Sudan

In Sudan, UNDP provided support to critical rule of law actors, including the judiciary, the prosecution, the Bar Association, paralegals and the Sudanese Police Force. The support included capacity building and awareness raising activities carried out jointly with partners forming the UN rule of law working group in Sudan, such as the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), UNICEF, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), and UN Women. To ensure a joint systemwide approach towards the rule of law sector in Sudan, UNDP spearheaded the formulation of a UN Joint Programme on Rule of Law of 11 UN entities, resulting in its endorsement in December 2022.

To improve community security and protection of civilians, UNDP contributed to strengthening the capabilities of the Sudanese Police Force, including through specialized training and advisory support. Joint workshops on community-oriented policing, gender equality, preventive measures and effective policing response to sexual and gender-based violence were organized jointly with UNITAMS and other partners benefitting 185 police officers in Darfur. In addition, UNDP organized three human rights capacity building workshops, sensitizing over 60 police officers and prosecutors on international human rights standards and best practices on effective coordination as key criminal justice chain actors.

human rights

In October and December 2022, in collaboration with the Attorney General’s Office, UNDP, OHCHR, UNHCR and UNITAMS organized a series of capacity building sessions on international human rights law standards on crowd control with 124 prosecutors (including 25 women) in Khartoum, Port Sudan, Wad Madani, Nyala and El Obeid. The UN provided the prosecutors with practical tools to assess the use of force in the context of crowd management based on international standards. The training interventions contributed to the issuance of a joint statement of public prosecutors condemning the use of excessive force against protestors and urging investigation of cases of excessive use of force against peaceful protesters.

leave no one behind

To enhance people’s access to justice, especially in remote areas, UNDP, in cooperation with the Sudanese Supreme Judicial Authority and selected judges, conducted a one-day roundtable to discuss the view of the judges on the rural courts, their role and potential in ensuring the population’s access to justice. It resulted in a set of recommendations to review and clarify the mandate of rural courts, further align their role with formal justice provision, and ensure the human rights compliance and enforceability of rural courts’ decisions.

Finally, UNDP supported the Sudan National Human Rights Commission in organizing a peace conference in Kassala on hate speech as a violation to freedom of expression.

Despite extensive efforts to support a transition towards a civilian-led government, tensions continued to mount throughout 2022 around the questions of accountability for state actors’ use of force against civilian protest since the 2021 coup d'état, as well as the mainstreaming of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces into the Sudanese armed forces. Political agreement on key questions of transitional justice and security sector reforms could not be reached. Armed conflict erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in April 2023, dashing progress made on rule of law reforms.