This article was written by Denise Lifton and released as www.pambazuka.org’s 3 February editorial. It has been edited for republication here.

Supported by the international community under the auspices of the Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the agreement is the outcome of an intense process of negotiations between both warring parties that gathered momentum in 2004: The peace accord signed on 26 May 2004 between the Government of Sudan and the SPLA/M was followed by a comprehensive framework agreement, the Nairobi Declaration, on 5 June 2004. On 31 December 2004, the last two protocols for a peace deal were signed – a permanent ceasefire and the implementation modalities of the protocols. Sudan now embarks on its pre-interim period of governance before the six-year interim period leading to a referendum on the South’s secession officially begins.

Will human rights be respected?
However, through all the joyous proclamations of peace and stability by the GoS and the SPLA/M, it is far from sure whether this will be the beginning of a new period in Sudan’s history where human rights are respected and protected. Although the peace agreement has been a fairly smooth process since 2002 once high level delegations from both sides were involved, the longevity of the war, its underlying causes and the mistrust still evident between the two sides continue to be an impediment towards how both sides view each other and others involved in the conflict. Shifting alliances and this deep mistrust of all parties continue to pervade the atmosphere in Sudan, generating a profound lack of confidence in governance institutions and the environment in which they operate, and it will have important implications in the way a future National Unity Government will operate.

A very fragile peace
Moreover, even the official end of the north-south conflict will not necessarily bring immediate peace as potential uprisings and conflicts in the west, east, in Unity State and Upper Nile and continuing intra and inter ethnic conflict could destabilise Sudan once again. The human rights situation in the Sudan, although improved over a number of years, has sharply declined with the onset of the conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan and the situation in Sudan still remains tense with a number of high and low intensity conflicts throughout the country. The consequences and implications of these conflicts upon the peace process are still an unknown factor, and there is a significant danger that they could jeopardise the peace and cause instability. The forthcoming several months, after a comprehensive peace agreement has been signed, will impact deeply on the stability of the country. This will have enormous consequences and implications for the human rights culture of the country. All parties to the conflict have committed serious human rights abuses that have been well documented.

Human rights severely trampled in long-running conflict
Civil war has characterised Sudan for all but ten years (1972-1982) since its independence in 1956. Two decades of the conflict, since its resumption with the SPLM/A in 1983, has devastated the country rich in natural and human resources, and the most heinous human rights violations have been committed. As a direct result of the fighting between north and south two million have died, three to four million have been displaced, and several million more have had their livelihoods disrupted. Sudan has consistently fallen into the lower echelons of the human and poverty indexes, where it was rated 139 out of 177 in the Human Development Index (HDI), and ranked 116/175 in the Gender-related Development Index, which measures the same achievements as the HDI but also takes into account the inequality in achievement between men and women.

Even worse in the south
However, when the indicators highlighted in the Baseline Survey for Southern Sudan are taken into account these figures in reality should be much lower. This directly impacts economic, social and cultural rights of all Sudanese people: For example, the adult illiteracy rate countrywide is 41.2%, where many students are denied obtaining either a primary or secondary education due to migration, conflict and lack of governmental financial support. In the past, the Government of Sudan has come under severe international criticism for its human rights record from the international community. Civil and political rights have been harshly repressed and the right to development in Sudan has been seriously adversely affected as a consequence of the fighting, affecting access to even the most basic of services such as education and health for the majority. Inversely, this has often led to human rights concerns as a low priority, and human rights violations were often carried out in a climate of impunity. The consequence of this has been for the international community to directly deal with alleviating suffering and responding to humanitarian needs in the short term.

Government forces have taken impunity for granted
Recently, the human rights situation has fluctuated according to the political atmosphere in Sudan and the Government’s flexibility. Reports from human rights organisations have stated that the human rights situation has slightly improved over the years, with fewer violations occurring within the civil and political spheres, as restrictions have been eased. Yet, this year has seen a number of simmering conflicts come to the fore, reversing the gains made in the past. The Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on Extra Judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions on her recent visit to Sudan was “disturbed and alarmed by the gravity of the human rights abuses perpetrated in the Sudan,” and also stressed “the question of accountability as a fundamental principle in addressing violations of human rights.” Human rights violations committed particularly in the context of armed conflict is a worrying trend where security forces and militia allied to the GoS act with impunity.

Darfur has reversed the country-wide improvements on human rights
Due particularly to the Darfur crisis in Western Sudan the human rights situation has steadily worsened over the past year, including war-related human rights abuses, such as killing, abduction, rape, displacement and extra-judicial executions. Human rights activists and defenders and opposition members, especially those associated with Darfur, have been detained and routinely harassed and are often held incommunicado detention without charge or trial. The international community has only recently begun to focus on the conflict, ongoing for over 20 months, and has highlighted the complete lack of accountability of human rights in Sudan. As the Government has gained a higher negative international profile as a consequence it has adversely rebounded on the rest of the country and made it more difficult for human rights activists to operate freely.

See no evil, hear no evil
Ever since the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Sudan on Human Rights was abruptly ended in April 2003 there has been no independent monitoring of the human rights situation in Sudan. After a tense session during the 60th Session of the Committee on Human Rights in Geneva, where Sudan successfully lobbied to avoid the re-introduction of a Special Rapporteur, an independent expert on the situation of human rights with a mandate to investigate human rights in Sudan was realised and made his first trip to Sudan in mid-August. The ensuing report back to the UN will ensure that human rights ‘benchmarks’ remains a presence on the government’s agenda and that the GoS continues to be accountable for its actions, whether in a conflict or non-conflict situation.

Next to no governmental human rights institutions
There has been no effective promotion or protection structures functioning in the country. Human rights monitoring and work continues to remain a sensitive issue, where strict controls regulate work by non-governmental organisations. The promotion and protection of human rights in the Sudan can take on a multiplicity of activities, but presently very few national activities are ongoing to systematically address human rights violations in the country. There are few national structures in place that effectively works on promotion and protection issues. Although, particularly since the Darfur crisis began, the Government has engaged more with international partners to discuss human rights issues and to improve the human rights situation, there are still structural weaknesses, particularly with regards to functioning government institutions dealing with human rights.