Sudan APPG Briefing on Justice and Reconciliation in Sudan

Monday, July 8th briefing:

Speaker: Al-Marith Idris- Representative of the UMMA Party

• 9/16 states in Sudan have experienced intense war
• Rapid Support Force (RSF) – 20-40,000 formed in 2014. Formally the Janjaweed (the Janjaweed also has hubs in Chad +Ethiopia)
• All tribes in South Kordofan are armed and ready to go
• The constitution of Sudan has been re-written to include a Bill of Rights (human rights)

Speaker: Sara Abeljalil- Sudanese Professional Association spokesperson

• The revolution has two parts.
• The first part focuses on the injustice of Sudan over the last 30 years
• The second part focuses on the situation today.
• A lack of healthcare is destroying Sudan
• At the moment-, we have a power-sharing agreement. It is not ideal but it’s better than nothing. We have hope but we also have fear. Sudan has a huge youth homicide problem as people have zero access to healthcare.
• We are concerned about children in conflict zones suffering from malnutrition, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) for girls, children under the age of 17 joining the RSF- this is all concerning.
• How will legal justice take place when there is no independent legal system in place?
• We want the British government and the UN to help the African Union (AU) to achieve justice from the Sudanese government!
• There is an internet blackout still- Janjaweed are patrolling in 11 states- why is this? What are they preparing for?

Accountability

• If we achieve justice and fairness, there will be no revenge
• Things will go back to square one if we think that the war has been won.
• Milestones should be set and achieved by the British government.
• The population need justice and accountability in order to trust the regime.

Speaker: Josie Fathers- Advocacy Officer, REDRESS

• 816 at least have been arrested since December
• 128 have been killed
• Over 80 have been sexually assaulted
• Key areas for a path to reconciliation
  • Reparations for victims of torture and human rights abuses
  • Restoration= releasing political prisoners
  • Damages and compensation
  • Rehabilitation
  • Satisfaction- setting up a truth sharing forum- or a public apology
  • Institutional reform
    • A model idea for the path to reconciliation
  • The UK should not be a safe haven for war criminals- they should be arrested upon arrival in the UK.
  • The UK should assist the efforts of the International Criminal Court (ICC) indictment of Bashir

Lord Alton

• Bashir should be tried in The Hague

Al-Marith Idris

• The ICC said they don’t know if they’ll go in and get al-Bashir once there is a civilian government
• Nobody knows of al-Bashir’s whereabouts
• The statute of Rome says that if al-Bashir does not surrender, the ICC should be summoned to Khartoum to try him there.
• We would like Sudanese human rights lawyers to be trained by the ICC- we want to get the transitional military council (TMC) to tell the ICC to set up an office in Khartoum- to help with indictment proceedings and the ICC could further collect first hand evidence

Sara

• The TMC us a continuation of the old regime- some of them should also be tried for war crimes. Al-Bashir must be tried to set the standard for accountability.

Lord Alton

• Members of the TMC instructed the Janjaweed to commit war crimes- so there is a conflict of interest as they won’t push trials out of fear of themselves

Sara

• We have never achieved peace because of a lack of justice, no stakeholder consultation of demands and no democracy.

What has the British government done to support protesters? What help have they provided in the protest situation?

• Some counselling and trauma support has been provided through DFID- to relatives, victims, staff who have witnessed
• Sudanese diaspora have been providing ‘rescue boxes’
  • There is no ambulance/medical support in the protest
• The Khartoum process must be debated in parliament
• SARA– I don’t want my tax payer money going to support the RSF who are killing my people