NGO urges Sudan’s warring sides to “immediately” end atrocities
October 3, 2023 (LONDON) – Sudan’s warring sides must commit to “immediately” end the atrocities and to refrain from any further targeting of civilians, including freeing all those who have been arbitrarily detained, REDRESS, a non-governmental entity said.
The calls come five months after more than 5 million people have been displaced by the ongoing conflict between the Sudanese army (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Amidst the fighting, REDRESS said, there is a large body of credible (and evolving) prima facie evidence implicating both sides in the commission of serious human rights abuses and possible war crimes, including mass arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearance, rape and other sexual and gender-based violence, intentionally targeting civilians and protected objects, and hostage-taking.
There are also credible accounts of conduct in Darfur that could possibly amount to genocide, it stated.
REDRESS said accountability and other legislative and institutional reforms are essential prerequisites and key priorities for Sudan to ensure human rights protection and justice.
“States have primary responsibility for investigating and prosecuting international crimes that occur within their territory. However, Sudan’s judicial infrastructure and domestic laws pose serious hurdles to any meaningful prosecution of perpetrators even if there was a political commitment to accountability for international crimes,” it noted.
The entity said an international independent commission of inquiry be established to investigate all alleged violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.
In this regard, however, REDRESS appealed to states to deploy the full accountability toolkit against perpetrators, including applying targeted sanctions against those individuals and entities most responsible for ongoing widespread human rights and international humanitarian law violations as well as preparing to arrest and prosecute any such individuals that enter their territory under the principle of universal jurisdiction.
Sudan, it added, must devise and implement an effective transitional justice process where justice is complementary, prioritize peace process as well as democratic transition.
The report gives a context to the armed conflict, the overarching legal framework that applies during the armed conflict, prima facie evidence of legal violations committed by both sides (including international crimes) as well as the accountability avenues or measures for these alleged violations and some of the obstacles likely to be encountered.
If further points to the clear role of international actors play in supporting efforts towards justice and accountability in Sudan amid concerns that only limited progress had previously been made to tackle the root causes of Sudan’s cyclical crises and violence.
Nearly five months of the conflict in Sudan has caused unprecedented devastation, particularly in Khartoum, Darfur, North and South Kordofan as well as other parts of Sudan.
Recent estimates indicate that at least 4,000 people have been killed, though the true figure is likely to be higher with over 5 million people forcibly displaced to neighbouring Egypt, Chad and South Sudan.
(ST)