UNHRC Meetings: Is it a “diplomatic conspiracy” and “CSOs camouflage”?

Notions From the United Nations Human Rights Council in its 33rd Session on Sudan:
Is it a “Diplomatic Conspiracy” and “CSOs camouflage”?

By Mohamed Yassin

As an attendee of the UN Human Rights Council #HRC33 and as an academic stemming from #Sudan, and activist in the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), it is imperative for me to let the General Public and the Sudanese People know the following notions concerning Sudan….

The #HRC33 started 13 September and will end on the 30 September 2016. On the table of the Council there are two spate tracks concerning Sudan. First a track, which has been working on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Sudan and submitted 244 recommendations to the Government of Sudan, and a second track, which is still running concerning adoption of new resolutions to address the Human Rights Situation Sudan.

The UN Human Rights Council in its Universal Periodic Review on Sudan, which was held in April 2016, has submitted 244 recommendations to Sudan, of which the Government of Sudan has accepted and endorsed 188 recommendations, and provided vague answers on the residue arguing that it will provide answers after further consultations and studies.

The huge magnitude of the recommendations reflects the dire human rights and humanitarian protracted crises and deteriorating human rights violations in the Sudanese tragic reality. The Sudanese delegation and diplomats worked on mounting “Diplomatic Conspiracy” through its rented PR operators and selling promises to its alliances from the Arabic and African groups and some countries such as Brazil, China, Russia etc. It is like support me in this, and I will support you when it is your turn. An example, is the case of the South African which is leading the Africa group and which is facing pressure on issues of racism and diminishing democracy and disputes on it’s bias in judiciary systems. Another example of the Arab group is the Saudia and Qatar, because the Arab Coalitions in Yemen are facing an strong report of serious human rights violations committed. All in all the Government of Sudan wants to sell that the UN HRC is selective and punishing the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and throwing on the table many other unfounded argumentations that the West and Israel are targeting Sudan, the Islam and the Arabic nations. (Here I am referring to the intervention of Mr. Ahmed Hassan El Bashir (brother of Sudan’s president Omer El Bashir) who is participating in his capacity as CSO).

Here I should highlight the “CSOs Camouflage” which was so clear during the invited interventions to the Sudanese CSOs.

Allow me to explain to the public what I mean by the CSOs Camouflage. It is a phenomenon prevailing in Sudan, and the contamination is extending to other dictatorial states, a phenomenon in which the Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs), Faith-led Organizations and other innovative formats of Civil Society Organizations are denatured and deprived from its independence and autonomy nature. i.e. these CSOs are created, supported and steered by the Government of Sudan and are integrative parts of the state apparatus, and in particular the security (NISS). A CSOs camouflage because it announces sessions with specific titles and themes and when it comes to the presentations, it presents official Government statements which has no much to do with what is stated of presented in the official agenda and because when it comes to the discussion the opportunities are given to addition operators present in the rooms and who go in persuasive discourse to kill the session and discussion time.

Just to let the readers know, who are the members of the UN HRC active for this session: Albania; Algeria; Bangladesh; Belgium; Bolivia; Botswana; Burundi; China; Congo; Côte d’Ivoire; Cuba; Ecuador; El Salvador; Ethiopia; France; Georgia; Germany; Ghana; India; Indonesia; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Latvia; Maldives; Mexico; Mongolia; Morocco; Namibia; Netherlands; Nigeria; Panama; Paraguay; Philippines; Portugal; Qatar; Republic of Korea; Russian Federation; Saudi Arabia; Slovenia South Africa; Switzerland; The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; Togo; United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; Venezuela; and Viet Nam. These members will decide on the resolutions tabled by the Africa Group led by South Africa and the alternative resolution tabled by the United States of America. Should the two counterparts had reached a compromise, then a jointed resolution could have been presented to the council for adoption, approval or endorsement.

The Dilemma here is neither on the language of the resolution, soft language of item 10, which is focuses on the technical assistance and capacity building, nor the language of Item 4. The real issue is a language, which addresses and tackles the dire human rights and humanitarian protracted crises in Sudan, especially in the conflict Areas, when the Independent Expert or the Special Rapporteur or the Independent Human Right defenders and genuine CSOs are denied access by the Government of Sudan. The Government of Sudan insist to escape its responsibility and does not want to recognize its severe, excessive and successive violations of human rights and the repeated massacres committed by its militias, armed forces and security apparatus, and the cracks on the students and repeated shoot to kill policies and crimes. More than 200 students are shot dead in Khartoum during September 2013 uprising and Khartoum Government allocated merely 40 million Sudanese Pound of compensation to the vulnerable families who accepted to take that money for the loss of the beloved ones. And the Government delegation do not want to accepted mentioning the recent killings to students in Khartoum University, Ahlia University, El Nilein University, Nyala University, Kordofan University and other Universities and higher education institution. Instead, the delegation of the Sudanese Women Parliaments, who came to the council under the covering of CSOs camouflage have blamed the International community and the United States of America sanction on Sudan and attributed the dire socio-economic to that unfounded and weak claim.

These gentlewomen, without shy, continue to trade themselves as human rights defenders and messengers of gender equity, however, in a blind and wrong directions as if the interlocutor present in the UN rooms do not know the reality. They should know that the dire economic situation in Sudan is due to the expenditure on the arms and war, corruptions and not caused by the sanction and the external debts, because the borrowed money was spent and continue to be used for the war on the Sudanese populations.

Furthermore, the Government does want the UN HRC to renew the mandate of the special rapporteur or the Independent Expert, and does not want to allow his/her re-entry to Sudan, especially the SPLM controlled Areas to verify, document, monitor and report the committed crimes in South Kordofan / Nuba Mountains Heiban Massacre, Blue Nile massacres, Northern Nubia Kajbar Massacre, Beja Areas Port Sudan Massacre and the most recent EL Sanadra Massacre near Tagali in South Kordofan Nuba Mountains.

The verifications, monitory and reporting are vital processes to guarantee the integrity and credibility of the UN HRC and implementation of its mandate, especially when the top of the Sudanese Diplomatic Negotiators Mr. Khalid Musa argued that the resolutions language is not suitable and the Sudanese justice system is functioning well when it held fair trails as in the case of the Christian Detainees, who are currently facing accusations which might lead to death penalty. He went further on the shameless attitude and argumentation when he confronts a genuine civil society organization executive director who complained that his human rights monitory centre in Sudan is closed by the Sudanese Authorities, and some of his colleagues are now jailed in Sudan and that others were prevented from attending the last meetings of the UPR held in Geneva this year. The Sudanese diplomat tried to tell and convince the attendees of the session that those who were prevented and banned from traveling to Geneva are having immigration problems and related issues and that they have participated in meetings with Rebel group in Paris, accusations which are totally fake and unfounded. As far as I know the diplomacy is the art of improving relations between nations and the international community but not mystification of facts and hiding the ugly reality of the Sudanese terroristic Regime and its distorted, deformed and twisted diplomacy.

I fear that nothing can be achieved through the fake dialogue, deals or concessions under the tables and selling Sudan to multi-buyers. The Government of Sudan is on its way to provide concessions and seal dirty deals on the shoulders of its peoples.
The UN HRC 33 session is still running, with certain degree of polarization, and this week will be decisive for the respect of the human rights for the Sudanese people who deserve to embark on on-going process and efforts to advance the achievement of the sustainable development goals, given that they have already missed the MDGs phase. The Government of Sudan is accusing the International community of selectivity and politicization of justice, while it is fully aware that is exactly what it is doing, therefore, it should abandon the hypocrisy, and should not pretend that it is respecting the UN charter, accepting the international justice systems, genuinely committing for the attainment of the SDGs. Instead it should prove its good political will and implement on the ground and that should be revealed, reflected and witnessed by the grass-root. The Sudanese Government should acknowledge and recognize that it is jeopardizing the social fabrics, “tribelising” the state, incubating the terrorism, and blackmailing the International community on the migration issues and grabbing the foreign aid and selling cheaply the very resources of the country to diverse exploiters and not investors.

The Government of Sudan are spending a lot and hiding behind the African Union (AU) (ECOSOCC) to tell the International Community About the impact of the unilateral coercive measures on human rights in Africa, suggesting Sudan as an example. Hiding behind the AU and engaging professionals and traders of PRs will not help the useless Regime of Khartoum. That is a silly argumentations when you kill your own people and come and cry to the international community that the sanctions and these measures are harming us and that is hindering the development and prosperity of the peoples of Sudan.

Of course, there will be no sustainable development without peace, security and stability, but the more important; there will be neither peace nor sustainable development with the respect of the fundamental universal human rights and basic freedoms, that is valid everywhere, for everyone and always, and that is why the Human Rights Charter should remain universal and the implementation to be transparent and accountability should be persistent and consistent.

Mohamed Yassin is a Sudanese and Italian PhD candidate (2013-2016) in Economics, Ecology, Landscape and Territory at the Department of Civil Engineering & Architecture, University of Udine, Italy. He holds B.Sc. in Agricultural and Rural Economy (University of Khartoum), PGD in Rural development in Developing countries, PGD in International Development Cooperation, Masters in International Business Import Export Management and a M.Sc. in International Veterinary Cooperation (Italy). He has been visiting scholar at the University of Minnesota (USA) where he conducted research works on the Nile Basin. He is reachable at E: [email protected] E: [email protected] Twitter: @MohamedSMYassin