Sudanese in Holland protest human rights violations in their country

Members of Sudanese civil society organisations in the Netherlands carried out a protest in front of the Dutch Foreign Ministry and the Sudanese embassy in The Hague on Friday.

The protestors handed a memorandum to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs concerning the situation of Sudanese asylum seekers in the Netherlands, the dismantling of the camps for the displaced in Darfur, the suppression of women, and other human rights violations in Sudan.

El Imam Mousa, the head of the Democratic Forum in the Netherlands, and spokesman for the Sudanese activists in the country (members of the Democratic Forum, the Darfur Union, Nuba Mountains Solidarity Abroad, and the Asylum Seekers' Committee in the Netherlands), told Radio Dabanga that dozens of Sudanese carried out a sit-in in the Hague on Friday morning.

“We raised banners in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for almost an hour, urging the Dutch authorities to review their policies concerning the dictatorial regime in Khartoum and adjust the status of Sudanese asylum seekers in the Netherlands.

“A second sit-in was organised in front of the Sudanese embassy. The protesters there shouted slogans denouncing the Khartoum regime and calling for its demise,” he reported.

Growing suppression

“Sudan is now in a state of total collapse, and as Khartoum fears an intifada, they are strengthening their grip on the people. Any one who criticises the government in public risks being detained by the security apparatus” Mousa explained.

“For this reason, the arguments for applying for asylum abroad are still in place. The Dutch government has therefore no justification not to adjust the status of Sudanese refugees in the Netherlands,” he said.

“The financial support provided by the European Commission to Sudan to counter human trafficking is misused by the Sudanese government. The Khartoum regime is using the funds for the suppression, arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of opponents, activists and human rights defenders.”

The Sudanese activist further condemned Khartoum’s insistence to forcibly dismantle the numerous camps for the displaced in Darfur and forcibly return the inhabitants to their areas of origin “which are far from safe”.

He described the decision as “criminal and catastrophic”, referring to the rampant insecurity in the region and the renewed fighting between government forces and rebel combatants in Jebel Marra this year that caused the displacement of tens of thousands of people.

Mousa as well denounced the demolition of the village of seasonal labourers in El Gezira by the authorities, and the death sentence against a young woman in Omdurman because she stabbed her husband to death after he raped her.