African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies ACJPS | المركز الافريقي لدراسات العدالة و السلام
Much as Sudan ratified and domesticated the United Nations Trafficking Protocol in 2014, the law has had limited success in curbing human trafficking. The Transitional government must boost the rule of law in the country, so that investigation can translate into arrests and effective prosecutions.
Millions of people in Sudan are at risk of human trafficking including refugees, asylum seekers and migrants from the Horn of Africa especially Eritrean youths fleeing military conscription and Ethiopians fleeing conflict and poverty. This is in addition to thousands of Sudanese youths who see no prospects in Sudan because of deteriorating economic conditions and high unemployment rates and instead opt to migrate to Europe and the Gulf states in search of a better life. Sudan was ranked the fifth African Country with the largest number of people living abroad in 2019 by the International Organization for Migration.
A 2019 trafficking in persons report by the United States (US) Department of State indicates that Eritreans represented the highest number of trafficking victims in Sudan—mainly in the East—due to traffickers targeting the consistent flow of refugees and asylum-seekers. The report further indicates that Sudanese traffickers compel Ethiopian women to work in private homes and prostitution in Khartoum and other urban centres by manipulating debts and other forms of coercion whilst Somalis represent a significant portion of smuggled individuals who become, or are at risk of becoming, victims of trafficking.
The report also notes that Government military officials forcibly recruited a minor to serve in a combat role and, recruited and provided forged documents for minors to serve as combatants in Yemen in 2019. In June 2019, the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) documented a report on the participation of child soldiers in the bloody dispersal of the sit-in by peaceful pro-democracy protesters in Khartoum. Most of them were dressed in uniforms of the paramilitary Rapid Support forces who have been accused of gross human rights violations against civilians in Darfur. Section 14 of the Sudanese Armed Forces Act prohibits the recruitment of children as combatants.
Recently in January 2020, families of a group of Sudanese men demanded an action from government to investigate claims that the men who were allegedly contracted to work as security guards in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were duped into working as guards in the Libyan oil facilities. The Sudanese foreign ministry said that they were closely following. The men were contacted by a UAE security firm.
The pattern of human trafficking in Sudan is greatly influenced by the country’s geographical location, which provides a key route for both regular and irregular migrants, particularly to the Middle East and Europe. Darfur remains a favoured route for Sudanese and migrants attempting to travel through Libya to Europe, as the sustained insecurity in the region allow traffickers to operate with impunity.
Anti-trafficking efforts of the Sudanese Government
Anti-trafficking legislation
Sudan is a party to the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. Domestically, Sudan enacted the Combating of Human Trafficking Act, 2014 (Trafficking Act) which criminalises most forms of trafficking in persons and sets out punishments ranging from 3 years to life imprisonment and the death penalty.
However, this law has been criticized for its failure to criminalize sex trafficking of children in the absence of coercion. The Trafficking Act also criminalizes sexual exploitation but fails to define what constitutes exploitation.
Whilst human trafficking can a negative effect on the right to life and human dignity, the offence does not meet the threshold of “most serious crimes” to impose the death penalty. The death penalty prescribed in section 9 of the Trafficking Act infringes on the right to life guarantees provided in regional and international human rights treaties ratified by Sudan.
The Trafficking Act establishes the National Commission on Combating Human Trafficking (NCCHT), the highest authority for combating and addressing human trafficking. The NCCHT is tasked with developing a national strategy to address the causes of human trafficking. In November 2017, the NCCHT launched Sudan’s first national action plan to combat trafficking in persons. Based on reliable information, there is a lack of resources needed to ensure the implementation of the action plan. There is a need for the transitional government to dedicate adequate resources for implementation to increase the effectiveness of the government’s response.
Prosecution of cases of human trafficking
ACJPS court monitoring reports indicate that prosecution of suspected human trafficking cases remains low. For example, between July-September 2019, ACJPS recorded 7 cases of human trafficking. The accused persons were 15. Of these 15 accused, 6 were Sudanese and 1 was an Eritrean. The nationalities of the remaining 8 were not confirmed. On 17 October 2019, the Kassala Public Criminal Court convicted one person for human trafficking and imposed a fine of 50,000 Sudanese Pounds (approximately $1000). Failure to pay the fine will result in 3 years imprisonment. (Case on file with ACJPS)
The low prosecution rate may be linked to the lack of knowledge on the offence of human trafficking among law enforcement officers who often confuse the offence of human trafficking with human smuggling, illegal migration and kidnapping. Secondly, foreign victims usually have the desire to exit Sudan as soon as possible, especially those en route to Europe or the Middle East and, therefore do not want to wait for trials.
In 2019, the government of Sudan reported convicting 45 individual traffickers under the 2014 anti-trafficking law in 2019. In 2018, the government’s Criminal Investigation Department together with INTERPOL arrested suspected traffickers in Khartoum. No feedback was provided by the government on the outcome of the arrest. These efforts have however been marred by corruption in law enforcement agencies. The former government failed to prosecute and convict police and border guard officials who facilitate abductions of migrants, allow potential victims to be transported across security checkpoints or international borders without any intervention in exchange for money. ACJPS’ monitoring report indicates that traffickers pay money to border guard officials to avoid arrest.
Protection of Victims
Concerning the protection of victims of human trafficking, in 2018, the government-funded Judicial and Legal Sciences Institute developed and disseminated standard operating procedures to assist law enforcement, prosecutors, and the judiciary to identify child victims of trafficking. Safe houses where victims are referred for protection and psychosocial services have been also established in collaboration with international organizations but only in a few states.
The government’s efforts to provide victim protection do face financial constraints, but the heart of the problem is that authorities view the victims as criminals. ACJPS’ monitoring indicates that law enforcement officers in Sudan have often detained victims in police cells, sometimes together with perpetrators contrary to the provisions of the Human Trafficking Combatting Act 2014. Victims have also been punished for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being subjected to human trafficking. Foreign victims have been jailed, fined and deported under Immigration laws for allegedly entering the country illegally. Because of this, vulnerable persons such as victims of forced prostitution, migrants and refugees fear to report crimes of trafficking to the authorities. In 2018, ACJPS documented incidents where victims of human trafficking were made to pay and a fine and deported to their home countries. Also in December 2019, ACJPS’ monitoring report indicated that 9 victims of human trafficking from Chad were ordered to pay 3000 Sudanese pounds and are to be deported.
International and Regional Cooperation on combatting human trafficking
Sudan has hosted and participated in several regional conferences and workshops on combatting human trafficking. In 2014, Sudan hosted the Khartoum Process, a platform for political cooperation amongst the countries along the migration route between the Horn of Africa and Europe to identify and implement concrete projects to address trafficking in human beings and the smuggling of migrants among others.
As part of the agreement, Sudan committed to curbing migration into Europe with financial support from the Europe Union. However, with no protection mechanisms put in place by Sudan, migrants have allegedly been tortured by border guard forces and militia deployed by the government to stop migrants from crossing the border.
Recently, on 20 to 21 January 2020, Sudan participated in a forum of Labour and Social Protection Ministers and high-level government officials from the East and Horn of Africa where a regional cooperation agreement was signed. The agreement aims to harmonize labour migration policies in the region to make labour migration, safe, orderly and humane by establishing a common platform for engagement with the Gulf States and other countries that are major employers of African migrants. It is believed the agreement will make it harder for human traffickers to exploit young people looking for work in the Gulf States.
Unavailability of comprehensive data
Due to the illicit nature of human trafficking and limited local attention, good data is hard to come by for Sudan. The most comprehensive information currently available comes from the US Department of State which ranks Sudan as a country whose government does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. Journalists and civil society have been threatened by the security officers with arrest if they continue to collect data from victims and perpetrators. Police stations and courts have provided data but are insufficient.
What the Transitional government must do.
Despite having an anti-human trafficking law and an action plan, Sudan has not seen any measurable progress in combating human trafficking. In the transitional period, we urge the transitional government to boost the rule of law in the country, so that investigation can translate into arrests and effective prosecutions.
ACJPS, therefore, calls on the transitional government to;
- Amend the 2014 anti-trafficking law to criminalize sex trafficking of children in the absence of coercion and define exploitation.
- Ensure victims are not punished by the authorities for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being subjected to human trafficking, such as women compelled to engage in commercial sex acts.
- Implement the anti-trafficking law to facilitate increased efforts to prosecute and convict traffickers and complicit officials, including recognizing and distinguishing those allegedly responsible for sex trafficking as distinct from migrant smuggling or kidnapping crimes.
- Increase efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict officials complicit in child soldier recruitment and use.
- Cease all recruitment and use of child soldiers in all of Sudan’s military services
- Increase training for security officials on distinguishing trafficking from other crimes such as smuggling, and ensure recipients use this guidance to train additional government officials.
- Develop a data collection and information management system in collaboration with international organizations to more effectively organize law enforcement data.
Contact:
Mossaad Mohamed Ali, Executive Director, African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies ACJPS. (English, Arabic, Swedish): +46727712782
