The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) presented an oral intervention on the situation of human rights in Sudan to the UN Human Rights Council Yesterday, 25 September 2013. The intervention comes as part of the deliberations of the 24th session of the Council, which is currently convened in Geneva and which will continue until 27 September 2013.
CIHRS opened the intervention by drawing the Council’s attention to the grave, ongoing violations to international human rights law and international humanitarian law in Sudan, expressing its deep concern at the Council’s chronic failure to adequately and effectively respond to the severity of these abuses.
In particular, CIHRS spoke of the ongoing clashes in Darfur, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile which has led to large-scale civilian casualties and mass displacement. CIHRS further denounced the indiscriminate aerial and ground attacks on civilian-populated areas carried out by Sudanese forces, as well as the fact that humanitarian aid is consistently prevented from reaching those in dire need.
CIHRS further condemned recent efforts by the Sudanese government to increase the already severe restrictions on the freedoms of expression, association, and assembly in the country, pointing out that the authorities have censored independent media, shut down a number of civil society organizations, used excessive force to repress public demonstrations, and targeted critics with arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and torture. CIHRS warned that such actions bode poorly for the future of the country, particularly as it prepares to adopt a new constitution and hold national elections in 2015.
Finally, CIHRS called on the Council to strongly condemn violations in Sudan and to ensure that monitoring and reporting to the Council on the situation of human rights in the country continues and is strengthened in the coming years.
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