Situation of human rights in the Sudan. Statement of the Special Rapporteur, Mr. Leonardo Franco

COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS - Fifty-fifth session,
Geneva, 22 March - 30 April 1999
Item 9: Question of the violation of human rights and
fundamental freedoms in any part of the world


Geneva, 6 April 1999

Madame Chairperson, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,

In August 1998, I had the honour of having been appointed Special Rapporteur for the situation of Human Rights in the Sudan. My first mission in this capacity took place from 13 to 24 February 1998 and was complemented by a 3-day visit to Nairobi for additional meetings and information gathering. A scheduled brief visit to Cairo, to meet Government officials and representatives of the Sudanese community in exile, had unfortunately to be cancelled because of time constraints.

The written report will be distributed shortly. However, an informal and unedited document is available upon request. It is now my privilege to provide you with an oral presentation summarizing its contents.

My mission covered: a) Khartoum, where in addition to meeting with authorities and representatives of civil society, I visited Kober Prison as well as Omdurman Women’s Prison and a camp for internally displaced persons in the Khartoum area; b) the government controlled towns of Wau in the state of Bahr-el-Ghazal and Juba in Eastern Equatoria; c) the OLS air relief operations base in Lokichoggio, Kenya, from where I travelled to Tonj County in the SPLA-controlled area of Bahr-el-Ghazal where preparations for the peace conference between the Dinka and Nuer peoples of southern Sudan were underway. The mission ended in Nairobi where I met with members of the SPLA upper echelons.

I wish to place on record my very sincere appreciation for the co-operation and support shown by the Government of Sudan, which greatly facilitated the mission, and for the open and frank dialogue that was maintained throughout, in particular with the Advisory Council for Human Rights. My deep thanks and appreciation also go to the UN Resident Representative and his staff in Khartoum, to UNDP, to all the UN agencies and NGOs working within the framework of the OLS consortium, and to representatives of the Sudanese civil society for their support, guidance and assistance.

As my first visit to the Sudan, I was confronted with an extremely complex country steeped in secular traditions and surrounded by an extremely sensitive international environment. An important development took place in 1998 with the enactment of a new Constitution and law on political parties. The civil war which has continued unabated since 1983 and which has normally been perceived as a north-south confrontation, has also engulfed other regions and has developed further dimensions involving southern inter- and intra-factional rivalries and the active participation of the Arab northern-based opposition. As is well known, southern Sudan in 1998 was the theater of the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe.

The context described above determined the framework and objectives of my mission.

In April l998, the National Assembly adopted a new Constitution, containing a Bill of
Rights, that was subsequently approved by national referendum. In January 1999, a new Law on Political Parties was enacted foreseeing the formation of political parties, banned since the 1989 coup d’Etat. The implications of the new legislation for the human rights situation and the transition to democracy ranked very high among the issues discussed with government authorities, representatives of civil society and of the international community in Khartum. Some believed that the above developments are the sign of a new and promising political momentum, while to others they simply represent a further device enabling the official party to remain in power.

The report offers a legal and institutional analysis of the new legal texts, concluding that the adoption of the Constitution was not the culmination of a process based on a broad political consensus. However, the Bill of Rights embodied in the Constitution should nevertheless be acknowledged as a positive step, provided it is underpinned by measures ensuring the transition from a de facto emergency regime to a democratic system based on the Rule of Law. In this connection, the derogation of emergency legislation such as the National Security Act , the adoption of future implementing legislation in conformity with international human rights instruments and the independence of the judiciary will be essential indicators of the Government’s genuine will for change.

Regrettably, the adoption of the new Constitution was overshadowed by the curtailment of a series of political freedoms. As detailed in the report (see paras. 108-146), in the course of 1998 frequent reports were received of abuses such as arbitrary arrest and detentions without due process, targeting in particular human rights advocates, as well as political, religious and student leaders. Too frequently torture was inflicted on victims, some of whom died as a consequence of the torture, as in the case of three of the prisoners involved in the military trial of 27 southerners (known also as “Boma case” ), details of which are also provided in the report.

I am firmly convinced that such human rights abuses , most of which I was able to ascertain, can only undermine confidence in the Government’s stated intentions to introduce legal institutional reforms conducive to a democratic system. Furthermore such violations may tend to override other more positive developments, such as a greater margin for a more open political debate.

Among my various respective recommendations, I have requested that the role of State security agencies which have been granted exceptional powers by virtue of the emergency laws, be restricted considering that, according to consistent information, they are directly responsible for human rights violations and that their pervasive presence creates a climate of fear and intimidation. Recommendations for the prevention and abolition of torture have been also formulated in the report.

Madame Chairperson, distinguished representatives:

One of the most gripping moments of the mission was to discover in the southern garrison town of Wau, the epicentre of last year’s humanitarian crisis, the existence of a population of displaced within the internally displaced. Indeed, of the estimated 46,000 IDPs currently accommodated in Wau, several thousand people have been lingering in very precarious situation under trees and verandahs for months, waiting to be transferred to more permanent and safer sites.

There is no doubt that civilians are the most severely affected by the consequences of the war that has been raging for nearly 16 years. Although of rather low intensity, the war has had a disproportionally high impact on the civilian population, in particular women and children, who become hostages and/or targets of the belligerants. Just to cite a few figures: between 1.6 and 1.9 million casualties since the beginning of the war in 1983; 4.5 internally displaced; and 360,000 refugees located in neighbouring countries. At the peak of the famine in mid-1998, 2.6 million people were at risk of starvation in the whole of Sudan; of these 2.4 million were located in southern Sudan and 100,000 others in the Nuba Mountains. Yet, relief efforts to many locations were impeded.


There is ample and consistent evidence that the war is conducted in total disregard to human rights and humanitarian law principles, and that violations are perpetrated by all parties involved in the conflict, the Government and groups under its control bearing the largest share of responsibility. The violations, as enumerated in paragraph 88 of my report, have generated tragic consequences, such as summary killings, bombing of civilian targets including hospitals, conscription of child and underage soldiers, planting of land-mines, forced displacement, rape and abduction of women and children.

Coupled with the natural disasters effects of El Niño, it was essentially such violations that triggered the 1998 famine crisis in Bahr-el-Ghazal, a region already debilitated by the earlier 1988 famine which had claimed some 250,000 lives. Although the humanitarian situation had improved considerably by the end of 1998, the situation remains fragile. Several years of war have eroded the social and economic infrastructure in southern Sudan, creating the preconditions for cyclical hunger and precarious health. If, in addition, human rights abuses persist, the security situation and precarious stability could be seriously compromised.

The war and the pernicious strategies employed have also revived and exacerbated the problem of slavery in Sudan, which has historically been a feature of traditional practices in the context of inter-tribal competition for scarce resources. During the war, the Government has been using nomad Arab tribesmen from the north (referred to as “muraheleen”) to escort a military supply train to the garrison town of Wau in Bahr-el-Ghazal, a region mainly inhabited by Dinka farmers and cattle herders. As war booty in exchange for their services, the muraheleen are given free rein to perpetrate destructive and predatory attacks against the civilian population, including the abduction of women and children who are taken up north to be subjected to forced labour or other conditions amounting to slavery.

In light of the above, I am convinced that more must be done by the Government in order to address and remedy the situation. In this connection, I wish to refer to my recommendation to the Government, to accept inter alia, a multi-lateral investigation into the causes of slavery and ways and means to obtain its eradication in Sudan.

Madame Chairperson, distinguished delegates,

Everyone agrees that the war in Sudan has lasted far too long and that peace prospects are still uncertain. Continued support to all efforts to achieve durable peace should of course be the main priority for the international community. In the meantime, what can be done do improve the situation and relieve the suffering of the affected population?

The attitude which prevailed during my mission was, unfortunately, that the imperatives of war relegate human rights concerns until after the conflict. I strongly disagree with this view and believe that immediate measures are not only required but also feasible. The first responsibility lies with the Government and the SPLA, which must comply with the standards of humanitarian law. I have addressed common and specific recommendations to both parties, that I hope will be endorsed by this Commission. An additional measure flows from the need to mainstream human rights and humanitarian issues into the agenda for peace. The November 1998 agreements which were signed in Rome under the auspices of the IGAD Technical Committee on Humanitarian Assistance may suggest an avenue to be further explored and broadened by building a consensus between the parties on other issues such as, for instance, the demobilization of young soldiers.

The report highlights a number of peace-oriented developments and initiatives taking place at the grass-roots level of Sudanese civil society, that I consider to be extremely promising and encouraging. Chief among them is the recent Dinka-Nuer Peace and Reconciliation Conference, which adopted a Covenant heralding the end to many years of conflict between these two groups and declaring a permanent cease-fire with immediate effect. This development is not only significant in itself; it is also very likely to generate nationwide repercussions and to have a forceful impact on the IGAD Peace Process which, as everyone agrees, needs to be invigorated.

Madame Chairperson: please allow me to conclude by expressing once again my appreciation to the Government of Sudan for the cooperation extended throughout my mission. I wish to seize this opportunity to revert to my predecessor’s recommendation reflected in Resolution 1998/67 regarding the need for a permanent United Nations human rights presence inside Sudan, to which I fully subscribe in light of my own filed observations. The purpose of such presence would be (a) to observe the human rights situation; (b) to contribute towards capacity-building for national human rights institutions; and (c) to ensure that human rights concerns are incorporated in the programmes of other relevant UN organizations.] Though fully aware of the Government’s reluctance to this proposal, I sincerely hope that eventually the Government, in view of its commitment to human rights, will be able to consent to such a presence.

Many thanks.