PRESS CONFERENCE ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN SUDAN

There had been no significant improvement in human rights in the Sudan in the past year, but there was hope that the latest peace process would be “successful” -- defined as ending the war, negotiating power-sharing agreements and impacting the human rights situation, correspondents were told at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon. 

That was the two-part message conveyed by Gerhart Baum, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan.  “There’s a chance”, he said.  “Not more, but a good chance”, that the peace process could be successful.

On the one hand, he continued, Sudanese security forces had continued to suppress civil society.  Political parties, politically active students and newspaper representatives had been subjected to harassment.  On the other hand, civil society was now more hopeful, and that was the impact of the peace process.  However, that process would only be sustainable if human rights were made a part of it, not just a part of the post-war scenario. 

In a country of such diverse ethnicity, he added, suffering from the wounds of 20 years of civil war, there was no alternative to a real civil society founded on respect for minorities and strengthened by tolerance.  It would be necessary to build trust and confidence and have a process of reconciliation. 

The peace process should be the starting point for stronger United Nations involvement in both the political and human rights in the Sudan, he said.  The international community would also have an important role to play, following a two-pronged approach of continued criticism from outside the Sudan, which would further improve respect for human rights within the country, and external support to build up civil society.  The focus should be on capacity-building through strengthening education and local authorities, as well as training the police and judiciary.  Thus, the peace process would be accompanied by the integration of strong human rights elements.

Acknowledging that he had emphasized the external over the internal element in the latest Sudanese peace process, Mr. Baum explained that he had done so because, though islands of civil society did exist, without pressure from the outside there would be no chance of success.

On the subject of the acknowledged controversy with which his report had been received, and the cooperation provided to him by the Sudanese Government, he said that previously he had met with too many ministers during his visits.  This time, he had seen more civil society representatives.  He had tried to build up a good relationship with the Government, as their cooperation was necessary to his task of improving human rights.  Yet, while he tried to use balanced language in his reports, it was impossible to ignore the fact of torture. 

Asked if the Sudanese Government had not accused him of interference in internal affairs, he said “of course”.  The nature of human rights policy was to

discuss the internal policy of countries, which was always viewed as an attack on their sovereignty by the countries criticized. 

Furthermore, he said, the right to development had been accepted as an integral component of human rights, and that had been a particular demand of many developing countries.  Yet, the Sudanese Government now rejected the idea of a right to development when it was used as the basis for examining how its oil wealth had been spent.  The right had two aspects:  one was found in international financing and development; the other in the obligations of a government to fulfil the principle of good governance.

Finally, he said that, while many human rights violations in the Sudan were linked to the war, such as the bombing of civilians and churches and the abduction of women and children, there had also been large scale human rights violations not linked to the hostilities.  In that respect, similar to the former East Germany, one never knew if it was the milkman or the police ringing the bell in the morning.  In one case, a student detained by the police had had 13 holes burned up and down his arms with cigarettes.  Given that situation, he had heavily criticized the amendments to the Security Forces Act and upheld the importance of accountability.  Individually responsible persons should be held accountable for the torture in which they engaged.

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