UN Human Rights Council to Review #Sudan at #HRC33

Tweet to encourage the adoption of a strong resolution

(14 September 2016) From 13 September – 30 September 2016, members of the UN Human Rights Council are meeting in Geneva to discuss the human rights situation across the globe. We want to make sure Sudan is at the top of their agendas.

What do we want to achieve?

• Draw as much attention as possible to the dire human rights situation in Sudan and make sure Sudan is on the minds of UN diplomats during the Human Rights Council session

• Ensure that a strong and action-oriented resolution is adopted on Sudan under item 4 (situations of concern to the Council) 

We want to see a resolution that:

• Condemns in the strongest terms the on-going and serious human rights violations taking place in Sudan
• Accurately reflects the reality of the situation on the ground for people living in Sudan
• Provides a UN-appointed expert (Special Rapporteur) with a mandate to monitor and report on on-going human rights violations and report periodically to the Council about them
• Reinforces recommendations made by UN Member states to the Government of Sudan during the Universal Periodic Review of Sudan that took place on 4 May this year. This should include urgent calls for the repeal of laws that grant immunity to state officials for abuses; an end to targeted and indiscriminate attacks by government forces on civilian areas in conflict zones; and justice and accountability for the victims of human rights violations across Sudan, including at least 185 people killed in September 2013 when Sudanese forces fired live ammunition at protestors.

What you can do!

• Follow and retweet @africancentre and the hashtags #Sudan and #HRC33 from 13 – 30 September to help us to bring as much attention as possible to the dire human rights situation in Sudan

• Engage in the conversation by sharing your key concerns about the human rights situation in Sudan using the hashtags #HRC33 and #Sudan

Key dates

Diplomats at the UN Human Rights Council have already started debating a resolution on Sudan so our time to influence the agenda is now.

We will be tweeting from 13-30 September 2016. Over that period, some other key dates include:

• 21 September: Formal adoption of the report of the Universal Periodic Review for Sudan
• 28 September: Interactive dialogue with the UN Independent Expert on the Human Rights Situation in Sudan (note the Independent Expert is scheduled to present his report on Sudan between around 11am and 3pm. You can watch his presentation live at webtv.un.org).

Campaign supporters

The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) / @africancentre will be running the campaign from @africancentre with the support of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / @FIDH_UN and International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) / @IntRefRights.

Background

This year, as has been the case every year in September for a number of years, members of the UN Human Rights Council will consider adopting a resolution concerning the human rights situation in Sudan. We want to make sure that resolution reflects the reality – and gravity – of the situation on the ground for hundreds of thousands of Sudanese.

For the past few years the resolution on Sudan has been considered under Item 10 of the Council’s agenda, which refers to country situations in need of “technical assistance and capacity-building”. Human rights advocates working on Sudan consider this wholly inappropriate for the situation in Sudan. We think a resolution should be adopted under Item 4 of the Council’s agenda, which refers to “human rights situations that require the Council’s attention”, and reflects the real needs of people living in Sudan.

Such a resolution should acknowledge the Sudanese government’s continuing violations against civilians in South Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur, including unlawful attacks on villages and indiscriminate bombing of civilians. It must also highlight the continuing repression of civil and political rights, in particular the on-going crackdown on protesters and abuse of independent civil society and human rights defenders.

Five years on, the conflicts between Sudan and armed opposition in South Kordofan and Blue Nile continue to have a devastating impact on civilians. Sudanese government forces continue to attack villages and bomb civilian areas indiscriminately, and to block humanitarian aid groups from accessing affected areas. At least 1.7 million people, over half the population of the two areas, have been forced to flee their homes since the conflict started in 2011. In Darfur, where conflict has continued for 13 years, government forces continue to attack civilians, especially in Jebel Mara. Over 80,000 civilians were newly displaced in Darfur in the first five months of 2016. Across Sudan, national security officials and other security forces have targeted opposition party members, human rights defenders, students, and political activists for arrest, detention, and other abuses.