Publications

This brief, prepared by REDRESS and the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS), outlines the main concerns of the organisations in relation to Sudan's implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

REDRESS and the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) have brought to the attention of the UN Human Rights Committee the "serious, ongoing human rights crisis" in Sudan, marked by widespread and ongoing human rights violations. In a report submitted to the Committee, which will be reviewing Sudan's human rights record on 8 and 9 July 2014, the organisations document the continued use of stoning, amputation and whipping in Sudan in violation of Sudan’s human rights obligations. They also draw attention to the killings and torture of hundreds of students, activists, journalists and human rights defenders by the intelligence and security forces, and the gross violations being carried out in armed conflicts in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile.  

The Project for Criminal Law Reform (www.pclrs.com), a joint initiative by REDRESS and the Sudanese Human Rights Monitor, has identified a series of shortcomings in Sudan’s legal system, particularly in respect of Sudan’s international human rights obligations, and advocated reforms over the last seven years. This Compilation of Advocacy Briefings, which covers four briefings published in the period May 2013 to January 2014, highlights a number of key areas of concern:  torture, immunities as a barrier to justice and the right to protest. In addition, it draws together the multiple recommendations made by regional and international human rights bodies.    

In this letter, REDRESS and other human rights groups urge the Permanent Representative Member and Observer States to the UN Human Rights Council to ensure that serious and widespread violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Sudan are adequately addressed by the Human Rights Council during its 24th session that took place in Geneva from 9-27 September 2013.

The Sudanese Human Rights Monitor, the Africa Centre for Justice and Peace Studies, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and REDRESS submitted this briefing for consideration by the UN Human Rights Committee in the Committee’s examination of Sudan’s implemention of its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The 109th session of the Committee took place from 14 October to 1 November 2013. The concerns highlighted in this briefing are underpinned by serious ongoing human rights violations in conflict and non-conflict settings in Sudan, a deep-rooted culture of impunity, a weak rule of law and the failure of the Sudanese authorities to fully guarantee the absolute prohibition against torture.

In this letter, REDRESS draws attention to the incompatibility of a proposed amendment of Sudan's Armed Forces law of 2007 with international human rights obligations binding on Sudan, and urges the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers to urgently raise this matter with the Government of Sudan, with a view to ensuring that any reform undertaken does not include any provisions subjecting civilians to the jurisdiction of military courts.

In this brief, REDRESS, CLRS and the Sudanese Human Rights Monitor draw attention to the incompatibility of a proposed amendment of Sudan's Armed Forces law of 2007 with international human rights obligations binding on Sudan, in particular, the provisions that would subject civilians to the jurisdiction of military courts.