Sudan: Human rights defenders detained, could face death penalty

Sudanese authorities have been unjustly holding Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, Hafiz Idris, and Mobarak Adam Abdalla, three human rights defenders, and have charged them with 'crimes against the state' which carry the death penalty, 26 human rights groups said today. Dr. Mudawi Ibahim Adam and Hafiz Idris have been held for approximately seven months, and Mobarak Adam Abdalla for over three months.

Sudanese national security officials arrested Mudawi and Hafiz on December 7 and November 24, respectively, and held both men in detention in Khartoum for over five months without charges. Mobarak, a student, was arrested on 25 March 2017. Credible sources report that Hafiz and Mobarak were severely beaten, and that Hafiz was given electric shocks and forced to make a confession. Dr. Mudawi has been denied essential medication. All three men are currently being held in Kober prison.

IRRI joined with over 30 other organizations and prominent individuals in signing a petition drafted by SUDO (UK). The petition demands that the government of Sudan guarantee the safety and physical and psychological well-bring of all detainees, and to immediately release Mudawi, Hafiz, and Mobarak and all other human rights defenders detained on trumped up political charges. TShould a trial proceed, the petition also affirms the rights of Mudawi, Hafiz and Mobarak to a fair trial before an impartial, independent, and competent tribunal.

Read the full petition here.

Aligning Refugee Policies with Refugee Realities: A Rights in Exile policy paper

IRRI's new policy paper draws on six years of field research in the Great Lakes region, incorporating nine units of field research. Each study focused on the links between citizenship and forced displacement in the Great Lakes region and examined both the differences and the interaction between local and national understandings of belonging.

The paper considers both national and local articulations of belonging that came through the studies, and the extent to which these realities resonate – or fail to resonate – with policy approaches. It points to the need for refugee policy to be bottom up, rather than top-down, something that has long been recognised by practitioners and academics alike but has yet to infuse much programming on the ground. It argues that if refugee policy were to be aligned with the coping mechanisms of refugees (rather than the other way around), mobility and inclusion would become the hallmarks of refugee protection.

For more information, read the full paper here or contact us here.

IRRI releases new report on AMISOM

International Refugees Rights Initiative (IRRI) today launched a report about civilian perspectives on the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), whose mandate has been recently renewed. This report is based on interviews with 62 Somalis and is the third in a series on civilian perspectives of peacekeeping forces in Africa.

The report highlights that many in Somalia hold views that are very critical of the peacekeeping mission, especially about its failure to protect civilians, about some of the troop-contributing countries and about peacekeeper abuses. Citizens struggled to understand the mission’s mandate and often had difficult relations with the mission.

“The AU and UN should ensure that protection of civilians is a central objective of the AU peace operation and that it has the capacity and resources to do so,” said Andie Lambe, Executive Director of IRRI. “It should go without saying that the AU and the UN should ensure that the voices of citizens who live in the midst of the conflict are taken into account, which unfortunately does not appear to have been the case.”

To read the full report, click here, and for the full press release, click here.

Click here to read IRRI's letter to AMISOM.