Three members of the Darfuri Student Association and a woman HRD
Cases- Location of case in SG report
- 2016-028-001
- Relevant SG report
- Year of the report
- 2016
- From Country
- Country Geolocation
Latitude: 12.862807
Longitude: 30.217636
- Country Geolocation (linked Cases)
- Sudan
- From Region
- UN body that raised the case prior to the SG report
- UN Special Procedures: Country
- UN Special Procedures: Thematic
- Dates of prior UN action
- 28 December 2015; 18 April 2016
- Type of record
- Unnamed individual/group/organization
- Was the victim a foreign national?
- No
- Was the victim a minor?
- No
- Type of rights defended
- Women’s rights
- Was the victim a civil servant or member of the security forces or of the judiciary?
- No
- Reported trigger of reprisal
in connection with the official visit to the country of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, from 13 to 24 May 2015; On 16 May 2015, the four individuals were meeting in a hotel lobby with a United Nations staff member, when they noticed that they were being monitored by several members of the National Intelligence and Security Services. Owing to their presence, the group felt unsafe and decided to cut the meeting short.
- Engagement with UN body
- UN Special Procedures: thematic
- Dates of engagement
- 16 May 2015
- Type of attempted engagement
- Meeting with UN officials during country visit / with locally present UN officials
- Dates of mentioned reprisals
- 16 May 2015; after SR left country
- Reprisal information
On 16 May 2015, the four individuals were meeting in a hotel lobby with a United Nations staff member, when they noticed that they were being monitored by several members of the National Intelligence and Security Services. Owing to their presence, the group felt unsafe and decided to cut the meeting short. When they were leaving the hotel, the State agents threatened the two women and forcibly placed the two men in a pickup truck, after which they were taken to a police station and detained for about seven hours before being released after the Special Rapporteur, who had witnessed the events, had contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After the Special Rapporteur had left the country, the four individuals continued to be threatened by State agents. In one case, death threats were made and family members of the individual concerned were visited by State agents.
- Types of reprisals suffered
- Family/friends/acquaintances targeted
- Detention/Imprisonment: Release within a day
- Surveillance
- Threats/Intimidations (incl. "fear of reprisal")
- Alleged/likely perpetrators
- State actors
- Was the reprisal based on new legislation?
- No
- Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?
- No
- Government response dates
- 11 April 2016
- Government response content
overnment responded that the above-mentioned incident had taken place for security reasons in order to protect the hotel and its guests, and had been carried out by tourism police (see A/HRC/33/32, SOM 2/2016). That was reiterated by the Government in its comments in reponse to the country visit report of the Special Rapporteur (see A/HRC/32/42/Add.4, paras. 5-6).
- Is the country cited for a "pattern of reprisal" in the context of this case?
- No
- Is a pattern of reprisals mentioned otherwise in the context of this case?
- No
- Does the report cite "self-censorship" as an issue in the context of this case?
- No
- How many times has the case been followed up in subsequent SG reports?
- 0