P6_TA(2007)0218

Human rights in Sudan

European Parliament resolution of 24 May 2007 on human rights in Sudan

The European Parliament,

- having regard to Rule 115(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas a criminal court in Managil province, Gazira state, central Sudan, headed by Judge Hatim Abdurrahman Mohamed Hasan, sentenced Sadia Idriss Fadul (a 22-year-old female from the Fur ethnic group, Darfur) and Amouna Abdallah Daldoum (a 23-year-old female of the Tama ethnic group, Darfur) on 13 February 2007 and 6 March 2007 respectively to death by stoning for having committed adultery,

B. whereas stoning constitutes a cruel and inhuman punishment, and whereas the severe punishment of adultery violates the basic human rights and international obligations subscribed to by the Republic of Sudan,

C. whereas Sadia Idriss Fadul and Amouna Abdallah Daldoum have appealed against the judgement,

D. whereas, according to a letter sent by the Embassy of the Republic of the Sudan in Brussels, the death sentences were quashed because Sadia Idriss Fadul and Amouna Abdallah Daldoum were not provided with the "the necessary legal advocacy" during the trial and the criminal court will review the case "in the light of the appeal court's legal remarks",

E. whereas on 3 May 2007 the criminal court of Nyala in south Darfur sentenced Abdelrhman Zakaria Mohamed and Ahmed Abdullah Suleiman, both males aged 16, to death for hanging on murder, causing injury intentionally and robbery,

F. whereas the Republic of Sudan has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, in accordance with which the government undertook to carry out no executions of anyone under 18 years of age,

G. whereas the Sudanese Government is a signatory to the Partnership Agreement between the members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part, signed in Cotonou on 23 June 2000 [1] (Cotonou Agreement), and EU cooperation with ACP countries is based on respect for human rights, democratic principles and the rule of law,

H. whereas the Republic of Sudan is signatory to the human rights clause of the Cotonou Agreement and to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,

I. whereas the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, ratified by the Republic of Sudan, includes provisions protecting the right to life and prohibiting torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment, but whereas the death penalty, flogging, amputation and other corporal punishment continue to be carried out for a number of criminal offences,

J. whereas on 14 March 2007 the Commission announced an additional EUR 45 million in humanitarian aid to Sudan (bringing the total so far for 2007 to EUR 85 million), demonstrating the European Union's commitment to the people of Sudan;

1. Welcomes the quashing of the death sentences — if indeed they are confirmed by the court itself — and calls on the Sudanese Government to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Sadia Idriss Fadul and Amouna Abdallah Daldoum;

2. Calls on the Sudanese Government to repeal the death sentences against, and guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of, Abdelrhman Zakaria Mohamed and Ahmed Abdullah Suleiman;

3. Strongly reminds the Sudanese Government that the use of the death penalty against child offenders is prohibited under international law;

4. Calls on the Council, the Commission, and the Member States to:

(a) condemn the use of the death penalty, flogging and other corporal, cruel or degrading punishment, to promote the right to life and the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment and to promote women's rights in their relations with the Sudanese authorities, including the right of women and girls to be free from discrimination and violence, in line with international law and standards; and

(b) promote respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in their relations with the Sudanese authorities, including compliance with national law and international human rights standards, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the Republic of Sudan has been a State Party since 1986, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Sudan has been a State Party since 1990, and Article 96 (the human rights clause) of the Cotonou Agreement, which the Sudanese Government signed in 2005;

5. Calls on the Sudanese Government to revise its judicial system accordingly and to ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty;

6. Calls on the Sudanese Government to accede to the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, as well as the Protocol of the Court of Justice of the African Union, both adopted in Maputo, Mozambique on 11 July 2003;

7. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the ACP-EU Council and Joint Parliamentary Assembly, the Secretaries-General of the United Nations and the African Union, and the Government of Sudan.

[1] OJ L 317, 15.12.2000, p. 3.

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