U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants World Refugee Survey 2006 - Sudan

SUDAN

 

Refoulement/Physical Protection

There were no reported incidents of refoulement in 2005. However, the Government did not grant the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) access to, or information about, state security detainees, and often did not inform it of deportations. In cases where UNHCR intervened, it prevented deportation and won the individual's release.

During the year, nearly 6,000 Eritrean refugees arrived in Sudan. The Government's Commission for Refugees (COR) conducted most of the refugee status determinations for the new arrivals at the Wad Sherife screening center in Kassala state. COR approved 96 percent of applications it decided, but there was a severe backlog.

In Khartoum, COR conducted only limited screening and often only after UNHCR intervened on an applicant's behalf. In Khartoum, COR adjudicated only 35 non-Eritrean cases. The screening interviews were cursory, usually lasting no more than ten minutes. COR did not provide interpreters or information about the process to applicants before interviewing them and did not notify applicants of denials.

The 1974 Regulation of Asylum Act (Asylum Act) acknowledged the supremacy of international refugee and asylum law when interpreting its provisions but offered no appeal. However, in Wad Sherife, COR officers conducted a second interview for denied applicants who requested it, and UNHCR evaluated those decisions. COR generally respected UNHCR's decisions if it determined the applicant needed protection.

Sudan did not allow refugees to become permanent residents or to naturalize.

Detention/Access to Courts

There were reports that the National Security Department secretly detained and tortured refugees. In October, lawyers for 15 Eritrean refugees convicted of hijacking an airplane that was deporting them from Libya obtained full acquittals of their cases on appeal. Upon release, requested resettlement, and staged a protest to draw attention to their plight. The police arrested the protesters and detained them until UNHCR secured their release.

The Asylum Act authorized detention of refugees "if found necessary." UNHCR regularly visited the Aliens Affairs deportation detention facilities in Khartoum and, occasionally, other facilities. UNHCR was able to secure release for those refugees in detention that it knew about. However, the Government denied UNHCR access to facilities under the authority of security forces.

Under the Asylum Act, asylum applicants and refugees were entitled to identification cards, but COR usually did not provide any identification to asylum applicants. In the refugee camps, COR issued identification to every family member 18 years and older, charging up to $12 (2,700 SDD) for the card. Those granted refugee status in Khartoum were required to renew their identification every 3, 6, or 12 months for a price of $8 (1,800 SDD). The Asylum Act, however, stated refugee status was initially valid for five years. According to the U.S. State Department, "refugees were vulnerable to arbitrary arrests, harassment, and beatings because applicants did not receive identification cards while awaiting government determination of refugee status."

Refugees and asylum seekers received the same treatment before courts of law as Sudanese nationals.

Freedom of Movement and Residence

The Government required most refugees to reside in camps, granting permission to leave only for education, employment, or medical reasons. COR and UNHCR required refugees to obtain daily travel permits and security clearances before traveling in the highly militarized eastern region of Kassala state.

Sudan maintained a reservation to the provision on the freedom of movement in the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its Asylum Act stated that refugees "shall not depart from any place of residence" that the Government specified. Violation carried a sentence of up to one year in prison. There were no reports of prosecutions, but the police often detained, extorted money from, and physically abused refugees for traveling without permits. COR held newly arriving asylum seekers in eastern Sudan in the Wad Sherife center until it processed their application.

About 110,000 refugees lived in 12 camps in eastern Sudan and about 65,000 lived in urban areas. Those with refugee identification in Khartoum, the South, or Darfur enjoyed freedom of movement in those regions.

Refugees required invitations from countries to which they intended to travel or letters from embassies of those countries to obtain international travel documents. COR issued 40 such documents in 2005.

Right to Earn a Livelihood

The Asylum Act granted refugees the right to work but excluded them from work related to national security. Only persons who had completed military service could work for the Government. Refugees with identification and travel permits could work outside the camps. In the east, Sudan did not allow new asylum seekers to work.

Sudan imposed no extra requirements for refugees to obtain licenses and to run businesses, and several did so. Refugees also farmed land, raised livestock, and worked as day laborers. Refugees had no more rights than aliens in general to practice professions. As such, they could not practice law but could obtain licenses to practice medicine. While the Asylum Act denied refugees the right to own land they could own other property, open bank accounts, and lease land.

Public Relief and Education

UNHCR and aid agencies provided health services, food, education, and other basic supplies to refugees in camps. UNHCR provided primary education to refugee children in camps, and some attended Sudanese schools. Many refugee children were educated in Arabic and pursued secondary and higher education. In emergencies, refugees in urban areas could obtain one-time cash payments of about $100 (22,000 SDD). UNHCR also provided ongoing assistance to vulnerable refugees in urban areas.

Citing security concerns, the Government restricted UN access to refugee camps in the East. In 2006, following clashes in January, the Government further denied humanitarian agencies access to these refugees. While the Government did not require permits for travel throughout Darfur and the southern region, insecurity severely restricted access.

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