WUNRN
"In
its decision, the African Commission found Sudan responsible for large-scale
forced evictions and violations of a wide range of human rights, including the
rights to life, housing, food, health, judicial remedies and to be free from
torture, including rape."
SUDAN - AFRICAN COMMISSION ISSUES
SCATHING DECISION AGAINST
GOVERNMENT FOR DARFUR, SUDAN, HUMAN
RIGHTS ATROCITIES
29 July 2010 - In a landmark
decision, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has ruled against
the Sudanese government, accusing it of committing a wide range of human rights
violations against the people of Darfur.
The ruling, released today, was made
in a case brought by the Geneva-based international human rights group, the
Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), against the Sudanese government
in 2005.
The ruling came less than three
weeks after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a second arrest
warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, on charges of genocide.
In its decision, the African
Commission found Sudan responsible for large-scale forced evictions and
violations of a wide range of human rights, including the rights to life,
housing, food, health, judicial remedies and to be free from torture, including
rape.
The Commission also issued
ground-breaking decisions on the right to water and the collective right to
economic, social and cultural development, as contained in the African Charter.
“This decision is a major step
forward in the struggle to end human rights violations in Darfur, and will put
important additional pressure on the Sudanese government,” said Salih Booker,
COHRE’s Executive Director.
“With this decision, we see an
African mechanism asserting its political independence and upholding
international human rights standards as being fully consistent with the African
charter. This differs substantially from the treatment of Sudan by many of
Africa’s political leaders up until now, and highlights the importance of the
African continent’s continuing development of independent pan-African bodies.”
The African Commission ordered the
Sudanese government, amongst other measures, to investigate abuses in Darfur
and hold those responsible accountable, to undertake legislative and judicial
reforms to ensure that victims of human rights violations have effective
domestic remedies, and to provide restitution and compensation to the survivors
of human rights violations in Darfur.
The Commission also ordered Sudan to
rehabilitate economic and social infrastructure in Darfur such as education,
health care, water and agricultural services as one way to facilitate the right
of Darfuris displaced by violence to return to their communities.
Bret Thiele, Senior Expert for
Litigation at COHRE and lead lawyer in the case, said, “This decision is
ground-breaking in that it not only reaffirms that the African Charter protects
the rights to adequate food and housing, including the prohibition on forced
evictions, but it also guarantees the right to water on the African continent
and people’s right to economic, social and cultural development.”
___________________________________________________________________________
----- Original Message -----
From: WUNRN
ListServe
To: WUNRN ListServe
Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 3:07 PM
Subject: Sudan + Chad - Darfur Women - Sexual Violence - Report
WUNRN
Sudan-Darfur + Chad - Sexual
Violence Against Darfur Women
Direct Link to 74-Page Report
________________________________________________________________________
Sudan-Darfuri Women Speak
Lives
Shattered, Voices Silenced: Violence and Fear Persist for Darfuri Women
In November, 2008, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) sent a team of four experts
to gather an in-depth picture of the lives and concerns of Darfuri women now
living in the Farchana Refugee Camp in eastern
The team found that many of these women had been sexually violated in
Darfur, and many have been raped since arriving at the camp in
In the coming weeks and months, PHR will be posting photographs, findings, and narratives from its assessment and asking you to take action to prevent future violence against women and to support care for those who have already been harmed. Sign up to receive notifications of new information.
Some of the women PHR met with had first spoken bravely and boldly about their frustrations in the Farchana Manifesto.
The
Farchana Manifesto
In the
Farchana camp on June 5, 2008, seven women were rounded up for public
humiliation and torture: tied-up, whipped, and beaten with sticks of firewood.
Their supposed “crime”? Working outside of the camp to earn money for their
families. Shamed as prostitutes, these women were “fined” – forcibly deprived
of goods, money, and food ration cards. Though there is no proof, it is likely
that at least some of these women became pregnant as a result of rape.
After the brutality, a group of eight Darfuri women gathered to give voice to their shared lament. They wrote a one-page document in Arabic, in hope of shedding light on the plight of women refugees and opening a dialogue with the world. This document made its way from the Farchana camp into the hands of Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). We call it the Farchana Manifesto.
The manifesto speaks of the challenges and fears faced by
women refugees from
Please read the manifesto and the women’s stories. Take a couple of minutes to view PHR’s video, Life in the Camps. Do you have any comments, thoughts, or hopes that you would like to share with Darfuri women refugees? Send a messages to the women in the Farchana Camp, which we will deliver on our next visit.
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