Sudan
09.12.04
Urgent Interventions
Sudan - Attack, beating and rape of female IDPs in Southern Darfur State
Case SDN 091204.VAW.CC
Violence Against Women / Child concern
Rape/Ill-treatment
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Sudan.
Brief Description of the Situation
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Sudan Organisation against Torture (SOAT), a member of the OMCT network, of the attack, beating and rape of female internally displaced persons (IDPs) near the Deraij camp, 4 km east of Nyala, Southern Darfur State on 30 November 2004 and 2 December 2004.
According to the information received, on 30 November 2004, 7 female IDPs - one of which was pregnant - were attacked by an armed militia group allegedly in military uniform, near the Deraij camp.
The women and girls were fetching firewood outside the camp in a place called Momo, 2 km north of the Deraij IDP camp when they were reportedly attacked, beaten with guns on their chests and heads. The 7 IDPs were then stripped, after which the armed militias forcibly took 3 of them (names withheld) to a nearby abandoned hut where they were raped; the other 4 women and girls, Kaltoum Adam Mohamed, Meryem Idrees Adam, Zahra Issa Jar Alnabi and Asha Mahmoud Abdalla, escaped and returned to the camp.
According to SOAT, all of the 7 women and girls were seriously injured. They initially received medical treatment at the Amel Centre for Rehabilitation of Torture Victims, a SOAT partner in Nyala. Due to the seriousness of the injury sustained, one of the victims was transferred to the Nyala hospital where she miscarried.
Furthermore, on 2 December 2004, the Janjaweed attacked 8 other women and girls from the same IDP camp, while they were also fetching firewood, in Torkong (north of the camp). While all of them were severely beaten, including Mastoura Ibrahim Ahmed (25 years), Hawa Ahmed Ali (30 years) and Husnea Ibrahim Ahmed (25 years) and two girls, Jawahir Abdella (10 years) and Safa Adam Ali (11 years), 3 of them, aged between 18 and 25, including one girl, from the Massalit and Fur tribes (names withheld) were raped.
All 8 women and girls were refused medical treatment at the Nyala hospital because they did not have Police Form Number 8 (a form allowing for treatment for injuries caused by a criminal act), a requirement in Sudanese Law.
These two incidents have been reported to the police forces in Nyala. However, the police refused to file the second case.
The International Secretariat of OMCT is gravely concerned for the psychological and physical integrity of the above mentioned persons. More generally, the deteriorating situation of internally displaced women and girls arouses special preoccupation as according to information, this group is increasingly being subjected to sexual violence and abduction near IDP camps (see OMCT Case SDN 161104.CC.VAW) while these crimes fail to be adequately investigated, prosecuted and punished.
Sudan is party to several core human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The treaties guarantee and prohibit torture and ill-treatment. OMCT recalls that according to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, even in time of public emergency no derogation may be made to these rights and that Sudan is also a state party to the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949.
OMCT is therefore calling on the Sudanese authorities to give assurances that these cases will be investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice, and to guarantee adequate redress and reparation to the victims. OMCT would like to remind the government of Sudan that the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women states in Art. 4(c) that States should “exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State or by private persons”.
Action Requested
Please write to the authorities in Sudan urging them to:
i. Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the above mentioned women and girls;
ii. Guarantee that all victims be provided with medical treatment;
iii. Order a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of their rape and ill-treatment in order to identify all those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
iv. Guarantee that adequate reparation and protection are provided to the victims;
v. Guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.
Addresses
Please also write to the embassies of Sudan in your respective country.
Geneva, 9 December 2004
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
Violence Against Women / Child concern
Rape/Ill-treatment
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Sudan.
Brief Description of the Situation
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Sudan Organisation against Torture (SOAT), a member of the OMCT network, of the attack, beating and rape of female internally displaced persons (IDPs) near the Deraij camp, 4 km east of Nyala, Southern Darfur State on 30 November 2004 and 2 December 2004.
According to the information received, on 30 November 2004, 7 female IDPs - one of which was pregnant - were attacked by an armed militia group allegedly in military uniform, near the Deraij camp.
The women and girls were fetching firewood outside the camp in a place called Momo, 2 km north of the Deraij IDP camp when they were reportedly attacked, beaten with guns on their chests and heads. The 7 IDPs were then stripped, after which the armed militias forcibly took 3 of them (names withheld) to a nearby abandoned hut where they were raped; the other 4 women and girls, Kaltoum Adam Mohamed, Meryem Idrees Adam, Zahra Issa Jar Alnabi and Asha Mahmoud Abdalla, escaped and returned to the camp.
According to SOAT, all of the 7 women and girls were seriously injured. They initially received medical treatment at the Amel Centre for Rehabilitation of Torture Victims, a SOAT partner in Nyala. Due to the seriousness of the injury sustained, one of the victims was transferred to the Nyala hospital where she miscarried.
Furthermore, on 2 December 2004, the Janjaweed attacked 8 other women and girls from the same IDP camp, while they were also fetching firewood, in Torkong (north of the camp). While all of them were severely beaten, including Mastoura Ibrahim Ahmed (25 years), Hawa Ahmed Ali (30 years) and Husnea Ibrahim Ahmed (25 years) and two girls, Jawahir Abdella (10 years) and Safa Adam Ali (11 years), 3 of them, aged between 18 and 25, including one girl, from the Massalit and Fur tribes (names withheld) were raped.
All 8 women and girls were refused medical treatment at the Nyala hospital because they did not have Police Form Number 8 (a form allowing for treatment for injuries caused by a criminal act), a requirement in Sudanese Law.
These two incidents have been reported to the police forces in Nyala. However, the police refused to file the second case.
The International Secretariat of OMCT is gravely concerned for the psychological and physical integrity of the above mentioned persons. More generally, the deteriorating situation of internally displaced women and girls arouses special preoccupation as according to information, this group is increasingly being subjected to sexual violence and abduction near IDP camps (see OMCT Case SDN 161104.CC.VAW) while these crimes fail to be adequately investigated, prosecuted and punished.
Sudan is party to several core human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The treaties guarantee and prohibit torture and ill-treatment. OMCT recalls that according to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, even in time of public emergency no derogation may be made to these rights and that Sudan is also a state party to the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949.
OMCT is therefore calling on the Sudanese authorities to give assurances that these cases will be investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice, and to guarantee adequate redress and reparation to the victims. OMCT would like to remind the government of Sudan that the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women states in Art. 4(c) that States should “exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State or by private persons”.
Action Requested
Please write to the authorities in Sudan urging them to:
i. Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the above mentioned women and girls;
ii. Guarantee that all victims be provided with medical treatment;
iii. Order a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of their rape and ill-treatment in order to identify all those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
iv. Guarantee that adequate reparation and protection are provided to the victims;
v. Guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.
Addresses
- His Excellency Lieutenant General Omar Hassan al-Bashir, President of the Republic of Sudan, President' s Palace, PO Box 281, Khartoum, Sudan. Fax: + 249 183 783223
- Mr. Ali Mohamed Osman Yassin, Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Ministry of Justice, Khartoum, Sudan. Fax: + 249 183 788941
- Mr. Mustafa Osman Ismail, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affair, PO Box 873, Khartoum, Sudan. Fax: + 249 183 779383
- Dr. Abdelmuneim Osman Mohamed Taha, Advisory Council for Human Rights, PO Box 302, Khartoum, Sudan. Fax: + 249 183 770883
- His Excellency Ambassador Mr. Mohamed Al- Hassan Ahmed Al-Haj, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Sudan to the United Nations in Geneva, PO Box 335, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +4122 731 26 56, E-mail: mission.sudan@ties.itu.int.
Please also write to the embassies of Sudan in your respective country.
Geneva, 9 December 2004
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.