(30 August
2021) As we mark the International day of the disappeared on 30 August 2021,
Sudan is yet to account for hundreds of political dissents forcefully
disappeared during al Bashir’s regime and during the 2018-2019 national
revolution. Those missing during these periods also remain uncounted for. Under
international law, the crime of enforced disappearance continues until the
state reveals the fate or whereabouts of the individual concerned and this
requires, when the disappeared person is found to be dead, returning the
remains of the victims to their families.
Since
the collapse of al Bashir’s regime in April 2019, several mass graves believed
to contain remains of people forcefully disappeared, missing, extra- judicially
killed or executed have been discovered across Sudan. The gravesites documented
vary in size, with some holding several dozen bodies.
A
recent report commissioned by the Sudanese General Prosecutor indicates that
two mass graves were discovered in Khartoum in June and July 2020. They each
contained 28 and 40 bodies respectively. One of the graves is believed to hold
bodies of military officers who were allegedly engaged in a coup attempt
against al Bashir in 1990 whilst the other contains remains of students
reportedly killed at a national military camp in 1998. Three mass graves were
earlier discovered in Central Darfur.
In
November 2020, the committee on the missing persons announced that they had
discovered another mass grave containing the remains of people considered “missing” after the 3 June massacre in
Khartoum. The committee has since secured the site to ensure that it is not
tampered with, and have taken the bodies to morgues for DNA testing and to
ascertain the circumstance of death. The
committee stated that evidence suggest that mass graves exist in specific areas
of missing persons that were killed, and buried illegally.
A
mass grave does not have an international definition but in a definition
adopted by the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on extrajudicial,
summary or arbitrary executions, it is a burial site where the “circumstances
surrounding the death and/or the body-disposal method warrant an investigation
as to their lawfulness. It suggests that remains were handled unlawfully,
intended to obstruct not only repatriation to loved ones but formal justice too.
The
Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions notes in
his report to Human Rights Council that a mass grave is an evidence of
commission of grave human rights violation including failure to respect the
right to life. It further conveys the failure of the state to protect the right
to life. While the victim is denied the right to decent burial, families are
also denied justice and the right to truth of what happened to their loved one.
African
Centre for Justice and Peace Studies documented several human rights violations
during the al Bashir era and during the 2018-2019 revolution that explains the
current discoveries of mass graves, including mass killings and torture. The
practice of enforced disappearances was also increasingly used by Sudanese
national security forces and government-backed paramilitaries, purportedly to
“preserve national security”. In one interview, a member of the committee on
enforced disappearance stated that the committee had found that some bodies of
the victims of the 3 June massacre had been buried before identification.
The
large number of complaints from family members whose loved ones have been
disappeared or have been missing heightens the urgency of exhuming the mass
graves in Sudan. Sudanese authorities should give victims’ families the answers
and the justice they deserve. The authorities, with the help of international
forensics experts, should exhume the dead and reveal their identities. The
international community should support the investigation, including by
providing forensics experts to help conduct DNA testing.
Sudan
has taken significant steps towards ending human rights violations by ratifying
the Convention against Torture, International Convention for the Protection of
all Persons from Enhanced Disappearance (ICPPED), and the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). However,
these treaties must be domesticated soon enough to ensure their full
implementation.
A
lack of accountability for past crimes has fostered a climate of impunity in
Sudan .To date, several perpetrators of human rights violations have not been
held accountable mainly among others due to the immunity laws that protect
perpetrators and lack of political will. The National Security Act was amended
in July 2020 to remove immunity granted to members of National Intelligence
Security Services, now rebranded as the General Intelligence Services. The 2019
Constitutional Charter still grants immunity from prosecution to all members of
the sovereign council.
In
September 2019, the National Independent Committee to investigate the
violations committed on 3 June 2019 was established. The committee was granted
prosecutorial powers and three months to complete its mandate although this
time limit has since been extended. The Attorney General has also established
several investigation committees including an investigation committee to
investigate members of the former regime. Other on-going investigations include
cases on enforced disappearances, extra-judicial killings, torture and other
serious violations. These independent committees should expedite investigations
and share their long-awaited reports, and those responsible should be brought
to justice.
Lastly,
Sudan should take all necessary measures to locate, disclose, protect and
preserve all mass graves sites. Hiding, damaging or destroying mass graves are
strictly prohibited as it would constitute a violation of the right of families
and society to know the truth about the circumstances behind the existence of
the mass graves, including executions and enforced disappearances.