The government usually did not notify foreign missions in time of the detention of their citizens. At the end of 2013, the government announced the creation of the RSF as a new element of the security apparatus. The government continued to arrest and harass members of the legal profession it considered political opponents.
Despite a joint government-United Nations communiqué, government forces regularly harassed NGOs receiving international revenue. In December, the government submitted to the UN Security Council a report from the Special Prosecutor for Crimes in Darfur documenting the events. The government and the ICRC signed a new cooperation agreement on November 4 to allow the resumption of ICRC activities in the country.
In April, the Two Territories peace negotiations between the government and the SPLM-N, meeting under the auspices of the AU's High Level Implementation Panel, failed.
Respect for Civil Liberties, Including
Defamation Laws/National Security: NISS has initiated and continued legal proceedings against journalists for stories critical of the government and security services. The government regulated the licensing of Internet and telecommunications companies through the National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC). Although the country's interim constitution and law guarantee freedom of assembly, the government has severely limited this right.
The interim national constitution and law provide for freedom of association, but the government has severely curtailed this right. Unlike in the previous year, the government shut down civil society organizations or prevented their registration. The interim national constitution and law provide for freedom of movement, foreign travel, emigration and repatriation, but the government has restricted these rights.
Traveling abroad: The government requires citizens to obtain an exit visa if they want to leave the country. As in previous years, the government refused to set up formal displaced persons or refugee camps in Khartoum or the Two Territories. An estimated 40,000 lived in slums, informal settlements known as "open areas." The government did not officially recognize these populations as refugees or displaced persons and restricted access to these areas by humanitarian organizations such as UNHCR and IOM.
The government worked with UNHCR throughout the year to develop plans to resettle some 17,000 South Sudanese living in substandard accommodation across Khartoum's "open areas" and new arrivals fleeing conflict in the south. The government tried to use the "first country of asylum" principle to return asylum seekers to Ethiopia. In 2013, the government announced that it would issue approximately 100,000 work permits to Eritrean refugees in Kassala in the Eastern Region as part of the joint UNHCR/UN Development Program (UNDP) Transitional Solutions Initiative. The program was suspended earlier in the year and has not been restarted.
Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change Their Government
The clashes followed after members of the refugee camp abducted local villagers in retaliation for what they said were the abductions of refugees earlier in the week by Rashaida tribesmen. The country continued to operate under the interim national constitution of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). On August 9, the members of the group Seven plus seven, representing seven members of the government and seven members of the opposition, signed a.
On November 2, a forum of political parties chaired by President Bashir adopted the structure and agenda of the national dialogue, with the goal of starting discussions by the end of the month. The formula reserves 52 percent of the positions for the NKP and 14 percent for northern opposition parties, including those from Darfur. Several parts of the CPA intended to clarify the status of southern groups remaining in the north after the secession of South Sudan continued to be the subject of negotiations between the governments of Sudan, South Sudan and rebel groups.
In August, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) announced leaders for local election committees and did not act on proposals needed to undertake wider reforms in response to criticism of the 2010 elections. Political parties and political participation: The NCP dominated the political landscape, controlling all the regional governorships and having a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly. It is under the control of the ruling party and is not an independent body.
In the first half of the year, authorities detained at least 25 SCP members, including key leaders, and repeatedly canceled events at local branches (see section 1.e.). Between October 31 and November 2, the NISS detained five members of the Communist Party in Blue Nile, including the general secretary of the Blue Nile branch. Women held 87 of the 354 seats in the National Assembly, five of the 30 seats in the Council of States, and seven of the 56 cabinet positions.
Corruption and Lack of Transparency in Government
Public Access to Information: No law provides for public access to government information, nor has the government provided such access.
Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
The United Nations or other international bodies: The government did not cooperate with UN Security Council Resolution 1593 and failed to comply with the ICC arrest warrants for President Bashir; Ahmad Muhammad Haroun, former minister for humanitarian affairs and current governor of North Kordofan; Ali Muhammad Abd al-Rahman Hussein, former senior Jingaweit commander who supported the government against Darfur rebel groups; and Defense Minister Abd al-Rahim Hussein on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his actions while serving as the president's special. The government is a party to the African Commission on Human and Human Rights, overseen by the AU. On June 4, the commission announced its decision on a 2009 case filed against the government by three IDPs.
Government Human Rights Agencies: The Government Human Rights Advisory Council is responsible for advising the government on necessary reforms and preparing the government's official human rights reports as required by the United Nations. The Advisory Board did not respond to requests from international organizations to investigate human rights violations and did not provide lists of detained persons to the international community. In June 2013, the Advisory Board released the National Action Plan for the Protection of Human Rights 2013-2023 in Sudan.
The plan discussed human rights education, civil and political rights, legal reform and capacity building for. In August, the government reported that it was implementing the action plan through the Federal Ministry of Education, particularly in relation to the promotion of human rights education. The National Human Rights Commission is an independent 15-member body to monitor human rights in the country, receive complaints from citizens about human rights violations and assess the government's compliance with it.
Security forces have repeatedly prevented NGOs and human rights activists from making complaints to the commission. On August 17, security forces prevented activists from delivering a memorandum to the commission citing human rights violations, including freedom of expression. Security forces detained members of the opposition National Consensus Forces who attempted to pass the memorandum to the committee.
Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
In 2013 the government reported that female school enrollment increased to 68.7 percent, surpassing that of boys, as a result of a national education strategy. The government and UNICEF reported a change in attitudes towards FGM/C and observed downward trends in the prevalence of FGM/C between household health surveys in 2006 and 2010. The government tried to curb the spread of FGM/C and conducted public awareness campaigns on this topic a top priority.
The government agreed to a three-year program with UNICEF, UNFPA and WHO to seek to end FGM/C in the country. In October, the government hosted a conference in Khartoum to promote the "Saleema" campaign and anti-FGM/C initiatives. The government tried to enforce laws criminalizing the sexual exploitation of children; but NGOs reported that social stigmas prevented many families from pursuing legal cases against the perpetrators.
Child prostitution also remained a problem, although the government denied that the phenomena existed in the country. Although the law, including the interim constitution, provides protection for persons with disabilities, social stigma and lack of resources prevented the government from enforcing compliance with the law. In November 2013, the Ministry of Social Welfare, Women's and Children's Affairs and the National Council for Persons with Disabilities launched an initiative to improve access to public sector jobs and to encourage respect for the constitutional rights of persons with disabilities limited.
The government had not enacted laws or implemented effective programs to ensure access to buildings for persons with disabilities. The Muslim majority and the government continued to discriminate against ethnic minorities in almost every aspect of society. The government announced that those fleeing the conflicts in South Sudan should be considered "brothers and sisters" and should not be subjected to them.
Worker Rights
There were credible reports that the government routinely intervened to manipulate union, union and student union elections. The government stated that it investigated and prosecuted cases of forced labor, but it did not compile comprehensive statistics on the subject. The International Labor Organization (ILO) continued to call on the government to address the continuing violations of forced labor.
In October, the government announced it would launch the International Labor Standards Committee, a high-level coordinating mechanism involving multiple government agencies. According to the Children's Act, 12 is the minimum age for children to engage in "light work". The Ministry of Social Welfare, Women and Children's Affairs is responsible for enforcing child labor laws. The law prohibits the employment of young people in hazardous industries and jobs, in jobs that require significant physical effort or that are harmful to their morals.
The law allows minors to work seven hours a day, interrupted by a period of one hour's paid rest. The government did not always enforce such laws due to insufficient resources to monitor work areas and community participation. Most child labor took place in the informal sector, including menial jobs that the government lacked the resources to monitor.
The law limits the working week to 40 hours (five eight-hour days, excluding a daily break of 30 minutes to one hour), with rest days on Friday and Saturday. The law provides for paid annual leave after one year of continuous employment and paid holiday after three months. There were no expectations that the government would intervene to enforce labor standards, especially in the informal and agricultural sectors.
