Sudanese parties prepare for 57th UN Human Rights Council session

The UN Sudan Fact-Finding Committee will present its report tomorrow afternoon at the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. A legal delegation from the key Sudanese civil society group, the Civil Democratic Forces alliance, better known as Tagadom, arrived and met with a committee member yesterday afternoon, as the USA met with Saudi Arabian leaders in Riyadh.

In his opening remarks to the Council yesterday morning, Volker Türk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed his deep concern over the deteriorating human rights situation in Sudan, noting that 20,000 people have been killed during the ongoing war.

He called on the international community not to stand as a spectator of the war, stressing the need to stop human rights violations.

Sudan’s Attorney General and chair of the National Committee for the Investigation of Crimes and Violations of National and International Humanitarian Laws, El Fateh Teyfour, will present the statement of the Sudanese de facto government on the human rights situation and violations in the country in light of the ongoing war.

The Tagadom Legal and Human Rights Committee is also participating.

Human rights defender Mohamed Yasin told Radio Dabanga that the parties concerned with Sudan began consultations in Geneva a few days ago. “We aim to push for improving the human rights situation in Sudan whilst all the concerned parties are in Geneva,” Yasin said.

The UN Human Rights Council’s session will continue for five weeks and the draft resolution that the Council will submit regarding the mission will be subject to a vote by member states before the results are submitted to the Security Council and the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Fact-finding report

The latest UN Sudan Fact-Finding Committee report, published on Friday, called for the deployment of a “neutral” force to protect civilians from the atrocities of the war between the army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The UN-mandated independent fact-finding mission focused on human rights violations committed by the two parties to the conflict and the forces fighting with them in Sudan since its outbreak on April 15, 2023.

The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the recommendations of the report “in its entirety,” calling it “a clear violation of the UN’s mandate and authority.”

Tagadom welcomed the report, reiterating its “firm and consistent position” in strongly condemning the violations, along with its call for holding the violators accountable, providing justice to the victims, and “compensating the harm that befell millions of defenceless civilians who have been brutally targeted by the warring forces in Sudan.”

Urges for extension

The Tagadom delegation met with Mona El Rishmawi, a member of the fact-finding mission on human rights violations in Sudan, in Geneva yesterday. They called on the Human Rights Council to extend the mandate of the fact-finding mission.

Osama Saeed, head of the delegation, told Radio Dabanga that they discussed the mission’s report.
He further said that the Tagadom delegation will urge countries to vote in favour of the report to extend the mission’s mandate to identify violators and accountability mechanisms.

He stressed that the report included important recommendations, including expanding the scope of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to include all parts of the country, extending the arms embargo to include all parts of the country, handing over those wanted to the ICC, and initiating hybrid judicial mechanisms to complete the investigation into international crimes.

The delegation called for strengthening and deepening communication between the fact-finding mission, human rights organisations, and Sudanese civil society organizations to assist the committee in monitoring and documenting violations.

US-Saudi meeting

US Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello met in Riyadh with Saudi Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Waleed A. Elkhereiji yesterday. Sudanese conflict resolution expert Suleiman Jeddo told Radio Dabanga that the nature of the conflict makes it difficult to resolve it in the manner in which the Geneva negotiations were conducted.

Perrillo’s visit to Riyadh is part of a diplomatic tour of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey. He is scheduled to meet with Sudanese refugees and civil leaders, as well as key government officials and multi-lateral partners from the Arab League and Intergovernmental Authority on Development.

The US State Department said in a statement that this tour is part of the Aligned for Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan (ALPS) initiative, and aims to enhance international coordination to resolve the Sudanese crisis.

The statement explained that Perriello will focus on diplomacy, including better humanitarian access in Sudan, protection of civilians, and following existing agreements under the Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan, signed by delegations of the belligerents in Jeddah in May last year. He also seeks to reach a ceasefire between the warring parties.

According to Jeddo, the ALPS members (USA, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, the African Union, and the UN) could successfully stop the war in Sudan because of their influence on the two warring parties.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry said that the meeting discussed developments in Sudan. “Great meeting in Riyadh today,” Perriello tweeted on X this morning, “about our shared commitment to resolve the crisis in Sudan and to implement the Jeddah Declaration.” The US Special Envoy spoke of a “renewed urgency” to bring the conflict to an end with the help of the ALPS group and others, noting that the USA is “grateful for Saudi Arabia’s partnership.”