‘No significant improvement in human rights in Sudan’: UK Govt. report

The Human Rights Priority Country report on Sudan taken from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office 2015 Human Rights and Democracy Report laments that “overall there was no significant improvement in the human rights situation in Sudan during 2015”.

The Human Rights Priority Country report on Sudan taken from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office 2015 Human Rights and Democracy Report laments that “overall there was no significant improvement in the human rights situation in Sudan during 2015”.

The report that was updated this week says:“Ceasefires later in the year led to less fighting compared to previous years. However, ongoing conflicts in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile continued, with human rights violations / abuses and international humanitarian law violations by all parties – the majority by the government of Sudan. Humanitarian access continued to be severely restricted, and aerial bombardments by government forces continued. By the end of 2015, there were over 100,000 newly displaced people in Darfur and 3.2 million long-term displaced nationwide.”

The report further raises the issues of freedoms of expression, highlighting the seizure of newspapers, female genital mutilation, and reaffirms its support for the Unamid peacekeeping mission.

“In 2016, our human rights priorities will remain conflict resolution and humanitarian access, pressing for greater civil and political freedoms, and tackling sexual and gender-based violence. We will also seek to use the opportunity of Sudan’s forthcoming national strategy on ending child marriage to support improvements on the rights of the child, and continue to work on ending the harmful practice of FGM,” the report concludes.

Read the full report here