The NISS cells in Omdurman prisons were known to local activists as “the refrigerators” because of the extremely cold temperatures and lack of windows and sunlight. The government provided its conclusions in 2014 to the independent UN expert on the human rights situation in Sudan. Contrary to the recommendations of the independent expert, the government has not made its full report public.
The government has also generally failed to investigate violations committed by any branch of the security forces. Amnesty: In September 2015, the government granted general amnesty for leaders and members of the armed movements participating in the national dialogue. Human rights monitors reported that political prisoners numbered in the hundreds; the government claimed it had no political prisoners.
The government severely restricted access to political prisoners by international humanitarian organizations and human rights monitors.
Respect for Civil Liberties, Including
Violence and intimidation: The government, including the NISS, continued to arrest, harass, intimidate and assault journalists and outspoken critics of the government. The NISS initiated and continued legal action against journalists for stories critical of the government and security services. According to the report, arrests and prosecutions under the IT Crime Act have increased over the year, reflecting a tactical shift in the government's strategy to restrict internet freedom.
Although the Interim National Constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly, the government has severely curtailed this right. The Interim National Constitution and law provide for freedom of association, but the government has severely curtailed this right. In the absence of general meetings, the government prevented some organizations from holding elections or filling vacancies.
The government obstructed the work of UN agencies and delayed the full approval of their activities throughout the country, especially in the Two Areas. The government has allowed two camps for South Sudanese refugees to be set up in East Darfur. Foreign Travel: The government requires citizens to obtain an exit visa if they wish to leave the country.
The government continued to restrict access in eastern Sudan for international humanitarian NGOs, as it did throughout. The government did not officially recognize this population as refugees or internally displaced persons and restricted access to these areas by. In December, the government reportedly confirmed the contents of the memorandum of understanding, reversing the previous position of a cut-off date based on arrival in the country.
The government did not require visas or residence permits for Syrians out of Arab solidarity. However, the government's position on the status of South Sudanese in Sudan has changed several times based on improvements or points of contention in Sudan-South Sudan relations.
Freedom to Participate in the Political Process
People of South Sudanese descent who had lived in the Republic of Sudan for many years were stripped of their Sudanese citizenship by law, regardless of the strength of their ties to the new country of South Sudan or Sudan and their views on which country they wanted to belong to. 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. Recent Elections: National executive and legislative elections held in April did not meet international standards.
According to the chairman of the National Election Commission, the votes were counted in the election, representing a participation rate of about 46 percent. General elections for the president and the National Assembly are scheduled to be held every five years. Political Parties and Political Participation: The NCP dominated the political landscape, controlling all regional governments and holding a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly.
In March 2015, the government failed to attend a meeting facilitated by the AU aimed at ensuring the inclusion of the opposition and armed groups in the national dialogue. However, in August 2015 President Bashir chaired a meeting of the High Coordination Committee of the National Dialogue. President Bashir announced a two-month extension of the ceasefire in Darfur and the two areas of South Kordofan and Blue Nile to convey sincerity in establishing a new political way forward.
In a move that observers viewed as an outgrowth of national dialogue, parliament voted in late December to restore the post of prime minister, a position abolished in 1989 after Bashir came to power. In July 2014, the National Assembly increased the share of seats in the national and state assemblies from 25 to 30 percent, drawn from state-level women's lists. There were prominent Coptic Christian politicians within the National Assembly, the Khartoum City Council and the Khartoum State Assembly.
Corruption and Lack of Transparency in Government
Public access to information: In January 2015, the government passed a Freedom of Information Act to promote greater transparency and empower citizens. As of August, local and international human rights monitors and journalists remained skeptical about the law improving access to information, as little information about the law was publicly disseminated. The law exempts twelve categories of information that can be maintained as classified, including personal information and information related to national security, foreign policy and criminal proceedings.
Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
UNAMID flights were also regularly canceled due to the lack of authorization from the authorities. In addition, restrictions on movement and denial of entry and permission to humanitarian organizations continued to be imposed by the authorities. The result is a steady reduction in humanitarian operational capacity in Darfur and other parts of the country.
According to UNAMID, the government banned numerous land movements and scheduled flights for UNAMID and humanitarian organizations to access sites in Darfur, mainly in North and Central Darfur. Human rights activists and humanitarian workers viewed the actions as more restrictive on the humanitarian work environment. The government continued to use bureaucratic obstacles to limit the actions of humanitarian organizations, in violation of the provisions of the 2007 treaty.
Humanitarian organizations reported that the government continued to deny travel to East Darfur and severely restricted travel to South Darfur. United Nations or other international bodies: The government remained uncooperative with UN Security Council Resolution 1593 and failed to comply with ICC arrest warrants for President Bashir; Ahmad Muhammad Haroun, former minister of humanitarian affairs and current governor of Northern. Kordofan; former Minister of Defense and current Governor of Khartoum State, Abd al-Rahim Hussein; Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain, a militia leader who fought against the government; and Ali Muhammad Abd al-Rahman Hussein, a senior Jingaweit commander who supported the government against rebel groups in Darfur.
In 2014, the commission published its decision regarding a 2009 complaint filed against the government on behalf of IDPs regarding torture and other allegations. During the year the government generally cooperated with the visits of the independent UN expert on the human rights situation in Sudan, Aristide Nononsi. Nononsi was generally not given meaningful access to Sudan's conflict zones, and while he met with some independent civil society organizations, most of his meetings were with government officials or government-affiliated NGOs.
Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons Women
The government agreed to a three-year program with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the. The government has sought to curb the prevalence of FGM/C and has made public awareness campaigns a top priority. In Geneva in March, the government accepted the Human Rights Council's UPR recommendations, including reforms on FGM/C and child marriage.
The government did not provide access to information on the number of sexual harassment reports. In October, for the first time in six years, the government allowed UNICEF access to Golo, Jebel Marra in central Darfur, to assess educational needs. The government attempted to enforce laws criminalizing child abuse and was more likely to prosecute cases involving child abuse and sexual exploitation of children than cases involving adults.
In December 2015, the government adopted a draft national strategy to promote the abolition of child marriage. The government tried to enforce laws criminalizing the sexual exploitation of children; However, NGOs reported that social stigma prevented many families from pursuing legal cases against perpetrators. Child prostitution also remained a problem, although the government denied that the phenomenon existed in the country.
Although the law, including the interim state constitution, provides protection for people with disabilities, social stigma and lack of resources have hindered the government's enforcement of disability laws. The law does not specifically prohibit discrimination against disabled people, but it states: "The state ensures that persons with special needs enjoy all the rights and freedoms stipulated by the constitution, access to appropriate education [and]. The government has not enacted laws or implemented effective programs to provide access to buildings, information and communication for persons with disabilities.
Worker Rights
The law denies unions the autonomy to exercise the right to organize or bargain collectively. The law does not specifically prohibit strikes in non-essential sectors, but requires all strikes to receive prior government approval after meeting a number of legal requirements. There were reports that some children were engaged in forced labor, particularly in the informal mining sector.
The law defines children as persons younger than 18 years of age, but does not explicitly prohibit child labor. 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 allows minors to work seven hours a day broken by a one-hour paid rest period.
Child labor was a serious problem, especially in the agricultural and pastoral sectors where the practice was common. Most child labor occurred in the informal sector, including menial jobs that the government did not have the resources to comprehensively monitor. The government did not effectively enforce labor laws and regulations, and penalties in the form of fines were infrequent and insufficient to deter violations.
Normally, the High Salary Council of the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs sets the minimum wage for the public sector. The minimum monthly salary in the private sector is determined by agreements between individual industries and the High Salary Board, and varied between industries. Representatives of the Eritrean and Ethiopian communities in Khartoum stated that undocumented migrants in the capital faced poor working conditions.
