Peacebuilding, human rights and rule of law
Through its Human Rights and Protection of Civilians division and with the support of its regional offices in the Two Areas, Darfur and the East, UNITAMS works to assist and support the government of Sudan to implement the National Plan for Civilians’ Protection, reduce violence at the community level, and to establish a conducive environment for the full implementation of existing and future peace agreements.
UNITAMS provides assistance and advice to the government of Sudan at a strategic level on protection, policy assistance and accountability with particular attention to conflict-related sexual violence and children and armed conflict. This included joint planning to improve early warning mechanisms and enhance conflict prevention efforts through integrated data collection and analysis.
The coup hampered progress on the implementation of the National Plan for Civilians’ Protection. Governance gaps created by the political crisis have also weakened protection mechanisms and exacerbated civilians’ vulnerability to violence at the community level. UNITAMS also collaborates with UNDP and OHCHR and other UN partners to promote prosecution, rule of law and judicial reforms including by facilitating dialogue and providing advisory expertise.
In response to protection of civilians’ gaps, the uptick of violence at the community level, and the escalation of human rights abuses after the military takeover of 2021, the United Nations supports efforts to reduce violence in the regions, including through providing inclusive dialogue spaces to diffuse tensions, reach participatory solutions, and inform UNITAMS’s political and protection of civilians’ work. The United Nations also continues to monitor, verify and report on human rights abuses. In support of these goals, the United Nations tries to base its planning on evidence and the systematic gathering of data as well as sustained engagements with civil society organizations, women and youth groups, political stakeholders, as well as local communities and authorities.
Recent examples of UNITAMS’s work in these areas include:
Engaging local communities to diffuse tensions, solicit participatory solutions, and inform UNITAMS’s work and planning
Community members meet in Umm al Khairat village, East Darfur. 2022. Photo by: Peacebuilding Fund Secretariat, Sudan.
Following the flare up of violence in the Blue Nile region last July, a joint United Nations mission was deployed to the region to assess the human rights situation and engage community representatives to identify possible areas of intervention in support of accountability, prevention of further escalation and combatting hate speech.
In May 2020, UNITAMS established its East Regional Office to be better positioned to channel the views and priorities of eastern communities into UNITAMS’s efforts to end the political deadlock. The new regional office is also working on providing spaces for dialogue to address communal tensions, build trust and make progress on the East track of the Juba Peace Agreement.
In recent months, UNITAMS also worked to provide support and offer spaces for dialogue between communities and armed signatories and political stakeholders on the Juba Peace Agreement.
In July, the Permanent Ceasefire Committee (PCC) and UNITAMS’s regional office in Darfur held a consultative workshop on the Juba Peace Agreement and its different protocols in El Fasher for 112 participants including civil society actors, women groups, farmers, herders, internally displaced persons, native administrators, state authorities, political parties and the UN country team.
In September and October, UNITAMS and UNDP organized a dialogue for civil society organizations in El Genina, West Darfur and Kadugli to discuss justice, reconciliation and accountability provisions of the Juba Peace Agreement. Similar dialogues were conducted earlier in the year in Khartoum, El Fasher, Zalingei and Nyala. Youth and community leaders who participated in these events expressed a strong interest to continue to engage in sustained dialogue on the Juba Peace Agreement.
UNITAMS’s peacebuilding team, in partnership with UNDP and with the support of the Peacebuilding Fund, is also working with regional universities’ peace centers to build the capacity of local peace infrastructures. The team also partners with UNICEF on efforts to restore peaceful coexistence between communities in West Darfur.
An evidence-based approach
IDP camp in Darfur. Photo by Hamid Abdulsalam, UNAMID.
In September, UNITAMS’s regional office in the Kadugi, together with the United Nations country team, took a step towards reactivating the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism Working Group in the Blue Nile which aims at strengthening and improving the verification and documentation of cases of grave child rights violations, as well as to promote and ensure appropriate response. In the first meeting of the Working Group since, the United Nations agencies participants agreed on a plan for reactivation beginning with a training to be conducted in November. This is part of a broader partnership with UNICEF in a national level taskforce to coordinate information sharing and data collection in relation to the issue of children and armed conflict.
Recently, UNITAMS with United Nations partners reactivated the Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Arrangements (MARA) to promote systematic gathering of timely, accurate, reliable and objective information on conflict related sexual violence against women, children and men in Sudan. This will help inform future engagement on protection, prevention and responses to conflict-related sexual violence.
UNITAMS’s peacebuilding team is leading an integrated United Nations series of peacebuilding assessments in the Blue Nile, South Kordofan, North Darfur, West Darfur, Kassala, and the Red Sear. The assessments rely on field visits and comprehensive engagement with local communities and authorities and aim at analysing conflict dynamics and identifying peace entry points to ensure a shared understanding of the drivers of conflict and peace and inform the work of the United Nations accordingly.
Responding to a deteriorating human rights situation
A protest in Sudan's capital, Khartoum. April 2019. Photo by Ayman Suliman, UN Sudan.
In response to the escalation of human rights abuses at the national level following the military takeover of October 2021, UNITAMS has provided support and capacity building to emergency lawyers networks specialized in defending the rights of detained protesters and political dissidents. With UN partners, UNITAMS engages authorities to promote international standards and norms on security of peaceful assemblies and the right to fair trials.
In coordination with OHCHR, UNITAMS conducted a three-day training course on international standards for investigation sexual violence with 30 female lawyers who represent survivors in the courts. UNITAMS is also engaged in mapping and assessing protections mechanisms for women in the five Darfur states to inform future action on protection, prevention, services and fighting impunity for human rights violations, including sexual violence.
UNITAMS and UNICEF continue to engage the Government of Sudan and armed groups signatories of the Juba Peace Agreement to fully implement the National Plan for the protection of children from all violations in armed conflict. This includes screening in military camps and barracks to verify allegations of recruitment of child soldiers, removing child soldiers from the military and reuniting them with their families.
The United Nations also continues to monitor and report on the human rights situation in Sudan, including in UNITAMS’s Security Council briefings.