The Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Right Council on the situation of human rights in the Sudan, Sima Samar, issued the following statement following her fourth visit to the country from 25 July to 2 August, 2007.
Sudan has freed over 1,000 women and children from the south who had been jailed in Khartoum for brewing and selling alcohol, a crime under north Sudan's Islamic sharia law, an official said on Sunday.
The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) has been informed by the Sudan Organisation Against Torture (SOAT) of the recent sentencing to death by stoning of two women by the criminal court of Al-Azazi, Managil province, Gazeera state.
Women were never simply guests at the negotiating table. The roles they play as combatants, supporters of fighting forces and peacemakers qualify them to sit at the negotiating table and to assume an active role in implementation.
On December 10 – Human Rights Day – people around the world will be join together to denounce the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war in Darfur and to show solidarity with the women and girls of Darfur.
Recently in Abuja, Nigeria, the Sudanese government and the main rebel group in Darfur signed a peace agreement to end three years of fighting. A ceasefire was supposed to come into force 72 hours later. But little has changed on the ground in Darfur.
