Sudan: End enforced disappearances and account for hundreds of political dissidents disappeared since December 2018

 Published by Annet Ajok Opimo, human rights lawyer

19 June 2019

The recent wave of enforced disappearances that have taken place in Sudan over the past seven months, particularly of peaceful protesters is deeply concerning and, calls for urgent action by both Sudanese authorities and the international community to end such acts and ensure accountability for victims and families.

Article 2 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances (ICPPED) defines enforced disappearance as “[…] the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law.”

Since 19 December 2018, following the outbreak of a nation-wide anti-government protests that led to the ousting of President Omar al Bashir on 11 April 2019, the practice of enforced disappearances has increasingly been used by Sudanese national security forces and government-backed paramilitaries, purportedly to “preserve national security”.

From 3 June 2019 alone, hundreds of pro-democracy protesters have been reported to have disappeared after national security forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces violently broke up a sit-in outside the Army headquarters in Khartoum, killing at least 100 and injuring hundreds. According to the Central Committee of Doctors, more than 40 bodies were recovered from the waters after security forces tried to camouflage the extent of their crimes, by throwing bodies into the Nile, weighing them down with bricks.

While some of the people who were reported to have been disappeared have returned home over recent days, there are credible reports that several still remain missing. Human rights watch has reported that hundreds of protesters arrested by security forces were still missing by end of the day. Several political prisoners are being detained incommunicado in unknown locations.  Activists and families have since then embarked on a social media campaign to locate missing persons and/or relatives believed to be detained and/or killed by security forces. However, the ongoing internet blackout by authorities has narrowed the reach of the campaign.

The crime of enforced disappearance is one of the gross human rights violations that has been committed with impunity for decades in Sudan, in a variety of context including; civil war, internal conflicts and quelling political dissents. It is regularly used not only to silence political opponents, journalists and human rights defenders, but also used as a tool to intimidate citizens. Lack of accountability by the government has left thousands of families unaware of the fate of their relatives to date.

In the recent years, there has been increased use of “short-term” disappearances where victims are detained incommunicado for a period of time and, eventually freed. Between 19 December 2018 and 12 April 2019, hundreds of peaceful protesters, students, human rights defenders, political opponents, journalist and doctors were allegedly subjected to torture and inhumane conditions while detained incommunicado for months by the National Intelligence Security Services(NISS) in NISS detention centres, NISS controlled sections of prisons and in unknown locations. Although many were released on 13 April 2019 by the head of the Transitionary Military Council(TMC), Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, credible sources have reported that some are still missing even after the TMC stated that all political prisoners were released. Many families have continued the search for family members, relatives and friends previously detained by NISS on social media.

In 2016, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances noted that “There is no time limit, no matter how short, for an enforced disappearance to occur. Every minute counts when a person is put outside the protection of the law. And when a person is disappeared, every anguished minute spent by his or her relatives without news of that person is a minute too long”.

Enforced Disappearances in Sudan are often coupled with other gross human rights violations, such as the practice of arbitrary arrests and/or detention, torture, rape and in some cases death, particularly by the NISS and government-backed militias. This is facilitated by the fact that victims are often detained incommunicado, in “inaccessible” NISS detention centres, NISS controlled prison sections and, in unknown locations, thus placing them outside of protection of the law with no access to legal remedies.

Unfortunately for victims, lack of accountability has impacted their rights to remedy and redress, as well as the right to truth of the families. Sudan has not ratified the ICPPED or UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. While the Interim National Constitution of 2005 outlaws torture, it is silent on enforced disappearances. Further, although Article 161(1) and 162 of the Sudanese Criminal Law 1991 criminalises abduction and kidnapping respectively, it does not contain an explicit provision on enforced disappearance. Therefore, neither the totality of the crime of enforced disappearance, nor the crucial role of the state are embodied.

Another factor that has contributed to impunity are laws that provide perpetrators, specifically Security agents with wide-ranging immunities. The 2007 Armed Forces Act, 2008 Police Act, and 2010 National Security Act each grant immunities to state actors. Even in cases where the immunities mentioned above have been lifted, victims face various barriers that make it extremely hard to report cases of enforced disappearances.

For example, reported acts of threats, intimidation and reprisals against victims, family members, witnesses and human rights defenders working on cases of enforced disappearances has frustrated efforts to obtain justice. To date, not a single perpetrator of the crime of enforced disappearance has been brought to justice in Sudan. Sudan has not compensated either victims or families of victims of disappearances either materially and/or through social benefits.

It is therefore imperative that Sudan must uphold its international obligations under relevant regional and international treaties which it ratified by immediately carrying out independent, transparent and effective investigations with a view to determining the fate and whereabouts of all missing peaceful protesters disappeared since 19 December 2018. Where victims are in the custody of the state, authorities should either release them, or charge them before the courts of law. For those who have died, graves must be shown to families/relatives and bodies released for proper burial. Perpetrators must be held to account through fair trials.

Sudan must also ratify and domesticate the ICPPED as a fundamental step towards the prevention, and the ultimate elimination, of the inadmissible practice of enforced disappearances. Laws that grant immunity to perpetrators must be amended, NISS detention centres and controlled sections of prisons outside the normal custodial system, where victims are frequently held incommunicado must be closed.

Regional and International human rights bodies should collectively and strongly demand that Sudan must end all enforced disappearances and ensure that perpetrators are held accountable. An independent international fact-finding mission, must be dispatched to establish the facts and circumstances of the alleged recent crime of enforced disappearance committed in the Sudan.

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Annet Ajok Opimo works for ACJPS as a Program Assistant, Monitoring and Documentation