Sudan declared free of human rights scrutiny

Sudan declared free of human rights scrutiny

GENEVA — Special monitoring of human rights violations in Sudan will cease, according to a vote by the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) April 16.

Member nations on the council, including representatives from Saudi Arabia, Libya and Sudan itself, voted 26 to 24 against Resolution L 35 that would continue the mandate of the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Sudan. The vote effectively ends the UN’s attempts to hold Sudan up to international scrutiny for prolific human rights abuses that occur in that country.

The ending of the mandate comes in the wake of a report by outgoing Special Rapporteur Gerhart Baum detailing the continued abuse by the Sudanese government of the rights of its citizens in both northern and southern Sudan. These include torture, extrajudicial killings, abductions, attacks on civilian targets and the impeding of humanitarian access to southern Sudan.