‘Re-appoint UN Special Rapporteur’: Sudan Call opposition
The Sudanese opposition umbrella, the Sudan Call, has called for the re-establishment of the mandate of a UN special rapporteur. The group stressed the continued deterioration of human rights in Sudan.
The majority of the rebel SRF members agreed on the Sudan Call, a two-page political communiqué calling for regime-change and democracy, together with representatives of the National Umma Party, the National Consensus Forces (NCF, a coalition of opposition parties), and the Civil Society Initiative. It was signed in Addis Ababa on December 3, 2014. Other Sudanese opposition groups and parties joined the alliance in the following year (file photo)
The Sudanese opposition umbrella, the Sudan Call, has called for the re-establishment of the mandate of a UN special rapporteur. The group stressed the continued deterioration of human rights in Sudan.
In a letter sent to regional, international and human rights organisations, the coalition said that the government of Sudan “has shown no political will to improve the human rights conditions”. They pointed to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese security service (NISS) for being the main perpetrators of human rights violations in the country.
With regard to the UN Human Rights Council, the Sudan Call will urge the council to mandate a special rapporteur to monitor human rights abuses as well as violations of international humanitarian law in Sudan. The council holds its annual meeting until the end of September.
The Sudan Call leadership decided to lobby council members to re-appoint a special rapporteur for Sudan. A letter has been sent to the council, noting violations and atrocities committed by the Sudanese regime, and cases in which prisoners of war had been deprived of their rights to health care.
The Sudanese government delegation earlier this month said they would seek to terminate the mandate of the independent expert, saying the government has unilaterally improved the humanitarian access in the war affected areas, cooperate with UN mission in Darfur to better protect civilians, and it released the political prisoners.
In its resolution of 2017, the Human Rights Council alluded to the possible replacement of the mandate of the Independent Expert by another UN mechanism if Sudanese government continues to improve the human rights situation in the country.
In September last year, a number of human rights organisations wrote in a joint letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council that it should take stronger action in response to the dire human rights situation in Sudan.
(Source: Sudan Tribune)
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