allAfrica.com: Sudan: Human Rights (Page 1 of 2)

This is the twelfth in a series of articles concerning the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA), explaining how different parts were negotiated, what the paragraphs mean, and how they should be implemented. This article focuses on human rights and how they are respected and promoted in the Agreement.

The very first articles of the DPA are concerned with the basic principles of human rights. Paragraph 2 states that citizenship is the basis for civil and political rights and obligations; Paragraph 6 specifies the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary; Paragraph 7 is a commitment to human rights and fundamental freedoms; and Paragraph 14 stresses the cultural and social diversity of the Sudanese people. Article 3, Paragraphs 23-43, re-state many of these points in more detail. These paragraphs between them comprise a powerful statement of the full range of human rights including civil and political liberties, and social, economic and cultural rights.

Someone who is familiar with the Interim National Constitution will quickly notice that these sections of the DPA are in fact almost entirely repetition of the relevant parts of the CPA and INC. All these provisions have already been signed onto by the Government of Sudan when it signed the CPA in January 2005 and adopted the INC later in the same year. Why was it necessary to re-state all these same details for the DPA? Would it not have been simpler for the DPA to have just affirmed that the Parties will abide by the relevant human rights provisions in the CPA? The reason for repeating all these paragraphs is that the Darfur Movements' negotiators insisted that the DPA's human rights provisions should be no weaker than the CPA's, and the Mediation also believed that it was important to emphasize the fact that the DPA is complementary to the CPA, and that Darfurians have equal rights as human beings and as Sudanese citizens. The Government accepted this argument.

Darfurians are urged to read these paragraphs in detail. For example, Paragraph 39 reads, "Ethnic and cultural communities shall have the right to practise their beliefs, use their languages and develop their cultures within their customs." This provides a constitutional guarantee on the protection of the diverse languages and cultures of Darfur. Although this same provision was included in the CPA, for the first time it is now specifically guaranteed with respect to Darfur. This should mean, for example, that tribal languages should be properly recorded and written down, with their oral traditions and customs preserved. There should be an opportunity for primary schoolchildren to learn in their own tribal languages.

The human rights provisions of the DPA include the protection of basic human rights, such as the prohibition on torture, the release of all those persons detained in connection with the conflict (Paragraphs 364-5), and the immediate and unconditional release of child soldiers. The SLM/A-Minawi negotiators (Ali Tirayo and Abdel Jabbar Dosa) and JEM negotiators (Ahmed Tugod Lissan and Tajudeen Nyam) were particularly insistent on the clauses mentioning the release of all those detained in conjunction with the war. They rejected an earlier draft that mentioned only "prisoners of war" because, they said, civilian sympathizers who had been arrested and detained would be excluded by that narrower definition. The Government negotiators agreed to the broader provision.

Paragraphs 275-279 also provide immediate measures to ensure the protection of women and children, especially in IDP camps. For example, the police must now have special counters, staffed by women police officers, where women can report crimes committed against them.

Aware that the police are essential to the protection of human rights, and that the police need to be reformed before they can do this properly, the DPA has important clauses dealing with the police. Paragraphs 272-273 specify the creation of a Community Police force in IDP camps, drawn from the IDP communities themselves. Paragraph 451 requires that the Darfur Security Arrangements Implementation Commission should initiate a thorough-going review of the police and make recommendations for reform. Darfur's police force should be respectful of human rights, subject to the rule of law and democratic accountability, drawn from the different communities of Darfur, should include women at all ranks, and should enjoy the confidence of all communities (Paragraphs 446-447).

The DPA includes provisions for social and economic rights (Paragraph 97) and equitable development (Paragraph 106) with special attention to the least advantaged areas (Paragraph 145). Throughout these provisions, particular attention is paid to the right to a livelihood, including access to land, markets and services, restitution of property, and judicial review of administrative actions that may affect livelihoods. It pays special attention to the needs of returning refugees and IDPs, including their need for access to justice. Paragraph 185 lays out this principle, Paragraph 186 refers to the specific needs for women to have access to justice, and Paragraph 190 opens up the possibility of mobile courts providing justice rapidly and efficiently. Paragraphs 191-2 provide that IDPs and refugees should have all the necessary documents to enable them to realize their rights, with a special provision for issuing replacement documents in the cases where the originals have been stolen, destroyed or lost.

The details of these human rights provisions were agreed over many long months by the negotiators in Abuja. The paragraphs on social and economic rights were discussed in detail by the SLM/A and JEM negotiators with their counterparts from GoS. Numerous resource persons and experts were also called upon for advice. The resulting document bears the fingerprints of all--the credit must lie not only with Minni Minawi and the GoS wealth-sharing negotiator (Dr Lual Deng) but also with Abu al Bashar Abbaker of SLM/A-Abdel Wahid and Jibreel Khalil of JEM, who had major substantive inputs as well.

web allafrica.com	Enter your search terms	Submit search form
OR subscribers use AllAfrica's premium search engine


Use our pull-down menus to find more stories

Today's Most Active Stories