African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies

In 2022, ACJPS program accomplishments were as follows: Advocacy Programme:I)Advocacy during the 51st session of the HRC On 21 September 2022, ACJPS submitted a joint open letter together with Atrocities Watch Africa to the Human Rights Council to extend the mandate of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE). The Commission is mandated to conduct investigations to establish the facts and the circumstances surrounding alleged violations and abuses of international human rights, refugee, and humanitarian law, committed by all parties to the conflict in Ethiopia since 3 November 2020. In the letter, we urged all Council member states, in particular those from Africa, to adopt a resolution that extends the ICHREEs mandate for at least another year and provide them with the necessary technical, logistical, and financial support to effectively carry out their work. II). Advocacy before the African commission for Human and Peoples RightsOn 21 October 2022, ahead of the 73rd Ordinary session of the African commission for Human and Peoples Rights, ACJPS submitted a briefing on the human rights situation in Sudan and requested the commission to address the crackdown on peaceful demonstrators and ongoing violations of human rights in Sudan. We further called on the ACHPR to Dispatch urgently an independent fact-finding mission to establish the facts and circumstances of the alleged recent human rights violations committed in the Sudan, including excessive use of force and killings of peaceful demonstrators, as well as torture and ill-treatment of detainees by the Government of Sudan, with a view to ensuring full accountability for perpetrators and justice for victims.III. Advocacy and outreach for law reforms and accountability for enforced disappearance and torture:ACJPS planned to meet with representatives of States, Inter-Governmental decision-making bodies, Sudanese authorities and other INGOs to influence decision making on Sudan.a.Symposium on enforced disappearance On 30 August 2022, ACJPS organised a public symposium and exhibition to mark the International Day of the Disappeared. The symposium was organised in collaboration with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Sudan and the Missing Initiative. It was attended by representatives of the different embassies, civil society, activists, lawyers, journalists, and families of victims. It was recommended that ACJPS should document all cases of enforced disappearance since the revolution of 2018 and share with partners for advocacy for accountability. The event was held in Khartoum. a.Symposium on the domestication of the Convention against Torture, Cruel, Inhuman, Degrading Treatment and Punishment (CAT)On 26 June 2022, in commemoration of the International Day against Torture, ACJPS in collaboration with Sudanese Bar Association and the Democratic Fronts legal support committee organized a symposium. The main objective of the symposium was to advocate for the domestication of CAT by Sudanese authorities. The symposium was attended by OHCHR, civil society representatives, lawyers, human rights defenders, and activist. Discussions focused on the effects of ratification of CAT on Sudan, possibility of its domestication and the work of the Committee Against Torture. Participants also discussed strategies to advocate for accountability for torture in Sudan. IV. Meetings with civil society actors to create shared priorities for legal reform and to coordinate campaign efforts for these reforms.ACJPS held a series of meeting from 23rd to 25th August 2022 at Paradise hotel in Khartoum. The meetings were aimed at creating shared priorities for legal reform and coordinate efforts towards reform. Participants discussed the need for legal reform, challenges, and opportunities for advocacy during the current regime. ACJPS equipped participants with knowledge on different advocacy strategies before national, regional, and international institutions. ACJPS also used this opportunity to inform the participants about the legal reform tracker that has been developed with support from NED and how it can be used. Monitoring and documentation Programme Training of trainers for 15 human rights defenders on monitoring, documentation, reporting, and advocacy in Kampala.From 4 to 7 December 2022, ACJPS conducted a training of trainers workshop for human rights defenders on monitoring, documentation, reporting, and advocacy in Kampala. The training was attended by 14 Sudanese human rights defenders including journalist, activists, and civil society representatives. The main objectives of the training were to discuss the current context of human rights situation in Sudan and build the capacity of the participants in human rights monitoring, documentation and reporting and advocacy. The training was also intended to build the training skills of participants so that they could go and conduct further trainings inside Sudan.TOT workshop for CSOs on transitional justice was held in Kampala from 8 to 10 June 2022. The training was attended by 20 participants including representatives of civil society, the media, lawyers, and academia. The training equipped participants with knowledge on transitional justice. Publication of urgent press releases and alerts on at risk populations and serious HRVs.During the reporting period, ACJPS was able to successfully leverage our monitoring networks to document violations and securely publish monitoring of human rights violations through ACJPS Kampala office. ACJPS used the monitoring information to publish 41 Press releases documenting, violent dispersal of anti-coup protests, arbitrary arrest and torture of political prisoners, attacks by armed militias and intercommunal conflicts in Darfur, and reports of sexual violence against protesters in Khartoum and against DPs in Darfur. In a period of one year, ACJPS published a total of 58 press releases and five joint letters. Information gathered through monitoring has also been used for evidence-based advocacy that has had a clear impact on the outcomes of international and regional decision making, as well as the media, placing pressure to bear on the Sudanese authorities to reform laws and practices in line with international standards. In February 2022, Legal ProgrammeSupport to a pro-bono legal network in Sudan ACJPS Legal program team in collaboration with the in-country pro bono legal network were able to provide legal aid support to 10 cases involving 19 victims of human rights violations, one relative of a victim and three murder suspects before domestic courts and assisted a child victim submit a complaint before the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Monitoring of places of detention:Between December 2021 and February 2022, ACJPS monitored several detention centres, police stations, prisons, and Juvenile centres. The monitoring was in the form of site visits to police stations, prisons, and interviews with some detainees. These visits and interviews showed that conditions of prisons and detention centres across Sudan has not changed since the Bashire regime. The police stations monitored were Al-dalang police station, El-fashir child and family police station and El-fashir Southern police station. The prisons monitored are Shala prison, Kober prison, Hai prison and Gadari prison. The prisons visited were Shala prison, Gadarif prison, Hai prison and Kober prison. The monitoring showed that Sudanese detainees are forced to live in inhumane conditions, rudimentary infrastructures, overcrowded cells, insufficient ventilation, poor nutrition, and hygiene. Strategic litigation workshop From 25 to 27 May 2022, ACJPS conducted a three-day comprehensive workshop on strategic litigation for 9 lawyers and one state prosecutor at Canary hotel in Kampala. The objective of the workshop was to equip the lawyers with the skills in strategic litigation including litigation of sexual gender-based violence as one of the tools to push for transitional justice in Sudan. The workshop goal was to contribute to strengthening civil society participation in the transitional justice process in Sudan. Training of 15 Sudanese lawyers on strategic litigation and transitional justice ACJPS conducted a training for Sudanese lawyers on transitional justice and strategic litigation from 20 to 22 April in Kampala. The training aimed at improving the knowledge of participants in transitional justice and strategic litigation. Topics discussed include the history of transitional justice; mechanisms of transitional justice and the role of civil society in transitional justice. Additionally, participants were trained on key concepts in strategic litigation and how to engage national courts and the United Nations Human Rights Mechanisms. Workshop on the Principles of Complementarity and International Criminal JusticeOn 11 to 12 December 2022, ACJPS held a two-day