Sudan

My delegation would like to state that the situation of women in areas of conflict in the Sudan has witnessed considerable progress compared to previous periods, thanks to the efforts of my Government, embodied in the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement with some armed rebel movements, including the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). It should be recalled that there are a number of rebel movements still outside the peace process. They still violate human rights in areas of conflict, including acts of violence and sexual violence against women and girls. The Council should therefore send a strong signal to those movements to compel them to sit at the negotiation table and to desist from perpetrating grave violations of human rights, particularly against women and children.

National programmes on rehabilitation, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration have devoted special priority to the situation of women, in close cooperation with the relevant United Nations agencies, including UN–Women. My country has had a national strategy on combating gender-based violence since 2005, and has established a unit under the Ministry of Justice to combat violence against women and children. In order to safeguard our borders, prevent the smuggling of weapons and stem the subversive activities undertaken by rebel movements, which violate human rights, particularly the rights of women and girls, we will continue to enforce the border agreement with Chad, as well as the tripartite agreement with Chad and the Central African Republic, in addition to extending the security cooperation protocol with Libya. At the justice level, the Office of the Prosecutor General in Darfur continues to look into reports submitted by victims.