SUDAN: VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN/NGO ACT: NO PROGRESS

C O N F I D E N T I A L KHARTOUM 001024

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/SPG AND DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/01/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL SOCI KWMN SU
SUBJECT: SUDAN: VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN/NGO ACT: NO PROGRESS

IN SIGHT

REF: KHARTOUM 00669

Classified By: P/E Chief E.Whitaker Reason: Section 1.4 (b) & (d)


1. (C) Summary: On April 26 the Sub-Joint Implementation
Mechanism (SUB-JIM) met to discuss Sudan's progress on
combating violence against women (VAW). Overall, the
Government of National Unity (GNU) believes that it has
almost fulfilled its legal obligation to combat violence
against women. The UN highlighted that the South Darfur
Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) Committee had visited
police stations outside of Nyala; where they determined that
there had been no change in the situation. The UN reported
that the South Darfur SGBV Committee said police stations
were unaware of Amended Circular 2 (legal framework to
separate the legal and medical tracks for SGBV victims),
lacked the knowledge to properly register cases of SGBV,
failed to create a private space for women in police
stations, had a low registration of rape cases, and did not
have logistical support to conduct investigations. The
European Commission (EC) representative also raised the
recent closure of an EC-funded national NGO due to the
retroactive application of the NGO Act. End Summary.

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SGBV Committees Not Functioning; Interim Steps not Taken
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2. (C) The April 26 SUB-JIM, led by UNMIS Human Rights Chair
Ravindran Daniel and GNU Advisory Council for Human Rights
(ACHR) Rappateur Dr. Abdelmoniem Taha, was attended by
representatives from the African Union and the Dutch,
British, and German embassies. Daniel began the meeting by
highlighting that, although, the South Darfur GBV Committee
had visited five police stations outside of Nyala town, the
situation in South Darfur had not improved. He added that
the Committee members had observed that the police outside of
Nyala town lacked knowledge on the proper registration
procedures for SGBV cases, failed to create a private space
for women in police stations, had a low registration of rape
cases, and lacked logistical support to conduct SGBV
investigations. These were the four interim steps that the
South Darfur State SGBV Committee had agreed to address in
March (see reftel). Furthermore, instead of aiming to
document and highlight SGBV problems, Daniel said that the
Committee was more interested in downplaying the scope of the
problem. He said that, although the South Darfur SGBV
Committee was functioning, the West Darfur SGBV Committee met
irregularly and had not planned nor implemented any programs.
The North Darfur SGBV Committee was not functioning.


3. (C) Dr. Abdel Moniem Taha responded by saying that
establishing SGBV committees in each of the three Darfur
states was a commendable first step. The next step, he said,
should be to establish a clear mandate for the SGBV
Committees and a unified understanding of their roles. In
his opinion, the government had almost "fulfilled its legal
mandate to combat violence against women (VAW) and had done a
commendable step in amending the legal requirements for
victims." Dr. Taha cited a decrease in rape as evidence that
the Plan of Action to combat VAW was effective. In addition,
Dr. Taha said that he was concerned about the lack of
involvement by NGOs and tribal and religious leaders to
address SGBV. The GNU, he said, was waiting for the
international community, the African Union, and NGOs to
progress forward on the Plan of Action. The NGOs had a duty
to reqort cases to the SBV Comoittees to trancfEr th%m"tkQt`e DstribT AtvOvneyl(he(dde|/ iCmmf~tz(!Dyrin8hisQ-Q2e`5tij, Db&Tai ga wQsbl9 v~k/mffuAfm QmwQ"`gMQdku{wlaD&ap`lccce{}aBks"&QuQz98dN xm!qs#qe6m
NlaKjqgvnQ.--Q/!h-+1.?,%#!Q/.Q-%m-,=!]'Q.Q5-' n5(Qh=!5"mQ(qQ|G/dfo*'Qocyj9UQF!Qoq$Qaw(>eMn] H#Q~():=3)3MQQ+Qm\nAQ+Qmmunity to fulfill its
responsibility in the Plan of Action. Poloff also raised the
April 25 press conference by the new Director of Police, Lt
General Mahjoub Hassan Saad, in which he refuted "Western
mass media" allegations about crimes of rape in Darfur,
saying those allegations were unfounded. In response, Dr.
Taha said that the GNU had acknowledged there was a problem
by creating a Plan of Action and a unit to combat violence
against women. He dismissed the press conference, saying
that the Director General was newly appointed to the Ministry
of Interior.



















IN SIGHT


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Retroactive Application of the NGO Act
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5. (SBU) The European Commission (EC) representative, Luca
Pertonni, raised the NGO Act and the recent closure of the
national NGO &Women Awareness Raising Group8 (AWOON-Red
Sea). On April 20, the women's activist organization was
suspended for reportedly not registering its program proposal
with the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) prior to receiving
funding from the EC. Pertonni stated that the AWOON-Red Sea
proposed their program over two years ago and it was funded
by the EC before the enactment of the Act. Dr. Taha
responded by saying that the government had a right to know
about the funding for NGOs to prevent &hands of foreign
intervention in Sudan.8 Pertonni highlighted that a letter
had been forwarded to the ACHR for action regarding the
closure of AWOON-Red Sea.
STEINFELD