A/HRC/33/19
Government of Somalia on 22 February 2016, as it was based on a complaint submitted to
it by the above-mentioned unions. In its letter, ILO urged the Government to respect its
international obligations regarding the rights to freedom of assembly and association (ibid.).
At the time of finalization of the present report, no response had been received from the
Government.
8.
Sudan
28.
On 28 December 2015, a group of mandate holders raised allegations with the
Government of the Sudan of acts of intimidation and reprisal against three members of the
Darfuri Student Association, two men and one woman, and a woman human rights defender
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 (see A/HRC/32/53,
SDN 7/2015). 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. 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.
By letter of 11 April 2016, the Government 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).
29.
In her country visit report, the Special Rapporteur highlighted, in addition to the
above-mentioned case, that fear of reprisals by women’s rights activists and organizations
had resulted in many of them choosing not to meet with her and that, despite having raised
concerns with the authorities, allegations of reprisals against interlocutors with whom she
met and who attempted to meet with her continued to be received after she had left the
country (see A/HRC/32/42/Add.1, paras. 5-8). The Government responded that those
claims sounded “strange and confusing” and instead referred to United Nations
Development Programme staff who had not allowed members of women’s rights
organizations to enter their building to meet with the Special Rapporteur for procedural
reasons (see A/HRC/32/34/Add.4, paras. 5-6).
30.
On 9 May 2016, two mandate holders jointly raised allegations of reprisals against
two human rights defenders who intended to participate in meetings in Geneva relating to
the universal periodic review of the Sudan, scheduled for May 2016 (see A/HRC/33/32,
SDN 4/2016). On 23 March 2016, Sawsan Hassan and Muawia Shaddad, both members of
Our Rights Group, a coalition of Sudanese civil society organizations that submitted a
report on the situation of human rights in the country to the universal periodic review
process, were prevented from boarding their flights from Khartoum to Geneva by officers
from the National Intelligence Security Services. After their passports were confiscated,
both individuals were informed that a travel ban had been issued against them and they
were told to report to the headquarters of the Security Services in Khartoum the following
day. Their passports were eventually returned to them in mid-April 2016. At the time of
finalization of the present report, no response had been received from the Government.
10