR 54/047/2005) 9 May 2005



Amnesty International press release - Sudan: Human rights defender arrested on eve of receiving international human rights award (AI Index: AFR 54/046/2005). 9 May 2005



Amnesty International, Urgent Action, Sudan: Fear of Torture/Incommunicado Detention (AI Index: AFR 54/055/2005) 31 May 2005

Amnesty International Urgent Action, Sudan: Fear of torture or ill-treatment/ incommunicado detention: members of the Sudan Development Organization (SUDO) (AI Index: AFR 54/002/2006) 13 February 2006.

Amnesty International public statement, Sudan: Chadian opposition leader in incommunicado detention (AI Index: AFR 54/015/2006) 27 April 2006

Amnesty International Urgent Action - Sudan: Fear of Torture / Incommunicado detention (AI Index: AFR 54/020/2006) 1 June 2006



Amnesty International Urgent Action, Sudan: Fear for safety/ fear of forcible displacement (AI Index: AFR 54/045/2006) 31 August 2006

Amnesty International, Urgent Action, Sudan: Fear of unlawful killings/ medical concern (AI Index: AFR 54/048/2006) 7 September 2006

Amnesty International Urgent Action, Sudan: Fear for safety/ fear of torture/ Incommunicado detention (AI Index: AFR 54/ 057/2006) 2 October 2006,

Amnesty International Urgent Action, Sudan: Fear for safety/ Incommunicado detention/ Possible prisoner of conscience: Abu Obeida Abdallah (AI Index: AFR 54/061/2006) 5 October 2006,

[13] Translation from the Arabic: Without prejudice to the provisions on the inadmissible evidence, evidence shall not be rejected merely because it has been obtained by unlawful means whenever the Court is satisfied with the genuineness of its substance.

[14] For details of arrests of human rights defenders, members of the political opposition, journalists and students see Amnesty International Report 2005 pp. 237-8 Amnesty International Report 2006, pp. 243-4 Amnesty International Urgent Action, Sudan: Fear for safety/ Incommunicado detention/ Possible prisoner of conscience: Abu Obeida Abdallah (AI Index: AFR 54/061/2006) 5 October 2006

[15] Amnesty International press release, Sudan: Amnesty International representatives detained and human rights activists harassed (AI Index: AFR 54/001/2006) 23 January 2006

[16] Amnesty International public statement, Continued harassment of Sudanese NGO and curtailment to freedom of expression and association in Sudan (AI Index: AFR 54/009/2006)

[17] See, Amnesty International, Africa: Forced evictions are a human rights scandal (AI Index: AFR 01/003/2005) 3 October 2005, see paragraph 6



Amnesty International, Urgent Action - Sudan: Arbitrary arrest/Fear for safety/prisoner of conscience: Mohamed Ahmed Abd Al-Gadir Al-Arbab (AI Index: AFR 54/074/2005) 21 October 2005



Amnesty International web text, The plight of displaced persons in Sudan (AI Index: 54/013/2006) 24 April 2006. Please find document appended to this submission

Amnesty International, The Wire, See article titled, No place like home, Sudan, (AI Index: NWS 21/004/2006) Vol. 36. No. 04, May 2006.

Amnesty International, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights: Oral statement on forced evictions in Africa (AFR 01/005/2006) 11 May 2006, see paragraph 5



Amnesty International Urgent Action, Sudan: Fear of torture or ill-treatment/ fear of arbitrary arrest (AI Index: AFR 54/053/2005) 24 May 2005



Amnesty International, CHAD/SUDAN: Thousands displaced by attacks from Sudan (AI Index: AFR 20/005/2006) June 2006.

Amnesty International, Sudan/China: Appeal by Amnesty International to the Chinese government on the occasion of the China-Africa Summit for Development and Cooperation (AFR 54/072/2006) 1 November 2006. See paragraph 16.

Amnesty International public statement, The African Commission: Amnesty International's oral statement on forced evictions (AI Index: AFR 01/013/2006) 15 November 2006, see paragraph 4



[18] Amnesty International Urgent Action, Sudan: Further information on Fear of torture or ill-treatment/ fear of arbitrary arrest New concerns: Incommunicado detention/ Death in custody (AI Index: AFR 54/061/2005) 24 June 2005

Amnesty International, Urgent Action, Sudan: Further information on Fear of torture or ill-treatment/ fear of arbitrary arrest New concerns: Incommunicado detention/ Death in custody (AFR 54/060/2005) 16 June 2005

[19] Amnesty International press release, Africa: Forced evictions reach crisis levels (AI Index: AFR 01/009/2006) 4 October 2006, see section on Sudan



[20] Amnesty International, SUDAN: Recommendations to donors funding Sudan (AI Index: AFR 54/036/2005) 11 April 2005 see recommendations in section 11

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