Case SDN 100603.CC / SDN 100603.VAW
Child concern / Violence against women
Corporal punishment

The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT
intervention in the following situation in Sudan.

Brief description of the situation

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the
Sudanese Organisation Against Torture (SOAT), a member of the OMCT
network, of the sentencing to 30 lashes of the whip of a 15 year-old
girl in Nyala, Western Darfour, in Sudan.

According to the information received, on June 1st, 2003, Ms. Aziza
Salih Adam was sentenced to 30 lashes of the whip by the District
Court (Mahkamat Al-Muhafiza), in Nyala, Western Darfour, for not
wearing socks. The sentence was carried out on the same day.

Ms. Aziza Salih Adam is an assistant to a street vendor selling tea
in the Wehda district of Nyala. The Police for Community Security
(Police Amn Al-Mujtama) arrested Aziza on the street where she was
working for not wearing socks. Regulations require all female street-
vendors, particularly those selling food and tea, to wear socks to
cover their feet. Aziza attempted to defend herself, explaining that
she could not afford to buy socks.

The International Secretariat of OMCT notes with grave concern that
corporal punishments, such as flogging, amputation and stoning are
increasingly being carried out as punishments against the people of
Darfour, especially girls and women (see urgent appeals SDN
210503.VAW.CC, SDN 040201.VAW and its two follow-up appeals). Strict
adherence to impractical dress codes is often enforced with severe
punishments as the consequence for disobedience.

OMCT believes that any case of amputation and stoning is a case of
torture under any circumstance, and that flogging amounts to torture
in most cases. These punishments are unlawful as they clearly violate
international human rights standards that prohibit torture and ill
treatment. OMCT recalls that Sudan has ratified the Convention on the
Rights of the Child, which states that "No child shall be subjected
to torture or any other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment." Sudan is also a State Party to the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits torture and
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in Article 7. Sudan has not
signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women, a signal of the government's failure to
adequately protect women's rights.

Action requested

Please write to the authorities in Sudan urging them to:

i. take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and
psychological rehabilitation of Ms. Aziza Salih Adam;
ii. ensure that adequate reparation, including access to medical
assistance, is provided to Ms. Aziza Salih Adam;
iii. take all necessary measures to ensure respect for the
international human rights instruments to which Sudan is party, which
includes respect for the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment and punishment, such as the practice of corporal
punishment;
iv. guarantee girls and women their human rights, including their
right to be free from discrimination, their right to legal counsel
and a fair trial, and their right to be free from torture and cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in line with
international laws and standards;
v. ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women as well as the Convention against
Torture;
vi. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental
freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and
international human rights
standards.

Addresses

· His Excellency Lieutenant General Omar Hassan al-Bashir, President
of the Republic of Sudan, People's Palace, PO Box 281, Khartoum,
Sudan, Fax: + 24911
783223

· Mr Ali Osman Yassin, Minister of Justice and Attorney General,
Ministry of Justice, Khartoum, Sudan. Fax: + 24911 788941

· Mr Mustafa Osman Ismail, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, PO Box 873, Khartoum, Sudan, Fax: 24911 779383

· Dr Yasir Sid Ahmed, Advisory Council for Human Rights, PO Box 302,
Khartoum, Sudan, Fax: + 24911 770883

· His Excellency Ambassador Mr Ibrahim Mirghani Ibrahim, Permanent
Mission of Sudan to the United Nations in Geneva, PO Box 335, 1211
Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +4122 7312656. E-mail:
[email protected]

Please also write to the embassies of Sudan in your respective
country.

Geneva, June 10th, 2003

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this
appeal in your reply.

Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture (OMCT)
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
Organización Mundial Contra la Tortura (OMCT)
8 rue du Vieux-Billard
Case postale 21
CH-1211 Geneve 8
Suisse/Switzerland
Tel. : 0041 22 809 49 39
Fax : 0041 22 809 49 29
E-mail : [email protected]
http://www.omct.org