U.S. Department of State 2002 Trafficking in Persons Report - Sudan
- Author: Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
- Document source:
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Date:
5 June 2002
Sudan (Tier 3)
Sudan is a country of destination for internationally trafficked persons, as well as a country with widespread internal trafficking. Thousands of Ugandan men, women and children, have been abducted by rebel groups to be used as sex slaves, domestic helpers, child soldiers, and forcibly conscripted soldiers. Women and children have also been subjected to intertribal abductions for domestic and sexual exploitation in the southern part of the country. There are reports of Sudanese persons being sold into slavery through Chad, to Libya.
The Government of Sudan does not fully comply with minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so. Sudan does not acknowledge the extent of the problem. Sudan tolerates abductions by government-affiliated militia as a form of remuneration for military services, and as a strategy of destabilization of the rebel-controlled areas. There are no laws that specifically address trafficking in persons. Although laws against rape, abduction, torture, and unlawful detention exist, the Government has not made an effort to investigate and prosecute any traffickers or abductors. Over the past years, the Government made several promises and outlined several plans to identify and release Ugandan children and Sudanese abductees, and to set up civilian tribunal tribunals to prosecute persons involved in abductions. To date, the tribunals have not been set up, no related prosecutions have taken place, and only a few hundred Ugandan children have been returned, with an estimated ten thousand still in captivity. In 2002, a Presidential Decree was issued, expanding the authority of the Committee for the Eradication of the Abduction of Women and Children (CEAWC), to investigate and prosecute abductions. Records indicating the number of individuals the CEAWC has repatriated have not been kept adequately, but the number is small relative to the size of the problem. The Government has made no significant efforts toward the protection of victims or the prevention of trafficking.
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