Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: References to child rights in the report on the situation of human rights in the Sudan, submitted by Sima Samar
Sudan is State party to a number of international human rights instruments.7 The second periodic report of the Sudan to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was due on 30 June 2003, and the deadline for the third periodic report was 30 June 2008. In addition to the reports due under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the follow-up report to the 2007 concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee is due on 1 August 2008. The overdue 12th to 16th periodic reports to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination have been due every two years since 20 April 2002 and the report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict was due on 26 August 2007. 14. The revised amended version of the 2004 Child Act was finalized by the Legal Reform Committee and forwarded to the Cabinet of Ministers for review and endorsement. The Special Rapporteur is pleased to note that the bill defines a child as a person who has not yet reached the age of 18 and revokes “signs of maturity” as a criterion for defining a child as adopted by the previous Act. It also prohibits female genital mutilation, raises the age of criminal responsibility to the age of 18, dedicates a section for juvenile trials, and provides for the creation of a special prosecutor and courts. The bill also elaborates on the means of reform and rehabilitation and provides better guarantees for children with disabilities. 21. Child soldiers as young as 11 years old were apparently used in the JEM attack. The Government has taken the commendable decision to allow independent observers access to the captured child combatants. In line with the Government’s findings that these children were forcibly recruited they should be treated as victims of the conflict. This includes attempting to trace their families and ensuring they are not prosecuted in relation to the attack but demobilized and fully reintegrated in society. While access for international observers to the children was a positive development, the children were subjected to repeated interviewing by a range of actors, among them criminal investigators, international journalists and members of international organizations, with seemingly little consideration given by the authorities to the possibility that this might re-traumatize them. They were also used as principal witnesses in court for the trial of JEM combatants. The authorities should have taken every measure to ensure that the procedures would be child-friendly and to protect the identity of the children so as not to put them or their families at risk of reprisals. 22. In the days following the attack, pictures and names of some of the captured alleged child combatants were made public by the Government. The public exposure of photographs of the children and their identity details may undermine future efforts for their reintegration. 23. On 11 July 2008 the Special Rapporteur was given access to some 90 children who are being detained in a training facility 90 km north-east of Khartoum. According to Government sources, all were child combatants captured after the Omdurman attacks. The visit took place in the presence of members of ACHR. The children were held in good conditions of detention and appeared to be well cared for. 24. Before international observers were given access to the children, they were held for around three weeks without contact with the outside world. The children reported that prior to being moved to a separate detention facility, they had been held for several days, together with adults, in a large hangar whose location they were unable to identify. They indicated that detention conditions there had been harsh but did not provide further details. More than 10 children, who remained detained with adult suspects after most of the children had been transferred to a separate detention facility, were charged along with adults for crimina offences related to the Omdurman attacks. Seven of them have been excluded from the judicial proceedings at different stages of the trials, on the grounds that they were minors. One defendant believed to be 16 years old was sentenced to death on 31 July; the judge reportedly had not agreed to conduct a medical examination to determine his age. 25. The use of child soldiers is not limited to the Omdurman attacks. Compounding numerous reports of the use of child combatants, during her visits the Special Rapporteur encountered some child soldiers recruited by different factions, including the Sudanese armed forces. Encouragingly, the Government’s Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) Commission continues to be very active in its efforts to campaign against the recruitment and use of child soldiers and carries out reintegration programmes in close collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), as well as other international partners. 26. According to the Government, 34 civilian deaths were caused as a result of the fighting in Omdurman. There were reports of serious violations by combatants on both sides, including the targeted killings of civilians, indiscriminate fire, the disproportionate use of force and the execution of wounded or captured enemy combatants. 30. On 29 and 31 July 2008, three of the five anti-terrorism courts in Khartoum pronounced 30 death sentences for alleged participation in the 10 May attacks on Omdurman. The verdict was reached chiefly on the basis of confessions which the defendants said they were forced to make under torture or ill-treatment and which they retracted in court. Another important element were testimonies by some of the children detained since the attacks on account of their alleged participation in the attacks. The children stated in court that they recognized the defendants as having been among the attackers. Defence lawyers will be appealing the judgement. Verdicts against 28 other defendants are expected to be passed shortly, and further trials are expected to take place after the current round of trials ends. 45. There are several reports of air attacks by Government forces, leading to extensive civilian casualties. These include attacks on civilians in Saraf Jidad, Sirba, Silea and Abu Suruj in West Darfur in January and February 2008,10 the bombing of a number of villages in North Darfur such as the air attacks on Helif village on 29 April or on Ein Bissar and Shegeg Karo villages on 4 May 2008. In May alone such air strikes reportedly caused the death of 19 civilians and injury of another 30, including women and young children. Objects indispensable to the survival of communities were also destroyed during the attacks. The majority of the bombs apparently impacted on civilian populated areas, including detonations in the vicinity of water installations, a school and a market. The available information suggests that the bombing of these villages was indiscriminate, and the impact on civilian communities was disproportionate to any military advantage likely to be gained as a result of the air strikes. For details see the ninth periodic report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights situation in the Sudan, 20 March 2008 available a http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/AfricaRegion/Page/SDPeriodicReports.aspx. 46. In the first three weeks of July 2008 there were 21 separate incidents of aerial bombardment. The air strikes were carried out by the Government of Sudan with Antonov aircrafts and MIG fighter jets. Reportedly, the strikes impacted in the vicinity of civilian communities and allegedly resulted in the deaths of 12 persons, including 5 women and 2 children. The United Nations received further reports that civilian objects, in particular cultivated land and livestock, were also destroyed. 54. SGBV has been an ongoing part of the conflict in Darfur and remains widespread, despite several encouraging steps by the Government to address the issue. Conflict-related violence against women and girls includes rape, gang rape, attempted rape, serious assaults and beatings. Although there has been an increase in the reporting of SGBV, the majority of incidents of sexual violence remain unreported, mainly due to fear of the social stigma associated with rape. On several occasions victims chose not to file complaints because in most cases police cannot or will not take appropriate action against perpetrators (see the addendum to this report). 73. Discriminatory practices still persist against women when it comes to divorce, child custody and property rights, as traditional courts will often favour the husband. Early and forced marriages are still a common practice across Southern Sudan, resulting in school dropouts and, at times, death during child delivery. Wife inheritance is still practised. Domestic violence appears to be widespread but underreported. Domestic violence is still considered a domestic issue that stays within the family. Only when a case becomes “serious” may it be taken to the chief courts or even to the police. There is no specific legislation dealing with domestic violence and there are no shelters available. At times women end up in prison for their own protection.