Activites

• 2018/05/31 Results of vote in Parliament
  • Results of vote in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
  • T8-0233/2018 summary

    The European Parliament adopted by 455votes to 34 with 140 abstentions, a resolution on Sudan, notably the situation of on Sudan, notably the situation of Noura Hussein Hammad. The resolution was tabled by the EPP, S&D, ECR, ALDE, Greens/EFA, and EUL/NGL groups. Members urged Sudan to commute the death sentence of Noura Hussein Hammad, who stabbed her husband to death in self-defence when he attempted to rape her following a forced marriage when she was 16 years old. They called on the Sudanese authorities to fully take into account the fact that Ms Hussein was acting in self-defence against the attempt by a man and his accomplices to rape her. Members noted that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has gathered information that Hussein’s forced marriage, rape and other forms of gender-based violence against her were not taken into account by the Court as evidence to mitigate the sentence. Parliament strongly condemned the harassment of human rights activists and lawyers in relation to the case of Noura Hussein Hammad, noting that her lawyer was barred by the National Intelligence Security Services (NISSs) from holding a news conference amid an intensifying campaign of intimidation. It expressed concern regarding the wide-ranging powers of arrest and detention conferred upon the NISSs. It called on the Sudanese authorities to comply with national law and international human rights standards, including the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, recalling that, according to international standards, the imposition of the death penalty against clear evidence of self-defence constitutes arbitrary killing. Furthermore, it was imperative that key laws in Sudan, including the 2010 National Security Act and laws regulating the media and civil society, are reformed, in order to bring them into line with international standards, which uphold the freedoms of expression, assembly and association. The resolution called on the Sudanese authorities to ensure that all cases of gender-based and sexual violence, including marital rape and domestic violence, are prosecuted and that perpetrators are held to account. It urged the Sudanese authorities to tackle child and forced marriages and marital rape. Lastly, Parliament strongly requested that the EU and its Member States ensure that the implementation of projects with the Sudanese authorities observe the ‘do no harm’ principle, which would rule out cooperation with actors responsible for human rights violations. In this connection, it remarked that the EU supported Sudan with a mix of development and humanitarian assistance, but also provided support to the country’s highly controversial border control and counter-trafficking and counter-smuggling operations, inter alia via the ROCK project.

Documents

• Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T8-0233/2018

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)