Sudan Rejects Banjul Joint Declaration

Sudan’s delegation participating in the 87th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights currently being held in Gambia announced its rejection of the draft joint statement known as the “Banjul Joint Declaration,” adopted by the joint fact-finding mechanism of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights concerning the human rights situation in Sudan, as well as the report issued by the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan established by the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Sudan.
The Sudanese delegation justified its position by stating that the joint declaration lacks the legal basis required to grant legitimacy to such action, asserting that in the absence of such legal foundation, the joint undertaking falls outside the scope of legal legitimacy.
The delegation also criticized the submission of an incomplete report by the African investigative team, noting that the team had confined its work to visiting refugee camps abroad and conducting some interviews virtually. In its address delivered on Tuesday before the session in Banjul by Sudan’s Ambassador to the African Union Al-Zein Ibrahim Hussein, the delegation called on the African investigative team to engage directly with the national mechanisms responsible for investigating violations of international humanitarian law and national law inside Sudan, as well as with law enforcement authorities, and to hear testimony from victims within the country before entering into such commitments with international bodies that Sudan has refused to engage with, citing the presence of other international mechanisms operating inside the country under the United Nations.