THE WORST STATEHOOD IN THE WROLD.

Sudanese cabinet approves anti-human trafficking law

July 11, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese cabinet today endorsed a draft bill on combating human trafficking in line with previous government pledges to tack the issue this year.

The proposed law details human trafficking offenses and penalties while specifying measures aimed at protecting victims and witnesses and maintaining information confidentiality .

It lists religious values, respect for human dignity and international conventions as guidelines used in drafting the bill.

The deputy spokesman for the Sudanese Council of Ministers Hatem Hassan Bakhit told reporters that the law will prevent the exploitation of Sudanese citizens or having them fall into the hands of smugglers especially children, women and the elderly as well as workers employed in forced labor who are exposed to various forms of abuse.

Earlier this year the Vice-Chairman of the parliamentary subcommittee on Legislation and Justice Tahani Tour al-Diba said that the law they expect to receive punishes those involved with human trafficking with up to 20 years imprisonment.

The U.S. state department 2012 report on human trafficking identifies Sudan as a "source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking".

"The Government of Sudan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so. While the government took some initial steps during the reporting period to acknowledge the existence of trafficking, draft anti-trafficking legislation, prosecute suspected traffickers, demobilize and reintegrate child soldiers, and waive overstay fines for foreign domestic workers, its efforts to combat human trafficking through law enforcement, protection, or prevention measures were undertaken in an ad hoc fashion, rather than as the result of strategic planning" the report said.

The U.S. called on Khartoum to "enact a comprehensive legal regime to define and address human trafficking crimes and harmonize various existing legal statutes; increase efforts to investigate suspected human trafficking cases, increase prosecution of trafficking offenses, and convict and punish trafficking offenders".

Eastern Sudan in particular is believed to be serving as a passage to migrants from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia who seek to reach Europe with the help of human smugglers.

(ST)

Slavery in Sudan

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Slavery
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History Antiquity Aztec Ancient Greece Ancient Rome Medieval Europe Thrall Kholop Serfdom Slave ship Slave raiding Blackbirding Galley slave Panyarring
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Opposition and resistance
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Related topics
Abolitionism Indentured servant Unfree labour
v t e

Slavery in Sudan began in ancient times, and has continued to the present day. During the Trans-Saharan slave trade, many from below the Sahara were purchased as slaves and brought for work in North African and the Orient by Nubians, Egyptians, Berbers and Arabs.^[1]
Since 1995, many human rights organizations have reported on contemporary practice, especially in the context of the Second Sudanese civil war. Both the government-backed militias and the rebels (led by the SPLA) have been found guilty of abducting civilians, according a 2002 report issued by the International Eminent Persons Group, acting with the encouragement of the US State Department.^[2] According to the Rift Valley Institute's Sudan Abductee Database, over 11,000 people were abducted in 20 years of slave-raiding in southern Sudan.^[3]
The Sudanese government has claimed that the slavery is the product of inter-tribal warfare, over which it had no control. Human Rights Watch, rejects this and states that the government is involved in backing and arming numerous militias in the country. It has also found the government has failed to enforce Sudanese laws against kidnapping, assault and forced labor. Police rarely help victims' families in locating their children. While the Sudan Criminal Code of 1991 does not list slavery as a crime, Sudan has ratified the Slavery Convention, the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, and is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).^[4]
However, many Christian and non-Christian groups, have stated that the situation suffers from inaccurate reporting and that slave numbers are sometimes exaggerated and many slave stories have been fabricated. Italian missionary, Father Mario Riva and others who have witnessed "slave redemptions" have claimed that the process was a fraud as some of the "freed slaves" were collected by the SPLA with the promise of receiving money