Activists Prevented from Travelling to the Rome Statute Review Conference

The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) today condemned the decision of the Sudanese government to prevent the participation of respected Sudanese civil society activists and political commentators in discussions at the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Review Conference in Kampala, Uganda (Review Conference).

Salih Mahmoud Osman, a respected human rights lawyer and recipient of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, Mariam Alsadig Almahadi, opposition politician and activist, and Professor Dr. Albukhari Abdalla Aljaali, leading international lawyer, were yesterday detained at the airport in Khartoum while attempting to take a flight to Kampala. They were questioned, their passports confiscated and they were detained until after their flight had left. Although the three experts were subsequently allowed to leave the airport, they have been asked to report to national security offices in one week in order to answer questions and to discuss recovery of their passports. A fourth expert, Dr Amin Mekki Medani, the renowned human rights lawyer and former senior United Nations official, decided subsequently not to travel as a result of the incident. [1]

All the experts had been invited by the IRRI and ACJPS in order to participate in a public reflection on the political, activist, legal and humanitarian impact of the engagement of the International Criminal Court in Sudan. The discussion was designed as an opportunity to ensure that Sudanese voices would be inserted into the official process of stocktaking underway at the Kampala Review Conference.

ACJPS, IRRI and FIDH condemn the Sudan government’s prevention of civil society engagement in the Review Conference.

"We call on the government of Sudan to immediately return the activists’ passports and to allow them to travel in accordance with their constitutionally and internationally recognised human rights", said Osman Hummaida, Executive Director of ACJPS.

"ACJPS and IRRI recall that the right to leave is a fundamental human right guaranteed by Article 42 (2) of the Sudanese constitution and Article 12(2) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, among other instruments", he said.

"What is the Government of Sudan afraid of", said Dismas Nkunda, Co-Director of IRRI. "The session in Kampala is an important opportunity to improve the functioning of the Rome Statute an instrument to which Sudan is a signatory".

Sudan has also fully endorsed the principles of the Rome Statute in the Great Lakes Protocol on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity which President Bashir signed and ratified last year.

Despite the fact that key speakers have been prevented from travelling, the IRRI/ACJPS panel discussion and an exhibition launch, "Sudanese Voices" will take place as scheduled on 3 June 2010 in the Peoples’ Space of the Review Conference in Kampala, with special guest Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai.

Read more