Submission to the Fourth Cycle of the UPR on Sudan
Submitted jointly with Al Jezira Observatory for Human Rights and Emergency Lawyers, our submission to the fourth cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Sudan highlights how the conflict there has fuelled widespread conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) that is often ethnically motivated, exposing the state’s failure to protect, prevent, investigate and prosecute perpetrators, and to provide effective remedies and reparations to survivors.
Our submission calls for comprehensive reforms: ratifying CEDAW without reservations, aligning national laws with international standards, mandating continuous CRSV and gender-based violence (GBV) training for all security forces, repealing immunities that shield state actors, establishing survivor‑centred justice mechanisms, guaranteeing witness protection, and adopting a victim-focused transitional justice framework. There is also a need for thought-through protections for children born of CRSV and their mothers, who remain invisible in national law and policy. women and girls because of their status as mothers, particularly as mothers of children born of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) in South Sudan.
