UN accuses Sudan government of violating refugee rights

KHARTOUM, March 21 (AFP) — The United Nations humanitarian agency accused the Sudanese government of violating the rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs) after it demolished a camp outside Khartoum and forced their relocation to another camp further north of the capital.

Children roam in el-Fatih displacement camp, 38km (24 miles) from the Sudanese capital Khartoum Monday, March 21, 2005. Only one-half of the camps population has been allocated plots of land, but they are not allowed to rebuild their homes on them. (AP).

“The current approach to demolition, relocation and plot allocation by the government of Sudan constitutes a violation of the fundamental human rights of IDPs, including their right to housing, family, health and education,” said a statement released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

OCHA said the government had begun last year to raze Shikan camp as part of a re-zoning plan in the state of Khartoum and relocated 85 percent of its population, or 1,700 families, to El Fateh camp — a desert area 38 kilometers (20 miles) north of the city of Omdurman.

The remaining 15 percent were allowed to stay and were offered plots of land.

The UN agency also denounced the frequent and arbitrary practice of demolition and relocation, noting that IDPs are not given any notification or right to appeal and “are relocated to areas where no life sustaining support is provided.”

Most of those relocated to El Fateh arrived with only the clothes they were wearing and the government made no prior arrangements to “ensure the desert area was fit for human habitation.”

The government dug a water well in the camp but OCHA found during a recent visit that it had been sealed.

The leveling of Shikan resulted in the destruction of the IDPs’ property and infrastructure and of the only primary health care center in the area, the UN agency also said.

According to UN estimates, some two million people displaced following decades of civil war in Sudan live in and around Khartoum.