Sudan 'must rewrite rape laws'
2007-06-29 07:46
Khartoum - An international aid group
called on Sudan on Thursday to rewrite its laws to protect women
from "mass rape" in the war-torn Darfur region.
A report from US-based Refugees International accused
government-backed armed groups of systematic sex attacks on
women and girls in the country's remote west.
Legally, it is "all but impossible" to prosecute rapists, the report found.
Women who admit to being raped risk prosecution for having
sex outside marriage - an offence punishable by 100 lashes or
death by stoning, it added.
Sudan's Foreign Ministry declined immediate comment on the
report. But Khartoum has often denied that mass rape occurs in
Darfur, accusing Western media of sensationalism.
Human rights lawyer and member of parliament Ghazi Suleiman
said Sudanese law carried adequate, severe penalties for rape.
"If the rapist uses force, he is going to be sentenced to
death. If it is without consent but there is no force, he can be
sentenced to a maximum of 10 years and 100 lashes," he said.
But he added enforcement was unlikely in Darfur's conflict.
"It is chaotic there - no one is sovereign. It would be
unrealistic to expect the full enforcement of the law - do you
expect an officer to testify against his fellow officer in this
situation?" he asked.
Under international pressure, Sudan agreed this month to a
combined UN and African Union peacekeeping force, but many
diplomats doubt Khartoum will keep its word.
Lack of justice
Rights groups accuse government troops and allied militia of
systematic rape as part of an anti-insurgency campaign.
With a breakdown of command and control over the past 18
months, rebel groups have also been accused of rape.
Authorities have punished humanitarian agencies that have
published documented cases of hundreds of rapes in Darfur.
The report from Refugees International said: "Rape victims
suffer from an almost complete lack of access to justice, and
the government is more likely to take action against those who
report and document rape than those who commit it."
The report called for a decree protecting women who failed
to prove a case of rape from being charged with the Islamic
offence of "zina" - often translated as adultery or sex outside
marriage.
Courts should give equal weight to testimony from men or
women, it added. "In prosecutions for rape, many judges require
the sexual act to have been witnessed by four competent men,
verification that is all but impossible to obtain."
Sudan needed to lift soldiers' immunity from prosecution,
train judges and recruit more female police officers, the report
said. It urged Sudan to include sexual attacks with objects,
including rifle barrels, in its definition of rape.
Refugees International also called on peacekeeping African
Union forces in Darfur to step up their protection of women and
girls in refugee camps.
Women were raped as they left camps to collect firewood, it
said. And the few women who secured a rape hearing risked
further assault as they walked from their camps to remote court
buildings, it added.
The report was based on interviews with lawyers and aid
workers in Khartoum. The team said it was refused permission to
visit Darfur and told to stop working by Sudanese authorities
eight days into the mission.