Sudan demands indemnities for economic sanctions effects
December 29, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – A senior Sudanese official has asked for his country to be compensated for damages resulting from economic sanctions.
Speaking during a party organized by his ministry on the occasion of the International Day for Human rights, Tuesday, al –Nur described the sanctions as “illegitimate and contravene the UN assurances that prohibit unilateral measures if found to have adverse effects on human rights.’’
In late November 2015, UN Special Rapporteur on the Negative Impact of the Unilateral Coercive Measures on the Enjoyment of Human Rights, Idriss Jazairy said that the comprehensive measures taken against Sudan “do not conform with the international developments in this regard”.
Wrapping up eight days of meetings in Sudan , Jazairy called for the need for dialogue between Sudan and the U.S Administration on the matter.
He also called for a time frame to end the sanctions which, he said, had had harmful effects, specifically in the sectors of medicine and health and had led to an increase in fatalities, among women in particular.
The minister has also stated that the efforts exerted for full implementation of human rights in Sudan were’’ inadequate and weak , due to the coercive measures taken against Sudan for more than two decades.’’
Washington routinely renews economic sanctions imposed on Sudan since 1997 after including the country in its list of countries it says sponsor terrorism.
Washington refuses to remove Sudan from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism because of what it says the continuation of civil war in Darfur and the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, in addition to pending issue with the Republic of South Sudan , like the Abyei area dispute.
Jazairy had said the United Nations Security Council had started to avoid comprehensive sanctions because of their unforeseen negative impacts on important sectors of innocent citizens of the countries targeted by those sanctions.
He had said the Security Council had started to confine sanctions to specific sectors or personalities.
Nur told the gathering that the Sudanese Consultative Council on Human Rights, which he chairs, was working to restore the human rights of Sudanese in development, water, health and education lost as a result of the unilateral coercive sanctions imposed on Sudan.
He reaffirmed that his Council was taking due measures to boost and protect human rights and the dissemination of human rights culture.
He said his government was working to combat corruption , consolidate the foundations of national peace and rule of law and that a separate law is due for the criminal prosecution.
(ST)