Consideration of reports, comments and information submitted by States parties under article 9 of the Convention (continued)
CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS, COMMENTS AND INFORMATION SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES UNDER ARTICLE 9 OF THE CONVENTION (agenda item 4) (continued) (CERD/C/222/Add.1)
1. The CHAIRMAN invited the Sudanese delegation to take places at the Committee table and to introduce the eighth periodic report of the Sudan (CERD/C/222/Add.1).
2. Mr. KENTI (Sudan) said the Government of the Republic of the Sudan was fully prepared to cooperate with the Committee in order to ensure the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, as it had shown by sending a special representative to continue the dialogue with the Committee. The present regime attached great importance to the Committee's work, the ultimate objective of which was the welfare of the Sudanese population. In contrast, the previous regime had failed in its commitments to the Committee by not submitting the periodic reports required under the International Covenants on Human Rights. The present Government was eager to cooperate with the human rights bodies and had prepared a series of reports as quickly as possible to fill the gaps left by its predecessors.
3. Mrs. SADIQ ALI expressed appreciation for the Government's willingness to hold a dialogue with the Committee despite the unsettled conditions in the Sudan. She was gratified that the eighth periodic report had been prepared in accordance with the guidelines but regretted that the material provided did not correspond to the requirements of each article of the Convention. For example, although it was stated that the Sudan was a multiracial and multicultural society, no breakdown of the population was given as stipulated in general recommendation IV, and the most important subgroups of the southern Nile had not been mentioned. It would be appreciated if the demographic composition were provided in the next report in tabular form. Similarly, while well over 100 languages were spoken in the Sudan, Arabic was the official language, and a committee had been set up in the 1980s with a view to wiping out certain tribal languages and creating a monocultural Islamic society, which contravened article 5 (e) (vi) of the Convention (right to equal participation in cultural activities). She asked how many languages were recognized in the Sudan in addition to Arabic, and whether English was the principal language for the Southern Sudan.
4. The last report had been submitted shortly after the establishment of a civilian Government had raised high hopes. Since then the situation had changed drastically and no longer conformed to the Convention with regard to constitutional, judicial, legal and administrative aspects. The General Assembly, in resolution 47/142, had called upon the Sudan to comply with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and to ensure that all individuals [...] including members of all religious and ethnic groups, enjoyed the rights recognized in the Convention. However, General Bashir had dismissed the resolution and announced, according to Amnesty International, that the Sudan would turn a deaf ear to any condemnation in any forum and that the accusations of human rights violations were baseless rumours based on unfounded facts. The need for decisive action in the Sudan had never been greater.
5. The Code of Criminal Procedure and the Penal Code, based on the Shari'a (para. 12 of the report), provided for corporal punishment called hud_d, which ranged from flogging to amputation and summary execution. There continued to be reports of torture in secret detention centres. The new amendments, mentioned in paragraph 17 of the report, were a welcome development, but everything depended on how the provisions were applied in practice.
6. There were various reports from international NGOs, the media and United Nations bodies of ill-treatment of the population by the security forces: arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial executions, disappearances and forced detentions, and of "ethnic cleansing" campaigns in Southern Sudan.
7. She would like to know how the Penal Code was applied in practice in cases of racial discrimination. Did it contain penalties for acts of racial discrimination? Could a victim of an act of racial discrimination bring legal proceedings if such an act was not defined as an offence? Since the Convention had been incorporated into Sudanese law, could it be invoked in court? Beginning in 1989, judges not considered sympathetic to the regime had been replaced; that cast doubts on the independence of the judiciary. The Court of Public Order in the Khartoum market-place seemed to be meting out summary justice. Moreover, the special courts for the trial of accused persons appeared to conflict with article 5 (a) of the Convention, which provided for the right to a fair and public hearing before an independent and impartial tribunal.
8. Since the suspension of the 1989 transitional constitution, the National Salvation Revolution Command Council had been ruling by decree, assigning exceptional powers to the President. Since the first Decree had abolished existing legislative and political organs, she would like to know how the Sudan could implement the requirements of the Convention without enacting special legislation. Criticizing the Government was considered a form of political opposition and many people were languishing in jails for that supposed crime.
9. Concerning the effective implementation of the right to participate in politics, she would like details of the National Dialogue Conference on the Political System, held in October and November 1989. She would also like to know whether the Secretary-General had been notified of the declaration of emergency contained in Decree No. 3, as provided for in article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
10. How did the Government intend to allow groups to coexist within the federal system established in Decree No. 4, in response to the demands of the South? The Addis Ababa Agreement of 1972, which declared all Sudanese to be equal, was to ensure the autonomy of the South in managing its own affairs and make it possible to share equitably the country's scarce resources, on the premise that political and economic equality and religious tolerance would help contain the centrifugal tendencies created by ethnic and racial cleavage in the Sudan. But the attempts to Islamize the country by introducing the Shari'a was perhaps the most obvious attempt at repealing the agreement. Clarification on the type of federation contemplated would therefore be welcome.
11. How could Decree No. 5 say that almost all shades of political opinion were represented in the Assembly, when political parties were banned and the legislature had been dismantled, in contradiction with article 5 (c) on political rights?
12. The Sudanese Government had not provided the information requested concerning article 2 of the Convention. In particular, it had not indicated the measures it had taken, in implementation of subparagraph (c), to review governmental, national and local policies and laws perpetuating racial discrimination. How could the report speak of an acceleration of the process of national integration (para. 29) while the war was still going on?
13. Despite the fact that articles 2.2 and 1.4 laid down conditions for affirmative action, the ILO had observed that the southern provinces lagged far behind the rest of the country and that their per capita income was half the national average. It was surprising that the report did not mention the number of homeless children in the South.
14. According to paragraph 31 of the report, mixed marriages were encouraged. In the Nuba mountains, however, tens of thousands of people were being moved each month; men and women were separated and the women were presumably being used for mixed marriages to enhance the Arab population or sold into slavery in the North. A similar situation had arisen in the 1920s, forcing the British authorities at the time to act.
15. The report did not indicate what preventive action had been taken in regard to acts of racial discrimination in conformity with article 4, paragraphs (a) and (b), which were mandatory and formed the backbone of the Convention. The relevant texts of the Penal Code would be welcome.
16. Article 5 (b) provided for the right to security of the person and to State protection, yet Amnesty International and Africa Watch reported mass killings and extrajudicial executions of civilians in the remote Nuba mountains, where the population was primarily Christian and where the Government was engaged in a programme of military action that appeared to amount to "ethnic cleansing". There were also numerous reports of cases of human rights violations by the Sudanese People's Liberation Army, chiefly against the civilian population (forced conscription of children, arbitrary detention, torture, population displacements, etc.). Hundreds of people had been reported extrajudicially executed in Juba by government forces. She stressed the importance of the right to life and noted that the offences to which the death penalty applied were not clearly defined in Sudanese legislation. She would like the Sudanese delegation to provide further information in that regard. She also hoped the Government would investigate the reports of human rights violations in the Sudan and bring those responsible to justice. In resolution 47/142, the General Assembly had called upon the Government of the Sudan to ensure a full, thorough and prompt investigation of the killings of Sudanese nationals employees of foreign Government relief organizations by the independent judicial inquiry commission that the Council intended to constitute, to bring to justice those responsible for the killings and to provide just compensation to the families of the victims.
17. She also wished to draw attention to the serious problem of famine in southern Sudan. The Sudanese Government tended to minimize the extent of the famine and had sought to maintain sole responsibility for the transport and distribution of emergency aid. The problem was aggravated by looting by the army and by the fact that the population of certain southern villages had been decimated by the war.
18. Despite the fact that article 5 (d) (i) provided for the right to freedom of movement and residence within the border of the State, tens of thousands of people had been forcibly relocated from the Nuba mountains in southern Kordofan, while local militia practised a scorched earth policy. In Khartoum, hundreds of thousands of people displaced by war and hunger had been sent in recent months to two "peace camps" in the desert. A United Nations mission led by the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs had witnessed bulldozing of squatters' homes but had failed to visit the Nuba mountains in September 1992. A vast programme of Serbian-style "ethnic cleansing" had been launched against the Nuba and Fur people in regions that the popular defence forces wished to take over. Hundreds of Nuba and Fur villages had been razed and their inhabitants driven from their land. Thus the Sudanese Government was totally ignoring article 5 (d) (i) of the Convention, just as it also appeared to be ignoring article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.
19. Concerning article 5 (d) (iv), it was clear that women had little right in the choice of a spouse, especially those who were the victims of slavery, which was reportedly still current.
20. The right to own property, set forth in article 5 (d) (v), had been nullified by the mass relocations of people in the South and the destruction of dwellings.
21. The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, laid down in article 5 (d) (vii), was also being flouted. Nuba magistrates, policemen and administrators had been replaced, mostly by Muslim Arabs. The offence of apostasy carried the death penalty.
22. The right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association had been banned since the declaration of the emergency.
23. Economic, social and cultural rights were no better respected than civil rights. The right to work (art. 5 (e) (i)) was not possible in the war-ravaged territories. In addition, trade unions and political parties were banned and their leaders imprisoned.
24. Regarding the right to housing (art. (e) (iii)), the war-related destruction jeopardized any housing programme worth the name. It would, however, be interesting to know what the Sudanese Government was doing to rehabilitate the homeless, especially homeless children.
25. Concerning the right of all, without distinction, to public health, medical care and social services (art. 5 (e) (iv)), a United Nations team had reported a high rate of severe malnutrition among the children of Juba.
26. Turning to the right to education (art. 5 (e) (v)), she would like to know the minimum and maximum ages for compulsory education, whether the educational system was the same in the North and the South, whether children in school could be taught in local languages and what problems were created for children due to forced migration from the South to the North.
27. Following the ILO comments on the implementation of the Forced Labour Convention by the Sudan and taking into account the allegations of slavery from the United Nations Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, she asked the Sudanese delegation to provide information on any investigation or action being undertaken by the Government in that regard. She would also like to know the scale of illicit transfers of children.
28. Finally, with regard to article 7 of the Convention, she said that the replies provided in the report were not in conformity with the provisions of the Convention and asked the Sudanese Government to provide a proper reply in its next report.
29. Mr. WOLFRUM expressed the hope that, despite the economic and political problems facing the Sudan due to the civil war, the Government would make every effort to implement the Convention fully.
30. To his knowledge, the Sudanese National Assembly had established a committee to prepare a study on the human rights situation in the Sudan. Had the committee completed its work? If so, its findings would be very useful to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
31. He believed that the report did not say enough about the judicial system and, like Mrs. Sadiq Ali, would like further information. The Government might perhaps explain the repercussions of the state of emergency on the functioning of the justice system and the rights of those being tried.
32. He noted that in a report published on 18 February 1993, the Committee on the Rights of the Child had stated that children in southern Sudan were subjected to a form of forced labour or slavery. He would like the delegation to comment on that finding.
33. Referring to numerous cases of extrajudicial executions of civilians by the army or pro-government militias between 1989 and the end of 1992, he wondered whether those were actual facts or baseless rumours. Since the Government had decided to investigate some of the incidents, the Committee should be informed of the findings of the investigations. In that regard, he drew the delegation's attention to the fact that some Governments systematically sent the Committee copies of relevant reports.
34. Mr. SONG said that it was difficult to implement a human rights convention in a war-ravaged country. On the other hand, the report was not very clear as to the situation in the regions that were not at war.
35. Paragraph 12 of the report stated that "Until the promulgation of the Shari'a in 1983, the legal system in operation in the Sudan was based on English common law". However, it seemed that changes had been made since 1989. Had those changes strengthened the implementation of Islamic law? Was the legal system still influenced by English law?
36. According to paragraph 18 (b), existing political and social institutions had been abolished under a constitutional decree, but paragraph 26 mentioned an Employees Trade Unions Law. What was the real situation of trade unions in the Sudan?
37. According to paragraph 20 of the report, the Revolutionary Council had established "a federal system of government, as being the most suitable for the Sudan in response to the demands of the South". He wondered whether the delegation could clarify that point.
38. Based on the information he had seen, he wondered to what extent "women's rights have been guaranteed, in complete equality with men, in all walks of life, politically, socially, economically and culturally" (para. 23).
39. According to paragraph 54, the Sudan had a large foreign community from neighbouring countries, in particular large numbers of refugees. It would be useful to have statistics on the number of refugees and foreign residents in the Sudan.
40. Finally, concerning the implementation of article 6 of the Convention, he wondered what reparation was available to victims of a violation of the rights mentioned in paragraphs 70 and 71 of the report.
41. Mr. van BOVEN noted that the report incorporated the country's fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth periodic reports and covered the period 1986-1992. He welcomed the Government's determination to fulfil its obligations to the Committee, the more so in view of the critical situation in the country. The reports of other United Nations human rights treaty bodies clearly reflected that situation and the fact that a state of emergency was still in force in the Sudan made international supervision of the human rights situation even more necessary.
42. Noting that the National Salvation Revolution Command Council, which had taken power in 1989, had issued constitutional decrees aimed at abolishing political parties and trade unions (para. 18) and that those decrees had as their main aim "the deterrence of any possible opponents of the Revolution" (para. 22), he wondered whether revolution could justify the adoption of absolutely any type of measure, whether it could be conducted at the expense of the welfare and lives of human beings, and what were its limits. He believed the human rights instruments were intended to set limits.
43. Religious considerations and ethnic or racial considerations, were often intertwined and religious questions had a bearing on the Committee's mandate. It was significant in that connection that the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination had been prepared at the same time as the instruments on religious intolerance. During the Human Rights Committee's examination of the report of the Sudan, the Sudanese representative had said that the rights laid down in existing human rights instruments should be re-examined in the light of the increased importance attached by Muslim countries in recent years to the implementation of the Shari'a. Did that imply a challenge to the validity of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination? On the same occasion, the Sudanese representative had said that punishments prescribed in Koranic law were not considered cruel or degrading because they had been decreed by God. The premise that certain penalties were a direct emanation of God's will ruled out debate. The question transcended human reason. The representative had also said that apostasy was a social danger comparable to treason in countries under different systems of law. A similar argument occurred in paragraph 50 of the report, which stated, in connection with marriages between persons of different races: "For a non-Muslim wishing to marry the daughter of an Arab Muslim, the only requirements are conversion to Islam and the financial ability to maintain the spouse." Paragraph 64 stated: "As far as freedom of thought is concerned, the only restriction is that the abandonment of Islam and embracing of another faith constitutes the crime of apostasy in Islam, which is punishable by death". The impression given was that the restrictions were minor, whereas they were a matter of life or death. They were a matter of concern and fell, either directly or indirectly, within the Committee's mandate.
44. Although the report of the Sudan had been prepared according to the Committee's guidelines, he did not believe it gave sufficient information on the actual situation in the country.
45. In view of the recently published ILO report on slavery, especially child slavery, in which the Sudan was mentioned, he asked the ILO observer to supply further information in that regard.
46. Mr. ABOUL-NASR expressed his condolences on the death of Mr. Mohammed Omar Beshir, a Sudanese expert who had been a member of the Committee a few years earlier. The Sudan was a neighbour of his own country and he was well acquainted with its problems. He was certain that the internal conflict in the Sudan was not a religious war. The slogans of the insurrectionary movement in the South referred to democracy. It was important not to view the conflict in terms of the currently fashionable campaign against Islam, which was being set up in some quarters as the public enemy of Western civilization, after communism. The record in the Sudan was not unblemished, but care must be taken not to confuse issues. Mr. van Boven had spoken of the linkage between racial and religious questions. On that point, he noted that in the General Assembly, the convention on racial discrimination and the question of a convention on religious intolerance had always been treated separately. The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination had been adopted in 1965, whereas a convention on religious intolerance was still being prepared in the Commission on Human Rights. Racial discrimination might have religious connotations, but not to the extent that some claimed. In that connection, article 1, paragraph 1, of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination mentioned race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin, but not religion.
47. The Sudan's eighth periodic report (CERD/C/222/Add.1) had been drafted according to the relevant guidelines and responded to some questions raised earlier. It was not, however, fully satisfactory. He agreed with Mr. van Boven that a revolution could not be used years later to justify emergency measures. Whatever the value of a revolution, things should eventually return to normal and emergency measures should be ended, or else the system of government was a dictatorship.
48. He was not familiar with the ILO report on slavery mentioned earlier. He noted, however, that slavery had been abolished in the Sudan. It was true that particular practices were sometimes considered to represent a new form of slavery. But that was true of places other than the Sudan, for example the conditions of workers and especially foreign workers in certain countries; he was thinking in particular of the conditions of employment of Mexican migrant farm workers in California. Slavery in the strict sense of the term did not exist in the Sudan.
49. Mr. van BOVEN said that he was anxious to avoid any misunderstanding between Mr. Aboul-Nasr and himself. In 1962 the General Assembly had decided to prepare separate declarations and conventions on racial discrimination and religious intolerance. It was obvious, however, that religion played an important part in many conflicts now taking place. One example was the religious factor in national and ethnic conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. He agreed with Mr. Aboul-Nasr that Islam was currently the target of a campaign that sought to make it into a common enemy, but he could assure Mr. Aboul-Nasr that he was not a supporter of that campaign. The point he had tried to make was that if a policy contrary to human rights was implemented in the name of a religion, it was difficult to discuss the policy if the persons implementing it invoked a divine revelation that took precedence over any other principle, including those of the human rights instruments. Far from being hostile to Islam, he wished to see a greater dialogue among religions.
50. Mr. ABOUL-NASR thanked Mr. van Boven for his explanation and said that he also hoped for dialogue among religions. They all had similar standards.
51. Mr. GARVALOV said that the Sudan was an Arab and Islamic country afflicted by a civil war and mass human rights violations. Despite that, the Sudanese Government had prepared a report according to the guidelines and engaged in self-criticism. That was in striking contrast to earlier reports that had denied any discrimination and simply said that discrimination was condemned by Islam. The language of the eighth periodic report was more careful and more honest. A comparison with the report of Qatar, for example, showed that although the Sudan's legal system was based on the Shari'a, it did not apply the Shari'a itself in the manner described in the eighth periodic report of Qatar (CERD/C/207/Add.1).
52. Turning to certain parts of the report, he noted that in paragraph 31 concerning article 2 of the Convention, it was stated that "mixed marriages between different ethnic and racial groups or groups of different national origins are not only encouraged but have become a fact of life". However, that appeared to be true only with regard to Muslims, and not between Muslims and the followers of other religions. That was confirmed by paragraph 50 which stated that "For a non-Muslim wishing to marry the daughter of an Arab Muslim the only requirements are conversion to Islam ...". In addition, paragraph 46 stated that "Islam prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, colour or ethnic or national origin". But that was not true only of Islam: Christianity had the same values. Why did the report not mention the attitude of the Christians in the southern part of the country?
53. He could not accept the reservation in paragraph 56 concerning article 5, to the effect that women had to meet additional conditions to be allowed to travel abroad "by virtue of their physiological weaknesses". Concerning freedom of movement, mentioned in paragraph 28 concerning article 2 of the Convention, he recalled that Mr. Beshir, the Sudanese expert to whom Mr. Aboul-Nasr had paid a tribute, had once arrived at a session late and explained that he had had difficulties in leaving his country.
54. Finally, account should be taken of the enormous difficulties facing the Sudan. That had been illustrated that very morning by the television station CNN, which had broadcast pictures of children suffering from hunger in Southern Sudan.
55. Mr. BANTON thanked Mrs. Sadiq Ali for her detailed comments on the eighth periodic report and shared her sorrow concerning the tragedy in the Sudan. He associated himself with Mr. Aboul-Nasr's condolences on the death of Mr. Beshir, a former member of the Committee, who, to his credit, had never hesitated to criticize his Government's reports when they fell short of his ideals.
56. It was undeniable that the civil war in the Sudan had an ethnic component. The Government should have taken that more into account in its report and indicated the consequences, particularly in regard to the attitudes of combatants and the people.
57. Paragraph 29 of the report, referring to article 2 of the Convention, spoke of integration policies; it said that "every gathering, assembly, trade union, government department, army, police force and school, particularly in the central part of the Sudan, is mixed to a varying degree". Integration policies were certainly in keeping with the contents of article 2 of the Convention, which stated in paragraph 1: "States Parties ... undertake to pursue ... a policy of eliminating racial discrimination in all its forms ...". However, the Committee should be better informed of the effects of the policy. The next report should place more emphasis on explaining the methods used to implement it, as well as its successes and failures. It might not be possible to ask the Sudan to provide statistics as precise as those established in the richer countries, but at least some qualitative descriptions should be provided. When the term "mixed" was used, the contents of that mix should be explained and an idea given of its extent. For example, the report should give the percentages of northerners and southerners serving in the army and the police compared with the percentages in the population as a whole.
58. In its conclusions on the initial report of the Sudan (CRC/C/3/Add.3), the Committee on the Rights of the Child had noted among the positive aspects of the report Sudan's willingness to review legislation concerning practices that might affect the health of children, such as genital mutilation. That aspect also fell within the purview of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, in article 5 (e) (iv). The Committee should be given more information on the Government's policy in that respect.
59. Mr. SHAHI paid a tribute to Professor Beshir, a person of the highest intellectual integrity.
60. When the Committee assessed the way in which the Sudan fulfilled its obligations, it should bear in mind that there was an armed conflict in the country and that a state of emergency had been proclaimed.
61. Paragraph 17 of the report stated that torture was prohibited. However, there was information indicating violations of that prohibition. If that was the case, were measures being taken to end such practices? It was not sufficient to list a number of legislative provisions and other rules; specific information should be given on the way in which they were applied.
62. Article 64 of the new Penal Code (para. 48 of the report) did not fully comply with the obligations laid down in article 4 of the Convention.
63. It was sometimes difficult to separate religious questions affecting human rights and questions relating to racial discrimination. As Mr. Aboul-Nasr had said, religious questions and ethnic questions relating to human rights sometimes overlapped.
64. After considering the initial report of the Sudan (CCPR/C/45/Add.3), the Human Rights Committee had said in one of its final comments that it was possible for the Sudanese authorities to find a way to reconcile the Sudan's freedom to live within a social system of its own choosing with the Committee's duty to ensure respect for human rights. The Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination might well endorse that statement.
65. Mr. FERRERO COSTA stressed the effort the Sudan had made in submitting its report in spite of the civil war. He endorsed the views expressed by Mrs. Sadiq Ali and the other members of the Committee. In particular, he shared Mr. Banton's view that the civil war had an important ethnic component.
66. The Commission on Human Rights currently had before it a draft resolution on the situation of human rights in the Sudan (E/CN.4/1993/L.32), which spoke of serious human rights violations, especially summary executions, detentions without due process, forced displacement of persons and torture. The draft also mentioned the mass exodus of refugees into neighbouring countries and the large number of internally displaced persons and victims of discrimination in the Sudan, including members of minorities who had been forcibly displaced. In paragraph 3 of the draft, the sponsors proposed that a special rapporteur should be appointed on the situation of human rights in the Sudan, and in paragraph 8 they called upon the Government of the Sudan to comply with applicable international human rights instruments, in particular the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
67. Paragraph 18 of the report stated that in 1989, the legislative and political organs, political parties and trade unions had been abolished by decrees and replaced by new bodies. He would like further information on those new bodies, in particular on how the legislative, executive and judicial powers were now structured.
68. Paragraph 22 stated that the restrictions contained in the Decrees mentioned were no longer being rigorously applied. Could the Sudanese delegation provide clarifications on the way in which the restrictions were applied?
69. He would welcome more details on the acceleration of the national integration process mentioned in paragraph 29 of the report.
70. Paragraph 36 stated that the political parties had been abolished in 1989. Did that mean that they were still prohibited?
71. It was also stated in paragraph 37 that all Sudanese were free to participate in the organizations of the revolution, without discrimination on any grounds, in their individual capacities and not as representatives of political parties or groups. Would it be possible to have some clarifications on the organization of political and social life?
72. He would also like further information on the penalties laid down in the Penal Code for acts of racial discrimination (paras. 27 and 48 of the report).
73. Paragraph 64 of the report stated that a Muslim who was guilty of apostasy was liable to the death penalty. That showed how closely religious matters were linked to human rights. The Committee should give serious thought to that problem.
74. Mr. LAMPTEY said that the population of the Sudan was composed of two major groups: the Arab Muslims in the North and the blacks in the South, who were mostly Christians and Animists. Because of that, it was difficult to dissociate race and religion in the Sudan. The civil war raging in the Sudan was due to the fact that the blacks in the South, mostly Christians, felt that they were disadvantaged in comparison with the population of the North. The National Salvation Revolutionary Command Council, which had taken over power in 1989, had exacerbated the conflict by seeking to impose on the Christian population of the South a social order that was based on the Shari'a. Therefore, it should be stated clearly that the Black Christian population in Southern Sudan were victims of discrimination and that the report did not appear to indicate that the Sudanese Government was attempting to redress that situation.
75. Mr. ABOUL-NASR said that he would like to know the exact demographic composition of the southern part of the country. According to his information, Christians were only the third largest group, behind the Muslims and the Animists, who were the largest group.
76. Paragraph 50 of the report said that for a non-Muslim wishing to marry the daughter of an Arab Muslim, he need simply convert to Islam. Was the word "Arab" in that sentence a mistake? If not, that would be an obvious case of racial discrimination.
77. Mr. DIACONU said that the Sudanese authorities should be told that, in the interest of the people and the country, all institutions should respect the provisions of the Convention. In its next report, the Sudanese Government should also give clearer and more thorough explanations of the way in which it was fulfilling its obligations under the Convention.
78. The CHAIRMAN, speaking in his personal capacity, congratulated the Sudanese Government for continuing its dialogue with the Committee. Its willingness to hold a dialogue was especially important as Sudanese society was multiracial, multicultural and multireligious, as stated in the report.
79. Paragraph 14 of the report spoke of special criminal courts formed by order of the Chief of Justice. Under what circumstances could such courts be established, and what were the laws governing them? Were they empowered to apply special rules? If so, did they not risk becoming arbitrary?
80. Paragraph 18 (b) said that trade unions had been abolished. Were they still prohibited?
81. Finally, paragraph 65 said that every citizen could freely express his or her opinions, especially within the legislative bodies and the steering committees of the trade unions, which elsewhere in the report were said to have been abolished. What was the exact situation, and was freedom of opinion really guaranteed?