Sudan

The ongoing violence by government forces, the Janjaweed militia and armed opposition groups forms the backdrop to continued harassment, arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detentions and alleged torture of human rights defenders by Sudanese military and security forces. Freedom of expression and freedom of association and assembly have been increasingly curtailed. In particular, NGO members, journalists and student activists have been targeted.

The operational freedom of human rights organisations in Sudan has been severely limited by the enactment of the Organisation of Humanitarian Voluntary Work Act on 20 February 2006. This legislation places stringent registration requirements on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and effectively gives the authorities the power arbitrarily to deny or cancel an NGO’s registration. Under the Act, the authorities may review any NGO documents, suspend NGO activities, dissolve their executive committees, dismiss NGO members, expel international NGO members from the country and seize NGO assets where registration is cancelled. Human rights defenders reporting on human rights violations in Darfur or criticising the use of torture by authorities have been arrested. In particular, many human rights defenders documenting crimes of sexual violence have had criminal charges brought against them. The press is heavily censored, with journalists harassed, arbitrary bureaucratic restrictions imposed on Sudanese media, and the operations of newspapers publishing articles critical of the authorities suspended. Freedom of assembly is severely limited, and participants in human rights seminars, workshops and conferences have been subject to harassment, interrogation and arbitrary detention.