Darfur 24 , publishes the text of the final statement of the transitional justice workshop

March16-20  2023 – Friendship Hall -Final statement and declaration of principles of transitional justice

 Believing in the purposes and objectives of the glorious December Revolution “Freedom, Peace and Justice”, for which the Sudanese, especially the young men and women, gave their pure souls as a dowry for human dignity, and in loyalty to the martyrs who rose while resisting tyranny and tyranny since 1989 until today, and in victory for the people’s will for freedom and justice, and a sense of historical responsibility and patriotism in this delicate circumstance in the history of Sudan. In compliance with the framework agreement that was signed on December 5, 2022, which considered transitional justice as one of the five issues that require further discussion and dialogue, and that it is one of the main elements necessary to reach a final political agreement, the agreement stipulated that: (The issue of justice and transitional justice is an issue that requires the participation of stakeholders and the families of the martyrs and includes all those affected by human rights violations since 1989 until now), and given that transitional justice includes accountability for all violations that occurred in the past and requires justice for the victims, reparation for their harm, revealing the truth and preserving memory, leading to societal reconciliation for a better future .

 And based on the concept paper presented to the National Conference, which aims to build a Sudanese model for transitional justice in accordance with the broad consultations that took place with stakeholders in accordance with international standards and the involvement of victims in transitional justice options and taking into account their aspirations for justice and fairness.

 Based on the importance of transitional justice and its relationship to the paths of democratic transition in Sudan, a series of broad events and consultations were organized that provided an opportunity for victims and other stakeholders to make their voices heard on these issues in the capital and the states. Then, regional workshops were held that included the regions of Darfur, Kordofan, the Middle, Khartoum and Blue Nile. and Sennar, and panel discussions for the northern and eastern regions, which were organized by the Civil Coalition for Transitional Justice, which includes more than 30 organizations working in the field of transitional justice. Here, we appreciate the determination, will and keenness of the stakeholders to participate despite the difficulties and challenges that faced the implementation of the regional workshops.

At the invitation of the tripartite mechanism (the United Nations, the African Union and IGAD) and the Supreme National Committee for Transitional Justice (the Civil Coalition for Transitional Justice, national experts and the signatories to the framework agreement), the “National Conference: Towards Building a Sudanese Model of Justice and Transitional Justice” was held during the period from 16- March 20, 2023, in the Friendship Hall in Khartoum, to formulate the basic principles for building a Sudanese model for justice and transitional justice that define the texts of the final agreement on transitional justice, define priorities, programs, future policies and a road map that the next transitional government should work on and complete the consultations that the Transitional Justice Commission will conduct.

800 participants drown  from all states of Sudan participated in the conference: representatives of the forces that signed the framework agreement, political forces that did not sign the framework agreement, civil society organizations working in the field of transitional justice, resistance committees, trade unions and professional management committees, jurists, groups And women’s alliances, writers, thinkers and intellectuals, owners of demanding issues, displaced people, nomads, settled communities, farmers, native administration, victims and their families in the war in Darfur and South Kordofan / Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile, families of the martyrs of September 13, families of martyrs of 28 Ramadan, victims of the poor, Hamishkoreib, Marawi, South Tokar, families of the martyrs of the December Revolution and the dispersal of the sit-in, families of the events of January 29, Port Sudan, October 15, Kassala, Kajbar Dam, families of the martyrs and the wounded in the demonstrations before and after the coup, victims of sexual violence and violence against women, victims of torture and political detention, those who were arbitrarily dismissed families of the missing, and others.

 The percentage of the forces that signed the framework agreement in participating in the conference activities did not exceed 20%, while the victims and other stakeholders represented about 80%, and women were represented by more than 40%, with a large participation of youth.

During the conference, 16 working papers were presented, dealing with issues of transitional justice, presented by a group of Sudanese, regional and international experts and experts (Omar Al-Farouq Shamina, lawyer and human rights activist, Zuhal Muhammad Al-Amin, professor of international and constitutional law, Abdul-Salam Sayed Ahmed, expert on human rights issues and transitional justice, Juma Kinda, consultant on peace issues and dispute resolution, Tariq Al-Majzoub, university lecturer and legal advisor, Ghada Shawky, human rights and gender expert, Magda Al-Senussi, gender issues expert, Salimi Ishaq Al-Khalifa, director of the Violence Against Women Unit, Nasr Al-Din Abdel-Bari, former Minister of Justice, Halima Muhammad, gender issues expert, Shatha Al-Mahdi, Director of the Center for International Projects, Musa Adam Abdel-Jalil, Director of the Institute for Peace Studies, University of Khartoum, Muhammad Al-Ghali Haren, Collecting Claims Issues, Afaf Yahya, Secretary-General of the Sudanese Red Crescent, Camelia Coco, activist in the field of rights, education and civil society, Salwa Absam, SAS Human Rights Center, Robin Carranza of the International Center for Transitional Justice, Hassan Ibrahim Executive Director of the Constitutional Assembly of South Africa, Alexander Meyer International Expert Riek, Juanita Milan, UN Reserve Team of Senior Mediation Advisers, Priscilla Heiner, UN Expert on Transitional Justice, Albie Sachs, Former Judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, Sergio Jaramillo, Former High Commissioner for Peace of Colombia, Davis Malombe, Executive Director of the Human Rights Commission of Kenya, Abdul Majeed Belghazal, the Moroccan National Committee for Human Rights,) The conference was keen to take into account people with special needs by working to provide interpreters into sign language throughout the conference period.

 The first session dealt with grave crimes in Sudan: attempts to address, failures, national and international legal obligations of the state, international justice and the International Criminal Court, universal jurisdiction, understanding the consequences of mass grave crimes, the nature of transitional justice, the scope and time frame of transitional justice in Sudan, and the existing commissions of inquiry and investigation in Sudan.

The first session dealt with grave crimes in Sudan: attempts to address, failures, national and international legal obligations of the state, international justice and the International Criminal Court, universal jurisdiction, understanding the consequences of mass grave crimes, the nature of transitional justice, the scope and time frame of transitional justice in Sudan, and the existing commissions of inquiry and investigation in Sudan.

 The eighth session, the participants were divided into seven working groups, which discussed: 1. How to respond to the needs of victims: reparation and recovery. 2. Establish and acknowledge the truth about the past. 3. How to prevent further violations: reforms and other measures. 4. Accountability for past crimes 5. Gender Crimes and Women’s Access to Justice: What are the Needs? 6. Community and national reconciliation.

7. Transitional justice in the Juba Peace Agreement.

 The ninth session witnessed a discussion of the recommendations of the conference sessions, which were approved by the participant. nd after reviewing the results and recommendations of the regional workshops and panel discussions, the results of the complementary consultations and the resulting recommendations and outcomes.

After in-depth discussions of the papers, theoretical contributions and similar experiences that were presented in the plenary sessions of the conference, and after the written contributions that were sent to the conference, and after the dialogues that took place within the framework of the seven working groups, the National Conference decided to launch the Declaration of Principles of Transitional Justice as a guideline in drafting the final agreement and the constitution. The conference’s recommendations also represent the basis for the process of preparing and drafting a transitional justice law and a transitional justice road map for the next civilian government.

Declaration of Principles

Strict adherence to the goals of transitional justice represented in ending the culture of impunity and the rule of law, stopping human rights violations, building trust between societies and the state, restoring dignity to victims and their families, reparations, and reforming state institutions, justice agencies, and security and military agencies.

 Commitment to transitional justice standards stemming from international human rights law and related laws and agreements, and from broad consultations to know the views and needs of stakeholders, and from full knowledge of the cultures and customs of Sudanese society, and from the realism of the transitional justice process, and from the development and issuance of the transitional justice law according to wide consultations with stakeholders.

The ideal means for democratic transformation, political stability, and the rule of law lies in the availability of political will, societal acceptance, legislative and judicial measures, and an active role of civil society towards turning the pages of the past through holding human rights violators accountable and putting in place measures to achieve justice, accountability, fairness, revealing the truth, reparating the damage, and creating a climate so that crimes do not recur. In the future, until a comprehensive reconciliation is achieved on the basis of non-impunity, fairness and justice.

3. Formation of a civil, democratic government that is committed to the objectives of the glorious December Revolution, and has a clear political will and strategy to implement justice and transitional justice, and is committed to caring for the families of martyrs and all victims of human rights violations throughout the country, treating the wounded and injured, lifting injustice and redressing the harm that occurred to the victims of war crimes and crimes againsthuman humanity.

4.The commitment of political parties to the results of stakeholder consultations on transitional justice, promotion of its concepts, urgency in forming its mechanisms, and taking serious political steps by agreeing on a road map and a national strategy to implement transitional justice on all grave violations committed throughout Sudan as a political commitment, with the need to involve stakeholders and families of victims. In developing a transitional justice approach, policy and plan according to a clear vision to implement transitional justice in Sudan and to prevent criminals from becoming part of any democratic political process in the future

.5 Immediate cessation of all forms of violations to which Sudanese women are exposed, such as violence, torture, rape, humiliation, forced marriage and structural discrimination, and to remove these violations that occurred against women and expediting the establishment of the Women’s Commission, provided that its relationship with the Transitional Justice Commission is determined, and its participation in commissions of inquiry and detection of violations, taking into account the privacy of cases related to women and referring cases of rape and violence against women to justice instead of bargaining.

 6The establishment of an independent Transitional Justice Commission with broad powers that operates with complete independence and in isolation from the executive and sovereign apparatus, provided that the criteria for selecting the membership of the Commission are included in accordance with the Transitional Justice Law and the adoption of a Sudanese model stemming from a common vision of victims, civil society and political actors, provided that the law defines the forms and levels of transitional justice From special courts, customary justice and other means of justice, including international criminal justice, taking into account the principles of integrating mechanisms and committees for justice and reconciliation to uncover the truth, documents and graves, confess crimes, apologize for them, pardon, purify public life and build a new social contract among the Sudanese.

7 Issuing a transitional justice law with the participation of all stakeholders through public consultations, especially since the grave violations committed in Sudan require the opinion of the victims of these violations in the first place.

8. Transitional justice processes are integrated and continuous processes that include trials of criminals, compensation, rehabilitation of victims, restructuring of justice institutions, legal reform, security and military reform, memorialization to preserve national memory, preventing crimes from recurring again, non-impunity according to judicial prosecution initiatives, and adding more transparency in allTransitional justice processes, rejecting and criminalizing racism and hate speech..

9 The state’s recognition of past gross violations of human rights across historical eras and an official apology for them to establish a political will for national reconciliation.

10. No amnesty may be granted in violation of the principles and standards of international law, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, the crime of genocide, and gross violations of human rights. Nor may an amnesty be granted that affects the right of victims to seek justice in the ways they see, or their right to seek reparation..

11. The state should pay sufficient attention to issues of disputes over land ownership that contributed to human rights violations, as well as violations based on racial, ethnic and regional discrimination, and take the necessary measures to stop the violations and not repeat them.

12. Crimes of human rights violations do not have a statute of limitations, and the statute of limitations does not apply to the rights of victims to seek redress.

13. Criminal accountability takes place through national, international and mixed judicial mechanisms, with an emphasis on the importance of full cooperation with the International Criminal Court and compliance with its requests to extradite wanted persons.

14. The need to adopt a national program for transitional justice centered on the victims and their aspirations for justice.

15. Emphasizing the lack of impunity and holding accountable all those who committed crimes or violations of human rights from where they were. Procedural and substantive immunities are not considered, just as the pretext of executing orders is not considered.

16. The legal context should include human rights violations – violations resulting from state violence, armed and civil conflicts, violations that occur in the fields of oil exploration, mining, construction of dams, and all violations of economic, social and cultural rights.