UN Human Rights Council: Renew and Strengthen Special Procedure Mandate on the Situation of Human Rights in Sudan

(Geneva, September 9, 2013) – The UN Human Rights Council should extend and strengthen the mandate of the independent expert on the human rights situation in Sudan, a group of 20 international organizations urged in a letter to diplomats released today at the opening of the council’s 24th session.  

The groups urged the council to condemn repeated attacks on civilians, in violation of international human rights and humanitarian law, and to make clear recommendations to end these and other violations, and to hold those responsible to account. The council should strengthen the independent expert’s mandate to monitor and report publicly on these serious violations, the groups said. 

Sudanese government forces have been carrying out indiscriminate aerial bombardments and ground attacks in civilian areas and have failed to protect civilians from violence in Darfur, Southern Kordofan, and Blue Nile states. The result has been the loss of civlian life, destruction of their livelihoods, and displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians in 2013 alone.

Across the country, the Sudanese government has repressed basic rights and freedoms through arbitrary detention of perceived critics and opponents of the ruling party and by stifling independent media and nongovernmental groups.

For more information, please contact:

In London, for the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS), Osman Hummaida: +44-7956-095738; or info@acjps.org

In Geneva, for Human Rights Watch, Philippe Dam: +41-76-413-3536; or damp@hrw.org

In New York, for Human Rights Watch, Jehanne Henry: +1-917-442-2724; or henryj@hrw.org

In London, for Amnesty International, Katy Pownall: +44-2030-365729; or katy.pownall@amnesty.org

In Kampala, for East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP), Hassan Shire: +256-772-753-753; or executive@defenddefenders.org

In Kampala, for East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP), Rachel Nicholson: +256-778-921-274; or advocacy@defenddefenders.org

In Kampala, for the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI), Dismas Nkunda: +256 -75-331-0404; or dismas.nkunda@refugee-rights.org

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