BRIEFING NOTES - (1) Sudan; (2) DRC; (3) Western Balkans

Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Liz Throssell

Location: Geneva

Date: 12 November 2021

Subject: (1) Sudan; (2) DRC; (3) Western Balkans

1) Sudan

Ahead of the protests planned to take place across Sudan tomorrow, we call on military leaders to ensure that the Sudanese people’s rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly are fully respected. Security forces need to receive clear instructions that they must not disperse peaceful assemblies and must refrain from the use of force unless absolutely necessary, as a measure of last resort and only to the minimum extent required.

With the reported killing of 14 people and injury of some 300 during protests between 25 and 30 October due to the unnecessary and disproportionate use of force by military and security forces, it is crucial that all necessary steps are taken to ensure that there is no further bloodshed at protests planned for tomorrow and beyond.

Those responsible for the violence, including the use of live ammunition against demonstrators – must be promptly and transparently held accountable, in line with international human rights laws and standards.

We also urge the authorities to release immediately all individuals who remain arbitrarily detained since the 25 October coup, most of whom have been held incommunicado now for more than two weeks. Our Joint UN Human Rights Office in Sudan has verified the arrest of 57 people, including Government officials, political and civil society actors, human rights defenders and journalists, since 25 October. We understand 10 of these people have since been released, but we have yet to receive a written response to our formal request for information about and access to the detainees. Access has also been denied to their lawyers and family members.

In addition to these arbitrary detentions, hundreds of protesters have also been arrested, including, reportedly, 87 teachers. While most are held for a short time and then released, we understand some remain detained.

Internet and telecommunications services remain curtailed, seriously hampering the ability of people to communicate in the midst of a crisis, as well as damaging livelihoods. We call on the authorities to respect the Khartoum court ruling yesterday, ordering telecommunications companies to restore Internet services to all their customers pending further proceedings. Blunt measures such as blanket Internet and telecommunications shutdowns, sometimes for prolonged periods, violate the principles of necessity and proportionality and contravene international law.

The appointment of the Sovereign Council is a setback to efforts to obtain a political agreement. As the High Commissioner for Human Rights has stressed, meaningful, inclusive, participatory dialogue is urgently needed to ensure a swift return to civilian rule in Sudan.

2) DRC

The situation in Masisi and Lubero territories in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s northeastern province of North Kivu is very concerning.

Land disputes among different communities have led to intercommunal violence, which in turn has fueled the emergence of armed groups. These groups have been able to take almost total control of Masisi and Lubero, where the State’s presence is negligible and where few security forces are deployed.

The number of violations and abuses reported in Masisi and Lubero has increased steadily since 2015. Currently, more than half of the human rights violations and abuses recorded in North Kivu province take place in these two territories.

According to information recorded by the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office in DRC (UNJHRO) and included in a report* published today, armed groups perpetrated at least 2,359 human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law in Masisi and Lubero in the first 10 months of the year, up from the 801 recorded in 2020 and 756 in 2019. The 2,359 abuses recorded in 2021 included, among others, 484 people summarily executed, 1,455 injured after being attacked and 354 victims of sexual violence.

From January to October, the Joint Human Rights Office also recorded 966 violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by security forces in Masisi and Lubero, a significant increase from 387 registered in 2020 and 183 in 2019. The violations recorded this year included 111 civilians victims of extrajudicial killings, 542 people injured and 58 victims of sexual violence.

We call on the authorities to establish prompt, impartial, independent and effective investigations into all human rights violations and abuses with a view to hold those responsible accountable.

We also urge authorities to ensure that security personnel deployed to the two territories to confront the armed groups are properly trained to prevent human rights violations from occurring.

Demobilization, disarmament and insertion programmes to support the integration of fighters into the communities should be fully and rapidly implemented. These programmes should be complementary to the transitional justice mechanisms that guarantee the right to truth, justice and reparations for victims.

In parallel, authorities should establish civil administration structures to offer essential services to the local population and so prevent armed groups from filling the vacuum currently left by the State.

* https://bit.ly/31HtQCT

3) Western Balkans

We are concerned at events this week in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, where police stepped in to protect a mural of the convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic painted on a building in the city centre.

The mural in Belgrade is not an isolated incident. Posters, graffiti, other materials and statements praising war criminals are found in other parts of Serbia, as well as in various towns in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and elsewhere in the region.

Symbols glorifying convicted war criminals should have no place in the public space. Such symbols are all the more concerning given the recent rise in hate speech and denial of genocide and other atrocity crimes in the Western Balkans – developments that highlight the failure to address the past.

The situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is particularly worrying, where such trends are deepening divisions.

We call on the authorities in the region to abide by their international human rights obligations to ensure the rights to truth, justice and reparation, as well as to adopt measures to prevent recurrence and to promote further reconciliation efforts. We call on them to condemn and refrain from all forms of hate speech and incitement to violence and to ensure the perpetrators of such acts are held accountable.

The UN Human Rights Office stands ready to continue offering its guidance on human rights issues to help people in the Western Balkans move forward with the transitional justice processes that are so crucial for the region’s future.

© Scoop Media