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Activities and Statements of NARD

This pages describes the recent Activities and Statements of the NARD.

Activities


• On 20 December 1997, NARD supported a rally by 2000 lawyers at the High Court in Khartoum. Ghazi Sulieman addressed the gathering and together with Abel Alier, he presented a petition to the Chief Justice and the Minister of Justice on behalf of NARD calling for (1) the government to revoke all laws contrary to international human rights law, (2) to arrests and arbitary detentions, (3) to close or reform of the public order courts, (4) to hold elections of the Bar Association and the re-open of the Bar Association Club at Steret 61 in Amarat, Khartoum, and (5) for the government to revoke the 1993 amendments to the Advocate Law of 1983, which brought the Bar Association under the authority of the Ministry of Labour. This last piece of legislation is somewhat controversial because it forced the Bar Association to register as a trade union.
• On 21 December Bar Association elections were called with five days notice.
• On 26 December 1997, elections were held for the Bar Association and amid allegations of fraud the pro-government candidates won.
• On 20 January 1988 Ghazi Sulieman was arrested, tried and convicted the same day. After his trial an international human rights lawyer was beat by security officials.
• In early February 1998 Ghazi Sulieman was released from prison after his appeal was successful in so far as a new trial was ordered.
• On 12 February 1998 a draft constitution was sent to the President, it contained a large section on human rights law.
• On 18 February 1998 NARD publicly challenged the government to accept and implement a new Constitution based on the draft.

Statements
In several public statements Ghazi Sulieman has criticized the Proposed Constitution for failing to fulfil it potential to build bridges between the North and South and the government and the opposition. He called on all Sudanese to examined the text and to make their position known. Among the main criticisms were: *The wording of many provisions is unclear and vague and open to widely varying interpretations. *Several important human rights have been omitted or have been moved to the section on general principles without any reference to a concrete duty of the government to implement them. *Among the rights relegated to the vague status of general principles are the rights of children and women. *Several economic and social rights, including the right to health and education have been omitted. *Article 24 while providing for a right to religion and conscience does not provide for the freedom to adopt a religion of one's chosing. *Article 26 is ambiguous and does not clearly grant the right to form political parties. *Nothing is said about how judges of the Constitutional court are removed and there are insufficient guarantees for their independence. There are many valuable things in the Constitution, but it is ultimately a matter of trust...will the government implement the Constitution in good faith?



The NARD has frequently spoken out on behalf of human rights in Sudan. The statements of the NARD are usually made by Mr. Ghazi Sulieman, one of the prominent lawyers working for human rights in Sudan. These statements are often circulated or published in the national and international media.

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