Sudan: Humanitarian Aid Commission unlawfully cancels the registration of Sudanese Consumers Protection Society

(2 November 2022) The African Center for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) expresses deep concern about the shrinking civic space in Sudan.  In this release, ACJPS has documented an incident where a consumers’ society/association was unlawfully dissolved following the cancellation of its registration by the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC).

On 23 October 2022, the office of the Sudanese Consumers Protection Society (SCPS) received a delegation of seven employees from HAC delivering a letter of cancellation of registration and seizure of all its assets. The group confiscated property such as seals, headed paper and other documents. The letter was issued on 9^th October 2020 by the General Registrar of HAC, Mr. Mohamed Ali Hashmi Abdo. Mr. Abdo is member of Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), one of the signatories of the Sudan Peace Agreement signed in October 2020. In 2008, Mr. Abdo was convicted and sentenced to death after court found him guilty of participating in the Omdurman attack by JEM. He was later released from prison in 2017 when the former regime released war prisoners following amnesty decrees.

HAC falls under ministry of social affairs headed by minister Ahmed Adam Bakhit. Mr. Ahmed is also a member of JEM. The team from HAC gave SCPS an ultimatum to hand over all its assets including cash and credits within 72 hours. The legal provisions giving HAC the mandate to cancel SCPS’ registration were listed in the letter as found under article 14 (1) of the Voluntary and Humanitarian Work (Organization) Act, 2006 (Violations by NGOs) and article 22 (2) (a) (Powers of General registrar to register and cancel registration of NGOs).

SCPS is a consumers’ organization operating in Sudan. It has a mandate to protect the right of consumers from products that effect their health and infringe their rights to enjoy such products as consumers. SCPS has been very active since its establishment in 1998. Some of its major activities in the recent past include:

• On 3 November 2021, Mr. Mirghani the director of SPCS and a human rights defender filed a civil case against 4 telecom companies and internet providers i.e MTN, Zain, Knaar, and Sudani on behalf of SCPS in Khartoum Civil court vide civil case no. 2883 /2021. The case followed the internet shutdown on 25^th October 2021 during the wide anti- coup rallies that were happening in Sudan. In filing the case, SCPS asked court to order the telecom companies to restore internet as this was an infringement of people’s right to information. On 9^th November 2021, court passed a decision and ordered telecom companies to immediately restore the internet.

• On 17 May 2022, SCPS submitted a complaint to the office of the prosecutor in Khartoum against the minister of energy because of tempered and poor-quality oil at fuel/gas stations upon receiving several complaints from consumers. This is because it is the responsibility of the minister of energy to check and ensure that the quality of oil is good before it reached the consumers.

• Recently the association/society has been active in monitoring the quality of food items imported into the country. A reliable source told ACJPS that most food items imported into Sudan are those that about to expire as they are cheaper and thus generating more profits for the importers whilst putting consumers at risk.

Article 14 (1) of the Voluntary and Humanitarian Work (Organization) Act, 2006 provides that the registrar must carry out investigations to ascertain if any violations or breaches have been committed prior to penalizing any organization. These penalties include cancellation of registration, confiscation/seizure of the organization’s assets by courts of law, freezing of accounts among others. The procedure was not followed in this case as investigations were not carried out and no violations were committed but HAC went ahead and confiscated property and seized assets although the power to seize assets is reserved for the courts of law/judiciary which reverts it to the ministry of finance. This points to the absence of rule of law in Sudan.

HAC’s political involvement

On 3 September 2022, the General Registrar of HAC, Mr. Musa Abdul Kareem announced the revival and reinstatement of 22 organizations that were dissolved by the Empowerment Removal Committee (ERC) which was tasked to dismantle the 30^th June 1989 regime. These organizations were dissolved before the 25^th October 2021 coup because of their affiliation with the June 30^th 1989 regime. Many of the organizations whose registration were cancelled were established by the National Congress Party (NCP). Additionally the political leaders within the party disregarded the principles of independence and professionalism relating to NGOs and others were actively advocating for and supporting the agenda of NCP. On several occasions these NGOs were silent about violations and corruption committed and condemned by national, regional and international bodies and neither did they support the efforts of international justice systems like international criminal court.

The registrar stated that the decision to reinstate the organizations stemmed from the recommendation of the appeal committee that was headed by former member of Sudanese Sovereign Council, Ms. Raja Nicola after the ERC was suspended. The organizations were reinstated after October 2021 coup. The revival of these organizations clearly shows that HAC fully corporates with the military regime to implement the agenda of the former regime as the organization are hidden facades of the banned NCP and the Islamic Movement.

ACJPS emphasizes that the legal harassment against Sudanese Consumers Protection Society is part of an ongoing, widespread repression of civil society actors in Sudan. Several cases of harassment and intimidation of civil society by HAC have been recorded since the al Bashir regime. Therefore, we strongly condemn the increasing administrative and legal harassment of human rights organizations by Sudanese authorities and urge Sudanese authorities to re-register the SPCS. Authorities must cease the intimidation of human rights defenders and guarantee freedom of expression, association, and assembly.

ACJPS further calls upon Sudanese authorities to re-inspect NGOs affiliated to political parties and ensure they are neutral and act independent.

Background

During the past regime, HAC was staffed by security officers who abused their power to obstruct and interfere with the work of NGOs in Sudan through bureaucracy, extortion, spying among other. SCPS specifically was targeted and in 2015 it had its registration cancelled but resumed its activities after the former president al-Bashir was ousted. Unfortunately, in October 2021 there was a coup that ushered in a military regime and washed away the efforts made by the transitional government. It is safe to say that the current military regime is a mirror of the al-Bashir regime with similar practices such as abuse of power by authorities and absence of rule of law.

The organizations that were revived/re-registered are; 

1. The Salah Wanasi Foundation
2. Sugia Society
3. Islamic Medical Association
4. African Association for Maternal and Child Care
5. Center for Community Studies (Mada).
6. Food Bank Organization.
7. Anna (I am) Sudan Organization
8. Dar Al Arqam Organization.
9. Libna Organization for Development and Capacity Building of Women.
10. Humanitarian Aid Organization for Development.
11. Ports of Good Organization
12. Wabel Al-Saib Organization
13. Al-Salikeen Organization.
14. Wabel Al-Khair Organization.
15. Efad Organization for Development
16. Al-Ihsan Organization for the Care and Guarantee of Orphans
17. Islamic Medical Association
18. Charitable Altruism Organization.
19. Ashhad Organization.
20. Charitable Solidarity Organization.
21. Sudanese Foundation for People with Disabilities Initiators of Disaster Reduction
22. International Health Organization

For more information, contact mossaad.ali@acjps.org